Progress!

[SquawksNibbles]

On Thursday I received my package of 4 clickers for animal training in the mail. I had, of course, heard about them before and how helpful they were, yet it seemed strange to me how something so simple can make such a big difference when it comes to training. So I never actually looked into getting any.... until I recently saw a person’s post to a thread about how they used a clicker to help their bird get more used to people. So I decided I’d give these things a try. With 2 dogs and 2 cats as well as my birds, I figured these clickers would be useful for something. That’s when I ordered them, and received them Thursday.... and that’s when training began.

My main thought when I bought them was that I could use these to maybe help tame Nico even more. And I’ll just say, that even only after a few days, these things WORK! I have noticed a rather big improvement in the way Nico acts around people. He was always very cautious when he took a treat from, now he will almost immediately go up and take a treat from your hand. He’ll take a piece of millet from my fingertips. He flew to me from his cage to come perch on my hand and take a treat from me. He even almost looked like he was going to jump on my hand once even when I didn’t have a treat - only he was still a little hesitant and I think he had had enough of this clicker training for a day. I’m am absolutely shocked at how much progress we have had in a short amount of time. And now I just love clickers for training.

I can’t wait to see how these continue to help me out with training. In the meantime, I’m so proud of my little man!

 

[rockoko]

That's great!!

 

[saroj12]

Excellent!

 

[Fergus Mom]

Good job @SquawksNibbles ! :::: insert click here :::::

 

[lyx]

Aww yay Nico! That's great progress

 

[Icey]

Well done Nico, and glad to hear how much progress you've made

 

[SquawksNibbles]

Thank you all!

We’ve still been having a pretty good amount of progress. After several days of just allowing him to take treats from my hands and fingertips, we’ve moved up and now he steps up for treats! He doesn’t do it ‘on command’ yet, but we are getting there. I’ve also been doing a little training with Skittles; he’s always been good at stepping up, but he’s never really done on command, either. Oh, and Nico has also stepped up a few times even when no treats were in his sight. When that happens, I click, and bring a piece of millet to him. Anyways, I will continue to update as we have more progress! And I hope that this helps out any other Budgie parronts with Budgies, too.

 

[Serin]

I am also interested in clicker-training and have purchased a clicker. What are you oing speficially with your birds?

I have two tame Java sparrows and was given a baby budgie for my birthday on Tuesday (it wasn't really wanted, I had just lost one, and given his mate to a friend with her own budgie flock... and then this guy is dropped off...) I am interested in working with all three with the clicker but am not sure how to go about it. I have simply been clicking, then offering millet to do what they call "charging the clicker" - getting them to associate a click with a reward. But it's just been a day, and none of them are reacting to the clicker yet.

 

[SquawksNibbles]

What are you oing speficially with your birds?

Well, Nico (the green and yellow Budgie pictured in my original post) never really trusted humans a lot. He would very cautiously take treats from my hands, but that was about it. My first main goal with the clicker was to get him to become more comfortable with doing something as simple as taking a treat from your hand. He will now take tiny bits of millet from your finger tips without being frightened. Then I just slowly started working on getting him to step up onto my hand for a treat. I put the bit of millet in between my thumb and middle finger, and stick out my index finger. He then can see the millet being held by my two fingers (thumb and middle finger), but he still has to jump on top of my index finger in order to get to the other fingers holding the millet. Now when he hops on to my index finger, I click, and he just simply has to reach out and he gets the millet as the reward! It’s mainly just getting him used to stepping up and being handled.

I used Shinobi’s post in this thread as a bit of a guide to it all:
Is it to late for me and my lovebirds? | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

Without his post, I probably would’ve never thought of using clickers for training like this, of at least, it would have been a while before I did!

I never did try the ‘charging the clicker’ trick. I just immediately started offering millet in my hand, and when he took a bite, I’d click.

I can give you a more detailed and helpful response as to what I do/how I do it, if you want. Let me know if you need any help, but I’m sure Shinobi’s post will be a great help. Also, what is your new Budgie’s name? And happy belated birthday!

 

[SquawksNibbles]

Okay, well, something great just happened. I had Nico on my finger while he was eating his reward, and I was able to move one of my fingers, and slowly and very softly, he let me pet his belly! Back before training started happening he would have absolutely freaked out if I had done that.

 

[Fergus Mom]

Okay, well, something great just happened. I had Nico on my finger while he was eating his reward, and I was able to move one of my fingers, and slowly and very softly, he let me pet his belly! Back before training started happening he would have absolutely freaked out if I had done that.

Wow! I'm very impressed! I hope to get there one of these days. It doesn't help that both of mine rush to the millet at the same time, because then I have nothing but maybe a pinky free! I need another hand... a sneaky hand! GREAT to hear that you got to pet!

 

[SquawksNibbles]

Wow! I'm very impressed! I hope to get there one of these days. It doesn't help that both of mine rush to the millet at the same time, because then I have nothing but maybe a pinky free! I need another hand... a sneaky hand! GREAT to hear that you got to pet!

I wonder if clicker training would help your two come around?


And as another update, Nico has been letting me pet him even more now, but only while he’s busy munching on millet. I would hate to rush into things and end up spooking him because I’m going too far; I’ve been trying my best to go at his pace, and he has been doing great. He has let me pet his belly, up kinda by his fluffy little cheeks, and he even let me move my finger over him and stroke the back of his head and down the back of his neck!

 

[Fergus Mom]

I read all the posts about the clicker training @SquawksNibbles and I know there are people who love the method... there are some who swear by it for dogs, I must say that the only time I tried it (ONCE only) for a weekend with a foster dog... the noise kinda got annoying to me, and assigning that one hand for the clicker only was also inhibiting. I decided that clicker training took not only dexterity, but patience, and persistence. Sadly, I'm not very good at any of the three of these any longer! (In other words, it's getting harder to multi-task in my "Golden Years"!)