IRN training question

[Birdgirl276]

I've been trying to work with Georgie, my (flighted) IRN, to get her to step up. I started clicker training and got her target trained. She hates hands, but will step up to my arm or fly to my arm for treats. She'll also sit on my shoulder for 15 or 20 minutes in exchange for pine nut tid bits.

She's been flying to my arm or stepping up to a perch for quite a while now, but again, only for treats. Her stepping up to my arm (as opposed to flying to it) is quite a recent thing (within the past week). I started by using the target stick, and when she was doing it confidently and without hesitation, I decided to get rid of the target stick. Still good, as long I am holding a bit of pine nut as a lure. If I try to offer my arm without a treat being clearly in sight, she bites my arm (pretty hard!). Am I just trying to go too fast, or is there other stuff I'm doing wrong?

Bit of background: She's a rescue so I know nothing of her background, but from what I was told, she is 8 1/2 years old. I've had her for 1 1/2 years.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Birdgirl276]

Nothing?

 

[KatherinesBirds]

Gee, most of our knowledgeable bird training people must be off line!Hey, wake up you guys. Wish I could help! I would just keep up using the treat and the stick for now. It doesn't sound like she wants to sit on your arm right now. My bird doesn't either but he is 6 years old and in breeding season and will bit with no apparent cause. It sounds like your bird is still learning that you are an okay person to trust. Just keep working with her. I am sure there are lots of people on AA who can give you more advice.
K.

 

[rocabird]

Hi Tricia!

I tend to not like luring because it seems that the bird (dog, etc) isn't really aware of what they are being taught. All their attention is on the treat and the need to move toward it instead of what do I need to do to get the treat. What I would do is shape Georgie to step on the target stick. Shaping means to work in small increments so you would first start with click/treat when she looks at the target stick when you put it in place. Remove target stick and repeat. Once she is doing it consistently, stop click/treat for looking and click/treat for taking a step toward the target stick. Once consistent with this move on to 2 steps then 3, etc until she is by the stick. Then wait for her to move a foot when she is near the target stick and click/treat working until she is on the stick.

Somethings that may help-

*Don't click for touching the stick with her beak. She will probably try this since it got her a reward before, but you want to concentrate on this 1 behavior. (I will work on similar behavior in one training session but I don't mix them up so I would do target training, then retrieve, then step up. Once they are on cue, I will mix them up. Hope that makes sense.) You may find changing to a different stick helps prevent this.

*Hold treats so she can't see them. I usually have my hand by my side or behind my back.

*Where you give the reward can help your training. Even without having a treat there to lure them, they will gravitate to where they got the reward, so reward her near the target stick. When you are at the stage where you are working on getting her to step up, reward so she has to reach over the stick. She may move her foot onto the stick to get at the treat easier giving you the perfect chance to click and treat for that.

Shaping sounds like a slow process, but it usually goes pretty quickly. Hope this helps!

 

[Birdgirl276]

Thank you, Dawn! That makes perfect sense. I need to digest this, and rethink things.The target training has been a good introduction to clicker training, but I think you're right that I can now use the click/treat format with the new "target stick" being a perch (if I'm understanding you correctly).

I think that half the battle (or more!) is ME learning how to train! Georgie learns just fine, brilliantly, in fact. I just need to know what I'm doing!

Greatly appreciate the help!

 

[rocabird]

Thank you, Dawn! That makes perfect sense. I need to digest this, and rethink things.The target training has been a good introduction to clicker training, but I think you're right that I can now use the click/treat format with the new "target stick" being a perch (if I'm understanding you correctly).

I think that half the battle (or more!) is ME learning how to train! Georgie learns just fine, brilliantly, in fact. I just need to know what I'm doing!

Greatly appreciate the help!

Right, you would use a new stick for the step up. The first rule of training is "set your pet up for success" Using a different stick should make things a little less confusing for Georgie making training a little easier. Once she knows both cues, it won't matter.

A big part of training is our training and it's just as important to be patient with ourselves as it is to have patience training our birds.

 

[Macawnutz]

The first rule of training is "set your pet up for success" A big part of training is our training and it's just as important to be patient with ourselves as it is to have patience training our birds.

Excellent advice! I don't use a clicker vocal praise is just as good to me!