-
Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here
how to teach a bird to wait?
- Thread starter APARAJITO
- Start date
Zara
♥❀Livin´ in Lovebird Land❀☼
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
APARAJITO
Meeting neighbors
- Joined
- 6/10/24
- Messages
- 39
ive seem to figure out something with my tiel. current routine is i put finger infront of him, then lure with a seed and say 'up, up' at the same time. ive gotten him to step up a few times without the lure by saying up up only and rewarding him directly after he perches, ill need to figure out some way to do the same for going down since currently, he eats the seed on my finger then goes back to his perch.
one ive got is give him a treat when steps down as well and say down, eventually he will realize if he waits, he will get more food.
(i should mention i accidentially taught him to wait for an additional cue before jumping on my finger, so im working on replacing whatever cue he taught himself)
- Joined
- 3/7/19
- Messages
- 695
Seconding rewarding for stepping down. And sometimes randomly rewarding for staying put.
I have multiple birds and train them simultanously, going from one to the next to the next. Patience training is sort of baked into this approach, as they pretty quickly learn to wait their turn, and that out-of-turn behavior usually won't bring treats.
I say "usually", because rewards or lack thereof depend on the interference factor.
Sometimes one or the other will jump the gun. My general rule in that case is:
1) If the eager beaver interfered with the other to where they couldn't do the trick (e.g. calling one, but another comes, therefore blocking the called one from landing in the desired spot), the line jumper gets told to wait their turn and put back with no treat. The one who got messed up gets another chance to try.
2) If it doesn't interfere with the other's training (e.g. I ask one to wave and they both do), then they both get a treat.
I have multiple birds and train them simultanously, going from one to the next to the next. Patience training is sort of baked into this approach, as they pretty quickly learn to wait their turn, and that out-of-turn behavior usually won't bring treats.
I say "usually", because rewards or lack thereof depend on the interference factor.
Sometimes one or the other will jump the gun. My general rule in that case is:
1) If the eager beaver interfered with the other to where they couldn't do the trick (e.g. calling one, but another comes, therefore blocking the called one from landing in the desired spot), the line jumper gets told to wait their turn and put back with no treat. The one who got messed up gets another chance to try.
2) If it doesn't interfere with the other's training (e.g. I ask one to wave and they both do), then they both get a treat.
Last edited:
I taught my conure to wait the same as I have done with dogs. I put up my hand like a stop sign and say, 'wait'. She gets a reward for doing nothing. Then the hand would come down and I'd say "Okay!" all bright and cheery to release her.
I started this because I didn't like how she barged out of her cage when I opened the doors. It was really easy to slowly open the door and then shut it if she broke the wait command (ie. if my hand was still raised as a stop sign).
I expanded the skill recently when we started long distance recalls. She goes on her perch and I give her the stop sign and verbal. Initially, she got treats rapid fire for staying there. Then the interval increased so that I could walk further away. If she breaks the wait and flies to me prematurely, I toss her back (joke - I tell her to go to her perch and we try again, or I carry her back and try again).
In this way, 'wait' and 'station/perch' are very similar - this is where you hang out. You could likely translate the skill to having them wait to step up.
When she isn't in the mood to attack the dog, I work with them both simultaneously. They both know that wait means sit and do nothing until you are given a new cue.
Regarding stepping down - we say 'step down' and reward if she follows directions. We're now at the stage where she gets paid less frequently for following simple directions, but we always thank/praise her for doing what we ask, even if we have no treat handy for the easy stuff.
I started this because I didn't like how she barged out of her cage when I opened the doors. It was really easy to slowly open the door and then shut it if she broke the wait command (ie. if my hand was still raised as a stop sign).
I expanded the skill recently when we started long distance recalls. She goes on her perch and I give her the stop sign and verbal. Initially, she got treats rapid fire for staying there. Then the interval increased so that I could walk further away. If she breaks the wait and flies to me prematurely, I toss her back (joke - I tell her to go to her perch and we try again, or I carry her back and try again).
In this way, 'wait' and 'station/perch' are very similar - this is where you hang out. You could likely translate the skill to having them wait to step up.
When she isn't in the mood to attack the dog, I work with them both simultaneously. They both know that wait means sit and do nothing until you are given a new cue.
Regarding stepping down - we say 'step down' and reward if she follows directions. We're now at the stage where she gets paid less frequently for following simple directions, but we always thank/praise her for doing what we ask, even if we have no treat handy for the easy stuff.
