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Icarus' "Spin"

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cmoore

Strolling the yard
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10/29/09
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cmoore
I've been working with Icarus on spin for a few sessions now. I started out by luring him in a circle with a target stick. He initially didn't like my hand going over his head (while moving the target stick around), but he quickly realized the desired behavior and started following the target stick around. I faded the target stick lure a bit, moving it more quickly and letting him finish the turn on his own, but I was a bit stuck as to how to get him to offer the behavior without the lure.

Today we had a big breakthrough! I did a bunch of lured spin practice, then decided we'd done enough of that, and that it was time to try to get Icarus to give me the behavior on his own. I planned to do this by shaping, starting with small head turns and working up to the full spin. I was hoping he'd put together our practice with lured spins with the new shaping regimen and eventually (probably after several training sessions) offer spins on his own.

To my complete surprise, after a few clicks for head-turns, he offered a complete spin on his own! Even more surprising, it was in the opposite direction of the spins we'd been practicing (which were left, or counter-clockwise, turns). Color me flabbergasted! I jackpotted that, of course. After that, he offered at least 30 spins in both directions on his own, although he did offer more left turns than right. I clicked and treated them all. What a session! :D

Lured spins: 16
No spin: 1
Shaped spins (including initial shaping clicks): 51
Session length: approx 8 minutes
 

Cynthia & Percy

cockatoo mania
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way to go thanks for sharing
 

BraveheartDogs

Cruising the avenue
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Vicki
I've been working with Icarus on spin for a few sessions now. I started out by luring him in a circle with a target stick. He initially didn't like my hand going over his head (while moving the target stick around), but he quickly realized the desired behavior and started following the target stick around. I faded the target stick lure a bit, moving it more quickly and letting him finish the turn on his own, but I was a bit stuck as to how to get him to offer the behavior without the lure.

Today we had a big breakthrough! I did a bunch of lured spin practice, then decided we'd done enough of that, and that it was time to try to get Icarus to give me the behavior on his own. I planned to do this by shaping, starting with small head turns and working up to the full spin. I was hoping he'd put together our practice with lured spins with the new shaping regimen and eventually (probably after several training sessions) offer spins on his own.

To my complete surprise, after a few clicks for head-turns, he offered a complete spin on his own! Even more surprising, it was in the opposite direction of the spins we'd been practicing (which were left, or counter-clockwise, turns). Color me flabbergasted! I jackpotted that, of course. After that, he offered at least 30 spins in both directions on his own, although he did offer more left turns than right. I clicked and treated them all. What a session! :D

Lured spins: 16
No spin: 1
Shaped spins (including initial shaping clicks): 51
Session length: approx 8 minutes
Good for you on so many levels, especially for recording your progress!!!
 

southerninak

Jogging around the block
Joined
10/22/09
Messages
997
Location
Alaska
Real Name
Amy
Wow funny you should post this. I just watched Barbara H . video on training your birds and this is one of the tricks I plan to train my birds! Good for you:highfive:. I'm going to watch the video one more time just to be sure I have everything and start soon. :D Good to know we can train our birds too!
 
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