IRN completely unmotivated by treats. :\

[Josie]

We recently stocked up on dried fruits and sunflower seeds to begin clicker training Zuko. He just runs away from them when we try to give them to him.
When he's on or in his cage, he'll take them. When he's on his training stand, he'll just run away.

Could it be because he can see his cage from his training perch? In our current situation, we're kinda stuck in this room and can't bring him or his stand outside. (Fiance's moms feral cats pretty much run the house. )

Do you guys have any suggestions on some other reinforcement besides treats? Or do we have to just stick it out until we move?

On a side note, he learned to give kisses by us just doing it to him, but there's nothing other than that we can teach with that method (that I know of).

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[rocabird]

How often does he stay on his training perch? I like to start clicker training with my birds on or in their cage. It's a place they are familiar with it and they know everything that is around it so they don't get distracted (what's that thing on the wall? Is that a counter? how can I get to it?) I train with my other birds and rabbit in the room and dogs hanging out outside the screen door with success. As humans we tend to think of distractions as the noise and movement in the room, but for animals everything can be a distraction if they aren't familiar with it (think of how they would feel if they were plopped down into a strange part of the jungle).

If you can't let him out on his cage to train and he only goes onto his training perch for training, then I would let him spend some time on his training perch just hanging out so he becomes familiar with it and its surroundings. Give it a few days, then start slowly.

When I first started with Eco, I went through several treats before hitting on pine nuts as what he will train for. While going through the process I was able to use head scritches as a reinforcement. He loves head scritches, so that worked for him, but it wouldn't work for my Hahns who hates them. You may want to take a small amounts of different treats- pine nuts, millet, broken almonds, safflowers seeds- set them out and see what he is interested in. The ideal treat is small and can be eaten quickly; something they don't have to hold in their foot to eat is good. I like to train before meal times when first starting with one of my pets because being hungry can make the treat more appealing.

 

[Chicobo]

We found that it helped to keep Popcorn in the same room as her cage but to cover the cage. She had a sense of object permanence, but without being able to SEE the cage she was less distracted by it.

Other than that, I agree with Dawn. Sometimes it takes a while to find the perfect treat. CC LOVES millet seed but she won't work for it. Neither did Popcorn. But if you offered Popcorn a chance to play with a bottle cap (like the kind on Snapple bottles) she'd pretty much do anything you wanted! LOL.

 

[Ariahna]

Josie, when you put him on his training perch, do you notice him looking at anything? Recently, I put a brand new small boing in PJs cage (while his normal one was drying outside) and he FREAKED out. I finally figured out what it was....I think the new one sort of looked like a snake to him. I took it out, and laid it down, and realized a few days later, he would get scared any time he even got close to it. I finally put it away in a box.

These guys get scared of the silliest things at times, so you might just watch him and see if there is something close to where you put the training perch that might be scaring him or making him nervous. Can he see a mirror or anything from the perch? One other question, do you leave food in his cage for him all day? If so, maybe you could remove the food about two hours before you start training. That might help him be a little more motivated. Also, have you tried eating one of the sunflower seeds or treats in front of him? Sometimes if you do that and make a really big deal about how good it tastes they really want some too.

If I come up with any more ideas, I will add them. Sorry you are having problems.

 

[Josie]

@Dawn: Thanks so much for all those suggestions! If I try to train him on his cage, he'll just run back inside most of the time. I'll let him hang out on his perch some more and see if that helps any. He does eat the seeds and millet, and the only way he'll eat dried fruit is when he pulls it out of his foraging toy. Next run to the grocery store I'll pick up some other things. I have a feeling some diced grapes would work since those are his favorite.

@Erin: We've covered his cage once to see if he'd be more willing to hang out with us, and he was. He climbed all over us and our bed while watching TV, and groomed us quite a bit. Had his cage been visible, he'd have jumped off the bed at his first chance and climbed back to the cage. He does really love plastic army men, so I'll try that. Thanks for the suggestion!

@ Ari: When he's on it, he doesn't really look around. It's got a thee "stories" so he likes to climb around on it. He hasn't really been scared of anything yet, but he usually runs away when we try to give him a toy. If we set it down he'll pick it up. The only toy he takes from us are his army men. And yes, he always has his pellets available. I'm going to try to motivate him with a toy soldier, and if that doesn't work I'll try removing the food for a bit and trying treats. He does eat sunflower seeds, just on his own terms. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Josie]

Update!

I took everyone's advice. I guess he knew I made this post about him, because today he decided he'd work for millet AND sunflower seeds. I left him on top of his cage and tried clicker conditioning for a while, then tried target training. He's a bit skittish when it comes to the target, but he's picking it up a lot quicker than I thought. I'm so excited!

Thank you so much for your input guys.

 

[rocabird]

That's great! Keep up the good work!

 

[CeddysMum]

Great news!!! WTG, Zuko!

 

[Ariahna]

That's great news Josie!