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Amazon + BCC Recent Successes

Kenzie

Sprinting down the street
Avenue Veteran
Joined
8/26/17
Messages
414
Location
Virginia
Real Name
Kenzie
Hi all! :shy:

I've got Pi, MRH :mrha: We do daily (or NEARLY daily, sometimes I need a break or they may need a day buffer) training sessions.
For my Amazon, we do recall training. With our new house, we've got a nice and tall flight of stairs so we start every session with descent and ascent - one of the most useful tools in recall training whether you want a safety net in case of an accidental get out, or in my case, planning for freeflight. She used to be SOOOO slopping with her descents, rocking left and right and it just looked awful but shes REALLY straightened it out, so we're adding a curve at the end of her descent. For her ascent, that's mostly to build muscle and tire her out. She is a bit overweight I believe and needs plenty of work out!

We then do a lot of around the corner recalls where I am out of sight - this his currently her weakest point, but it's definitely progressed a lot. Sometimes she'll be stumped and start screaming, letting me know loud and clear that she cannot see me and that's NOT okay. But I wait, continue to call her and she eventually decides she DOES have wings and she can make her way to me!

With all of that, we do basic recalls across the room and behind obstacles (such as behind a chair with me kneeling down). Shes doing great! We goto the batting cage as well for outdoor desensitization and to work on recall outdoors in a contained area. She doesn't respond as well out there - she'll do her first few fine but I don't know if she loses interest or is just mega distracted by the sights and sounds. It's been a very hot summer so we haven't been able to go there as often as I'd like.

With Poptart the BCC :blucc:, we do basic trick training. I've put a pause on the recall training because I need to rethink things and techniques with him. He's been a huge challenge but we'll get there. At this time, I'm probably going to be sending him to birdy bootcamp next summer with the things are going now. If they don't improve, he'll be living with my freeflying friend temporarily whose an aspiring parrot trainer (for freeflight, behavior, and general training/taming). I'll be hiring her to get him on track with his recall to hand. It's been a nightmare in my home and I have full trust she can turn this around. But until then, I'll be working on different techniques to see if I can figure it out before we do that.

Anyways, Poptart is a VERY fast learner and I haven't a clue on what to teach him that is new. He learned wave and spin within 3 days of eachother and got them nearly in 1.5 sessions. I seeked to teach him "Wings" as well, but it was very tricky! He only stretches his wings once or twice during a preening session and when I did click+treat, he'd just be like :confused:??? and continue on his way, totally oblivious to why he earned reward. But during one training session I started to see the wheels turning. He stretched, got reward and looked at me all weird before continuing on. Same preening session, he stretched again, I rewarded profusely. He waltzed around his perch and did it again, looking at me with a inquisitive face this time. I knew then that he was starting to get it! After that, he did it every couple of minutes, turning to right after each treat so he started begging with the behavior. Then I put a cue on it! So proud of my smart little man.

What's next with him?? I HAVE NO CLUE. I just ordered a bunch of cute chopsticks to be colorful target sticks lol, my corgi chewed up my old target stick so I ordered SS ones. Try chewing through that, mutt!
I'll probably try to figure out things to do with the target stick... I'd LOVE to teach him to flip upside down on my hand but that seems farfetched seeing as he REALLY dislikes sitting on my hand/stepping up for more than a few seconds.

So yah. Just an update. For fun, I guess.
 

expressmailtome

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It sounds as if you are making progress.
 
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