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Cockatiel Tricks

szan

Meeting neighbors
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Ally
Hi there,
I have an almost 3yo Cockatiel (male) named Sam, and I'm wondering what some easy first-timer tricks are to teach him to enrich his life a little bit more. He's hand-tame, and knows things like 'go back' when I want him back on/in his cage, 'come on' when i want him to hop onto my finger/shoulder, and he's remarkably good at mimicking me and hoping from place to place on command. I know he's a smart guy, but I've only professionally trained dogs before and am wondering where to start for my little feathered buddy :)
Any advice is appreciated!
 

szan

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Forgot to mention; in the event of using food as a motivator I'm planning on using sunflower seeds! They're his favourite, and a bit of a rare treat at the moment so very high value
 

scrape

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:bump4:
 

MC_Hahn's

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Marie C.
Target training is a great foundation for trick training. The simplest tricks would likely include waving, spinning, and flight recall. However, teaching your bird to fetch goes a long way for more complicated tricks in the future. Parrot Tricks by Diane Grindol is a great guide to beginning training, and it also includes countless simple and complex tricks to teach. The book goes over instructions step by step, and it has helped me teach my cockatiel new tricks.

Also, the way that dog trainers give simple commands is definitely carried over to parrot training as well. :)
 

Pat H

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Forgot to mention; in the event of using food as a motivator I'm planning on using sunflower seeds! They're his favourite, and a bit of a rare treat at the moment so very high value
I know I'm a bit frugal... but, because of his small size, if you're going to use sunflower seeds, I would give him an unshelled 1/2 seed. Nibbles can be better than bite-size [gets more treats that way]!
 

szan

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Ally
Update!
I've started teaching a simple 'turn around' command. He seems to understand what I want him to do after a few days of holding the seed so he has to turn around to get it, then giving the phrase and treat... however I think this cheeky man wants me to continue doing the work for him. :roflmao: A few times I've seen him look the other way, raise a foot to turn around, then make a grab for the seed already :laugh: Will keep working at it! it's a great morning activity before I have to go to work
 

BirdG1rl

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Mara M.M
What a cheeky tiel! He sounds absolutely heart-meltingly cute! :swoon:
 

Pat H

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Started working with our Umbrella, Abby, to pick up her 'good behavior' treat when I place it outside her cage... either on the platform next to it, or in my outstretched palm... far enough she has to use her foot to grab it! I found that on the left side of her cage, she uses her left foot, but on the right side, her right foot. That was unexpected! She's only dropped it twice maneuvering it between the bars. I always watch, since I don't want her attempting to retrieve a soiled treat from the floor! :laughin:
 
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