Clicker Training For Beginners

[Oknuma]

I am going to buy 2 this week.
one for me with batman and one for dd with RB

with batman we have her favourite food which is spinach but my problem is going to be her accepting food from me.

with RB being she has been here 24 hours now we may need some more time to figure out a treat LOL

 

[ronsig]

I find that a wooden shishkabob stick, the kind you use to barbecue, is a good target stick. The book I use had a target stick included, but it is always best to have extras. Target sticks tend to be misplaced, and it is good to have lots of replacements...
I found toothpicks too short for scared birds like my budgies. They like longer sticks.
The clicker I use is loud, but I didn't know that when I started. My birds didn't mind. Muffling the sound at first is a good plan...

Sigrid

 

[BraveheartDogs]

I am going to buy 2 this week.
one for me with batman and one for dd with RB

with batman we have her favourite food which is spinach but my problem is going to be her accepting food from me.

with RB being she has been here 24 hours now we may need some more time to figure out a treat LOL

Just keep working on different things and trying some new stuff! You'll find other things

I find that a wooden shishkabob stick, the kind you use to barbecue, is a good target stick. The book I use had a target stick included, but it is always best to have extras. Target sticks tend to be misplaced, and it is good to have lots of replacements...
I found toothpicks too short for scared birds like my budgies. They like longer sticks.
The clicker I use is loud, but I didn't know that when I started. My birds didn't mind. Muffling the sound at first is a good plan...

Sigrid

Again, we are NOT at target sticks so please don't worry about those We will discuss in detail when we get there.

 

[BraveheartDogs]

Because there are several people that are trying to learn, I am going to ask that we stick with the lessons and don't jump ahead. I have learned from experience that most people have trouble learning when they are overwhelmed with too much information too soon that they don't know what to do with. Let's just go slow, one piece at a time. Right now, everyone only needs to worry about finding your birds high value food reinforcers and getting clickers! Thanks!

 

[GG.]

Because there are several people that are trying to learn, I am going to ask that we stick with the lessons and don't jump ahead. I have learned from experience that most people have trouble learning when they are overwhelmed with too much information too soon that they don't know what to do with. Let's just go slow, one piece at a time. Right now, everyone only needs to worry about finding your birds high value food reinforcers and getting clickers! Thanks!

thanks Vicki - I appreciate you breaking it down to baby steps for folks like me

 

[Oknuma]

thanks Vicki - I appreciate you breaking it down to baby steps for folks like me

me too! i am along for the ride no matter how slow it goes

 

[Sharpie]

I'm watching this thread and looking forward to jumping in down the line.

 

[BraveheartDogs]

thanks Vicki - I appreciate you breaking it down to baby steps for folks like me

You're welcome Most people learn best in small steps!

me too! i am along for the ride no matter how slow it goes

It won't take long once we get rolling

I'm watching this thread and looking forward to jumping in down the line.

I am looking forward to you jumping in too!

There may be people that are already clicker training or already know their bird's reinforcers, for those of you just hang tight, we'll all catch up soon!

 

[Lobby]

Sorry I'm on page 3 already. My bad, just whack me with a pillow and I'll shut up for now. Once you make a little progress it is hard to stop. It is so much fun.

 

[ronsig]

Sorry I'm on page 3 already. My bad, just whack me with a pillow and I'll shut up for now.

Yes...me too.

Sigrid

 

[BraveheartDogs]

Sorry I'm on page 3 already. My bad, just whack me with a pillow and I'll shut up for now. Once you make a little progress it is hard to stop. It is so much fun.

Yes...me too.

Sigrid

I know it's tempting to want to jump ahead but you will have more success if you go slow and really make sure that everything is ready including your reinforcers, your mechanical skills and most of all your training plan. I see so many new trainers all excited to start training that they end up frustrated and confusing the animal because they really didn't know what they were going to do or how to go about it to have success. If you are moving on to target training and you don't have a clicker or don't have a training plan, you may be in trouble when we get to that piece.

 

[ronsig]

I agree. It is very important to go slowly at the start and get the basics down. It pays to be patient....

Sigrid

 

[Saemma]

Couldn't find a real "clicker". I have a great ball point pen that CLICKS nice and well.

 

[Cynth]

ok, I hate to ask this, but could you possibly put the instructoins only without the comments on some sort of sticky? I can see us reading through pages of threads trying to find instructions and reading all of our fun comments too and just getting frusterated...can you see an ADD trend here? so have this as the comment and instructional page and another copy of your instructions alone on a sticky without extra comments. If we miss a day we will be reading 3-5 pages of comments and well, I just don't learn as fast as my birds might.

 

[BraveheartDogs]

Couldn't find a real "clicker". I have a great ball point pen that CLICKS nice and well.

Good work!

ok, I hate to ask this, but could you possibly put the instructoins only without the comments on some sort of sticky? I can see us reading through pages of threads trying to find instructions and reading all of our fun comments too and just getting frusterated...can you see an ADD trend here? so have this as the comment and instructional page and another copy of your instructions alone on a sticky without extra comments. If we miss a day we will be reading 3-5 pages of comments and well, I just don't learn as fast as my birds might.

I was trying to figure out a way to do that. I could just make each Lesson a new thread. What do you think about that?

 

[tammie]

Please count me in on this. I've done clicker training, but it was 5 years ago and I need a refresher class.

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this.

 

[Danita]

Hmmm.....
Maybe Jill has an idea.
I will point her this way

 

[BraveheartDogs]

Please count me in on this. I've done clicker training, but it was 5 years ago and I need a refresher class.

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this.

No problem

 

[Saemma]

Ok.. I think Emma regards Pine nuts as High value because she does not receive them very often.

Sachi is appreciative of any nut because I am quite "stringent" with her when it comes to nuts period!

 

[BraveheartDogs]

Ok.. I think Emma regards Pine nuts as High value because she does not receive them very often.

Sachi is appreciative of any nut because I am quite "stringent" with her when it comes to nuts period!

Perfect! Small nuts that they rarely get work well for training. You can even cut them into smaller pieces if necessary.