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- Joined
- 7/10/20
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- 29
So we've had our greenwing macaw for a month now, and she's just turned 5 months old. When we received her, she was harnessed trained and stepped up and recalled for syringe feedings.
Now I know she's still very young, and it's only been a month, but I'm wondering when she will show signs of improvement in training. I've read stories of how birds will learn tricks after just a few repetitions or just a few days. And that these first 6 months are important for their mental development. I also know that we need to be patient.
So here's where we're at now:
Step up and recall: She will do these only when she wants to. Now that she's grazing all day on pellets and veggies, she doesn't have as much incentive to perform for the syringe. We feed 4 syringe-fulls of 30ml each per feeding, and we try to do 2 tricks per syringe. Before, she would perform until the end, but now, she only performs for the first 1 or 2 syringes. She still eagerly takes the remaining formula, but just isn't motivated as much after the first two, and we just end up feeding her without her having to do tricks. Are we teaching her to be spoiled by giving in? She won't even do it for nuts unless she's in the mood.
Shake hands: this one was easy as she seems to like to just hold your hand anyway. She does this on command without any treats.
Spread your wings: this one surprised me. I figured it would be easy to just give her treats/feedings
after we manually spread her wings. Seems like a simple enough trick. But she's only done it once or twice on command, and sometimes resists us spreading her wings manually. But when we're cuddling on the couch (lying on her back on my lap), she has no problems letting us spread her wings.
So after reading success stories of how fast they learn but also how patient we need to be, I have to wonder whether she's just moody and stubborn or if this is normal. I know they are much smarter than dogs, but even dogs learn simple commands and tricks after just a few repetitions. Any advice or input would be much appreciated.
Now I know she's still very young, and it's only been a month, but I'm wondering when she will show signs of improvement in training. I've read stories of how birds will learn tricks after just a few repetitions or just a few days. And that these first 6 months are important for their mental development. I also know that we need to be patient.
So here's where we're at now:
Step up and recall: She will do these only when she wants to. Now that she's grazing all day on pellets and veggies, she doesn't have as much incentive to perform for the syringe. We feed 4 syringe-fulls of 30ml each per feeding, and we try to do 2 tricks per syringe. Before, she would perform until the end, but now, she only performs for the first 1 or 2 syringes. She still eagerly takes the remaining formula, but just isn't motivated as much after the first two, and we just end up feeding her without her having to do tricks. Are we teaching her to be spoiled by giving in? She won't even do it for nuts unless she's in the mood.
Shake hands: this one was easy as she seems to like to just hold your hand anyway. She does this on command without any treats.
Spread your wings: this one surprised me. I figured it would be easy to just give her treats/feedings
after we manually spread her wings. Seems like a simple enough trick. But she's only done it once or twice on command, and sometimes resists us spreading her wings manually. But when we're cuddling on the couch (lying on her back on my lap), she has no problems letting us spread her wings.
So after reading success stories of how fast they learn but also how patient we need to be, I have to wonder whether she's just moody and stubborn or if this is normal. I know they are much smarter than dogs, but even dogs learn simple commands and tricks after just a few repetitions. Any advice or input would be much appreciated.