Fetch Training

[SmolParrot]

My green cheek conure absolutely cannot learn fetch, and I am unsure where I am going wrong. Most of the trick training takes about two 10 minute sessions. However, the 15 weeks old baby basically refuses to learn fetch. Are young parrots just not intelligent enough for fetch yet, just as baby humans can't be expected to do arithmetic?

Method:
1.) I wait for my bird to grab the object in their beak and click (bridge) only after they release the object
2.) I then introduced my hand, making my objective to catch the object as it drops. You want your feathered student to win more than lose so I tried hard to make those catches. The times i was able to, resulted in a click and treat. However, many a times it bounced out of my hand so no reward (?) or I kept my hand still and my bird just dropped the object on the ground.

Result: despite having 5 fetch training sessions, does not understand the game. They will simply grab the object and release it, pretty much in a random location. I changed up the object a couple times, hoping they learn that "fetch" isn't just a ring or rattan ball concept, but an any object concept. This confused my GCC furthermore, making the training even slower. Considering fetch is a gateway to wonderful tricks like ring stacking, etc I am just disappointed that I am failing as a trainer or my bird is going at a pace slower than their usual, perhaps meaning they just dislike the game.

Background:
My GCC knows step up + step down, target stick, come here (recall?), turn around, wave, go into your cage
So I really do believe I am holding them back on the concept of fetch, since they seemed to pickup quickly on the others

 

[Yoshi&Raphi]

I also tried to teach fetch to my MBC,but it didn't work which was strange as he is super responsive to learning everything else.
Point is you aren't a failed bird trainer some birds just don't get certain tricks or we can't teach it in a way they understand.

 

[SmolParrot]

Thanks for chiming in, MBC's are absolutely beautiful parrots and am happy you two seem to have a connection. I have a theory regarding fetch, that since conures are so playful, the idea of them learning a trick that involves props is much more difficult. As they become very distracted with the prop rather than the trick. Mind you, many people have trained their conures tricks with props, sorting tricks and such, but maybe it takes many sessions (?)

 

[edenkwfl]

I trained one of our sun conures, Mori, to drop a ball into a plastic cup I fastened to the side of their cage. I would drop a ball into the cup in front of Mori while saying “shoot”and then give him the ball and say to him “shoot.” It took a couple of days but he finally did it and he got a special treat. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss at times. I then taught our second sun conure, Pincus, to fetch the ball. He will go into the cup, pick up the ball and toss it into my hand. I have tried to advance to the ring toss but they just keep running away with the rings....same with the basketball hoop I bought. They just want to chew on the hoop and/or the balls.

 

[SmolParrot]

I trained one of our sun conures, Mori, to drop a ball into a plastic cup I fastened to the side of their cage. I would drop a ball into the cup in front of Mori while saying “shoot”and then give him the ball and say to him “shoot.” It took a couple of days but he finally did it and he got a special treat. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss at times. I then taught our second sun conure, Pincus, to fetch the ball. He will go into the cup, pick up the ball and toss it into my hand. I have tried to advance to the ring toss but they just keep running away with the rings....same with the basketball hoop I bought. They just want to chew on the hoop and/or the balls.

I love how cyclic of a routine that is! One gives you the ball from the cup after the other has put it there. So cool!
It's unique tricks like this that make me smile. Gives you a special bond to a parrot

 

[macawpower58]

I taught my macaw to grab it and run!

 

[edenkwfl]

I taught my macaw to grab it and run!