Tricks/training for flighted birds?

[alshgs]

Me and Tuki started working on some recall training this weekend. But since he is flighted, he can choose to not interact and train with me. Any training ideas to stimulate his brain to want to learn them instead of flying away? We did target training when he was younger and clipped. (Currently me and Rio are working on this) but I'm running out of ideas here. Help?!?

 

[BeeBop]

Keep a variety of treats just to keep things interesting. Remember to keep the sessions short unless your bird is telling you otherwise. If he is not interested then perhaps just try another time.

 

[alshgs]

Keep a variety of treats just to keep things interesting. Remember to keep the sessions short unless your bird is telling you otherwise. If he is not interested then perhaps just try another time.

I keep them to a maximum of about 10 minutes. Currently his treats are sunflower seeds, crushed up nutriberries and crushed up avicakes as this is usually what's for breakfast, and we've been training before I go to work in the mornings. I work with Rio at night

 

[BeeBop]

Ok, maybe you can try playing with him and his favorite toys so he sees it as a fun and positive experience.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Maybe those aren't special enough treats (except for the sunflower seeds), since they are part of his regular food. Also, crushed up Nutriberries and Avicakes seem like they cannot be eaten in one little bite like the sunflower seeds. You could try something he loves and that he can only get when training. Are there any other seeds or nuts he likes? Also, maybe start at 5 minutes and work your way up to a little longer. Are you training him in a large room? Try training him away from his cage or perches in a small sized room at first.

 

[alshgs]

He only gets a nutriberry for breakfast, no other time. They are his absolute favorite treat, that's why I crush them up and use the seeds as training treats. We are currently training in the living room because I know he will fly back to his cage, and that is where he will go

 

[Begone]

They are his absolute favorite treat, that's why I crush them up and use the seeds as training treats.

And that is also why you only should give him that when you train. So no Nutriberries for breakfast from now on. And train him every day.
When he finds out that he only gets his favorite treat when you train, he will give you full attention.

Here you can see what I did to get Eloys attention when he was a baby, I both played with him and let him fly short distance indoors.

And later he was flying both to me and back to the stand on command.

And here I'm doing the same thing with Akela when she was a baby. And to get her attention I was beak-wrestling with her.

 

[Calpurnia]

I agree with @Eloy! Our birds absolutely adore nutriberries and get one per day as a bedtime snack, but when I also tried using them for clicker training they were not nearly as excited for it as I expected them to be. Same story, shorter attention spans and eventually complete disinterest in the reward. I think it has to do with the fact that while they LOVE nutriberries, on a day to day basis they are just loving them more than the pellets and chop that makes up the rest of their diet. In the grand scheme of thing however, there are still plenty of other food items that they consider more "valuable" as rewards.

So I went back to the original training treat, millet, which they ONLY get during training. And voila, instant motivation. So hopefully something like this works for you too.

Also, I you could try training a variety of tricks/commands that involve working at a station or a perch along with the recall. Things like wave, spin around, or "basketball". I find that flight recall alone can be a very "demanding" command given the reward. Generally the more energy and effort a bird has to put in, the greater the chance that they will simply decide it's not worth it after a while. Which is why trainers recommend alternating between easy, reliable tricks and more difficult ones to keep your bird motivated, especially if they are having a hard time getting it. For example, I can tell when my p'let is getting frustrated when I try to teach him to put a ring on a peg. So every 4-5 repetitions I will ask him to shake, or ring a bell. These are easy, he's got them down, and once he does it once or twice he's usually motivated to try the rings a few more times.