What is the best way to train my G2 to step up?

[Castiel]

I want to take him around the house with me to his perch in the living room and carry him down to his cage pool side but he is a stubborn little bird and if I try to hard to get him to step up he will give me a warning mock bite telling me to back off.

He is soo stubborn.

 

[SpecialistElbru]

So he steps up some times, but refuses to step up other times?

 

[Shinobi]

You need a training treat and a clicker.
I found Henry's training treat by putting five different foods on a plate and watch which one Henry ate first I used sunflower seeds, corn kernels, pine nuts, grapes and balls of millet. This would become Henry's training treat and I removed this food item from Henry diet. Whatever your bird picks, it must not be part of the bird’s diet otherwise it defeats the purpose of being a training treat. Henry picked sunflower seeds.

Next I use a clicker to identify the desired behaviour, plus training treats and praise to reinforce that desired behaviour. It's no secret, you just need to spend time interacting and training with your bird.

The clicker is the bridge between you and your bird and you use that bridge to highlight the bird’s desired behaviour to your bird.

I put Henry on his play gym and gave him a sunflower seed and click the clicker. This indicates that training has started.
Then in my right hand I held the clicker and the sunflower seed. The set up was the clicker in the palm with my middle finger on the button and the sunflower seed held between my thumb and index finger.

With my left hand I made a pistol so my finger was parallel to the perch and about 3 cm away. Then I would bring my right hand up behind my left hand and show Henry the sunflower seed and say "step up Henry". if after 15 to 20 seconds Henry hadn't stepped up onto my left hand I would remove the sunflower seed from his sight. but leave my left hand there.

Wait 20 seconds and reshow the treat. (this might take more than one go.) When Henry stepped up onto my left hand and took the sunflower seed I would click the clicker at the same time. Then I return Henry back to the play gym Tell him to step down, reward with a sunflower seed and click the clicker at the same time, then repeat the cycle. Henry now steps up and down without training treats and this was achieved in less then a week.

The advice I can give is
1 move slowly around the bird
2 let the bird come to you.
3 Don't force the bird to do anything that it doesn't want to do.
4 make the trust building and bonding sessions (training) fun
5 end all training sessions on a positive.
6 patience.

Remember food is a great motivator.

 

[Tyrion]

Take a look at this webinar Parrot Digital Media | Online Parrot Media 8. Training Rescued and Re-Homed Parrots ...its full of great information

 

[Castiel]

So he steps up some times, but refuses to step up other times?

Sometimes he flies to the floor and then he is happy to let me pick him up. Other than that he refuses to step up.

 

[Castiel]

You need a training treat and a clicker.
I found Henry's training treat by putting five different foods on a plate and watch which one Henry ate first I used sunflower seeds, corn kernels, pine nuts, grapes and balls of millet. This would become Henry's training treat and I removed this food item from Henry diet. Whatever your bird picks, it must not be part of the bird’s diet otherwise it defeats the purpose of being a training treat. Henry picked sunflower seeds.

Next I use a clicker to identify the desired behaviour, plus training treats and praise to reinforce that desired behaviour. It's no secret, you just need to spend time interacting and training with your bird.

The clicker is the bridge between you and your bird and you use that bridge to highlight the bird’s desired behaviour to your bird.

I put Henry on his play gym and gave him a sunflower seed and click the clicker. This indicates that training has started.
Then in my right hand I held the clicker and the sunflower seed. The set up was the clicker in the palm with my middle finger on the button and the sunflower seed held between my thumb and index finger.

With my left hand I made a pistol so my finger was parallel to the perch and about 3 cm away. Then I would bring my right hand up behind my left hand and show Henry the sunflower seed and say "step up Henry". if after 15 to 20 seconds Henry hadn't stepped up onto my left hand I would remove the sunflower seed from his sight. but leave my left hand there.

Wait 20 seconds and reshow the treat. (this might take more than one go.) When Henry stepped up onto my left hand and took the sunflower seed I would click the clicker at the same time. Then I return Henry back to the play gym Tell him to step down, reward with a sunflower seed and click the clicker at the same time, then repeat the cycle. Henry now steps up and down without training treats and this was achieved in less then a week.

The advice I can give is
1 move slowly around the bird
2 let the bird come to you.
3 Don't force the bird to do anything that it doesn't want to do.
4 make the trust building and bonding sessions (training) fun
5 end all training sessions on a positive.
6 patience.

Remember food is a great motivator.

Take a look at this webinar Parrot Digital Media | Online Parrot Media 8. Training Rescued and Re-Homed Parrots ...its full of great information

Thanks guys.

 

[JLcribber]

Any behaviour you want to train must be "rewarding" so there is incentive to repeat the behaviour. You can't make a bird step up but you can "ask" a bird to. If they don't then you haven't made it worth their while to do so.

 

[Monica]

To me, it sounds like he doesn't know "how" to step up.

This may sound silly, but the floor is not the same as the perch. A bird may step up from *any* location within the house, but 'refuse' to step up from the cage. In the bird's mind, the cage is not the same thing as the house. Birds may also have a fear of hands near cages... hence the phrase "he's tame once you remove him from the cage". It should never be like this! NEVER!


Basically, just because the bird knows how to step up from one location (i.e. the floor) doesn't mean that the bird knows how to step up from another location (i.e. a perch or the cage).


He's not stubborn. It's just quite possible that he doesn't know what it is that you are asking of him! And the easiest way to "fix" that is to generalize the behavior. He steps up from the floor? GOOD! Treat! He steps up from a chair? GOOD! Treat! He steps up from the couch? GOOD! Treat!

Any place he will step up from, reward him for the behavior. Make sure he steps up in other areas as well as from different items. Teach him that stepping up is good and reward the behavior. This will thus make it easier to pick him up and move him.


You may also want to try training step up using Barbara Heidenreich's method.

 

[Shinobi]

Don't forget to teach him to step down.

 

[Chopper]

1. Consistency is one key. Every morning I try to get at least one to step up for me. Trust me, the others are watching very closely.
Every move you make all birds are watching.
Every evening - everyone (I have four macaws) gets a few minutes of one on one time. Right now they are all at different stages.
I don't use treats. It just doesn't occur to me to use them. I have them in the room I just don't use them for training.
2. Make eye contact and tell them what you want them to do. This works for me and I didn't read it until about a week ago.
Ever since then, they all have been much better about stepping up.
3. Patience with the progress. It doesn't have to happen over night.

I think parrots want to please us just as much as we want them to too.

Good luck and keep us posted.