Hi everyone!
I've only had Riley a few months now but I swear I'm already forgetting all the things he's learned. I thought it would be fun to have a thread to share regular pics and videos of his training progress or fun antics.
When we brought him home he was such a baby! He slept at least 50% of the time during the day. He was so tired he didn't even want to wake up and get out of his carrier when we got home.
The first night he slept on the floor of his cage, because he didn't know any better! Thankfully his raiser warned me about that so I didn't freak out something was wrong. (Don't worry the tassle on the foraging toy is long gone too)
The first toy he played with was a "quilt" my mom made him. That's when I realized he was a born chewer.
Major milestones up until now:
Riley's first word was "out" right around the 4 month mark. After about a week he added in "step up" and "good boy" a few days after that. He's said peekaboo and boo when we play the game-- I cover his head with my hand and then uncover, fingers spread wide and say peekaboo. He loves it and holds soo still when I cover his face.
Yesterday for the first time he said "apple" because he was looking for his piece of apple. His veggies (pepper with seeds, chickpeas and peas) were all on his plate, but his apple had been left on his window perch where he was eating it earlier as a treat. I let him out in the living room and he took one look at his plate and demanded his "apple"!
Today's milestone was learning the "spin" command. We've been practicing a little bit and I could use my finger to make a circle over his head and he would do a spin. But today I was able to say "spin" without the finger motion and he did it! We just happened to catch it on video so I'll figure out how to upload it and share tomorrow
One of the things that is unusual about Riley compared to other quakers as far as I've heard is that he is super flexible about new things. He loves having his toys rearranged and new toys put in his cage. I think because I've made a point to do it consistently he's come to expect it and it helps keep him busy.
The thing that has suprised me most though is our bedtime routine. He doesn't really let my mom give him head scratches except for at bed time. He'll go in his cage and she'll scratch his head through the bars and say night night before his cage gets rolled down the hall back to the office. (He has zero cage aggression at this point, but we'll see what happens when puberty hits.) Once in the office he gets fresh water, clean paper, etc then I turn out the room lights and leave a hallway light on. I tell him to "get cozy" and he'll get in bed in the corner of his cage under his toy and then I'll give him head scratches through the bars. He'll close his eyes and be almost asleep and then I sneak out. The only thing missing is him saying "I love you" back to us!
(Feel free to comment or ask me questions, I'm not trying to keep the thread exclusively Riley posts)
I've only had Riley a few months now but I swear I'm already forgetting all the things he's learned. I thought it would be fun to have a thread to share regular pics and videos of his training progress or fun antics.
When we brought him home he was such a baby! He slept at least 50% of the time during the day. He was so tired he didn't even want to wake up and get out of his carrier when we got home.
The first night he slept on the floor of his cage, because he didn't know any better! Thankfully his raiser warned me about that so I didn't freak out something was wrong. (Don't worry the tassle on the foraging toy is long gone too)
The first toy he played with was a "quilt" my mom made him. That's when I realized he was a born chewer.
Major milestones up until now:
Riley's first word was "out" right around the 4 month mark. After about a week he added in "step up" and "good boy" a few days after that. He's said peekaboo and boo when we play the game-- I cover his head with my hand and then uncover, fingers spread wide and say peekaboo. He loves it and holds soo still when I cover his face.
Yesterday for the first time he said "apple" because he was looking for his piece of apple. His veggies (pepper with seeds, chickpeas and peas) were all on his plate, but his apple had been left on his window perch where he was eating it earlier as a treat. I let him out in the living room and he took one look at his plate and demanded his "apple"!
Today's milestone was learning the "spin" command. We've been practicing a little bit and I could use my finger to make a circle over his head and he would do a spin. But today I was able to say "spin" without the finger motion and he did it! We just happened to catch it on video so I'll figure out how to upload it and share tomorrow
One of the things that is unusual about Riley compared to other quakers as far as I've heard is that he is super flexible about new things. He loves having his toys rearranged and new toys put in his cage. I think because I've made a point to do it consistently he's come to expect it and it helps keep him busy.
The thing that has suprised me most though is our bedtime routine. He doesn't really let my mom give him head scratches except for at bed time. He'll go in his cage and she'll scratch his head through the bars and say night night before his cage gets rolled down the hall back to the office. (He has zero cage aggression at this point, but we'll see what happens when puberty hits.) Once in the office he gets fresh water, clean paper, etc then I turn out the room lights and leave a hallway light on. I tell him to "get cozy" and he'll get in bed in the corner of his cage under his toy and then I'll give him head scratches through the bars. He'll close his eyes and be almost asleep and then I sneak out. The only thing missing is him saying "I love you" back to us!
(Feel free to comment or ask me questions, I'm not trying to keep the thread exclusively Riley posts)