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The purpose of the daily training session is for the bird to feel comfortable with being touched and to show the bird that you are in control. Behavioral problems develop once a bird feels that its life is out of control. A bird will not develop bad habits -such as biting and excessive screaming-if the individuals in a bird's life show the bird that they are in control of themselves and their environment.
Do not work with your bird if you are in a bad mood or feel that you are likely to lose your temper. At these times you are not in control and therefore a training session with your bird would be counterproductive.
These are a few basic rules about behavior:
This daily training session will help to prevent good birds from going bad, by preventing bad behaviors and reinforcing good behaviors. The daily training session will also help bring difficult birds back in line. The positive reinforcement that the bird receives will give the bird confidence in itself and in its owner. The bird will become cheerful and will look forward to the training sessions.
Choose an area for the daily training session that the bird has not established as its territory. Work with your bird on a T-stand. There should be no distractions on the T-stand such as food bowls or toys and there should be no distractions in the room. Barking dogs, screaming children and other birds are all distractions. You must be calm and cheerful, while giving your bird your full attention. Set a timer for two minutes (gradually lengthen the training session as the bird's attention span increases). Pet the bird starting at the head and working down to the tail, then go over the wings. Return to petting the bird's head, pet down the neck go under the wings and lift them up. Then pet the bird's chest and down the bird's legs, rub each toe. Do not push your bird if it is uncomfortable with this touching. If a bird objects to being touched in a certain area avoid it and try again the next day. Keep trying until the bird realizes that this is not a threatening gesture and accepts touching over its entire body. This is relatively easy with young birds. However, older birds may be uncomfortable with this type of handling and will take longer to adjust.
Next pick your bird up and put your bird down on the T-stand several times. Remember to praise your bird each time your bird steps up onto your hand and each time it returns to the T-stand. When picking the bird up it is important to first say the bird's name then, "Up" or any short command that you choose as an up command. For example, "Pogo. Up!.....Good bird!" The reason for saying a bird's name first is to get its attention. The reason for praise is that praise communicates to your bird that it has behaved correctly.
Do not say, "Step up" for the up command if you will be using " Step down" for the down command. The first word of both commands is the same and this can be confusing to your bird. Think very carefully about the commands that you decide to use. Repetition and the consistent use of language are essential if you want your bird to understand what is expected.
Pick up and return your bird to the T-stand at different angles, such as making the bird step backwards or turn around to step up. Placing the bird so that it moves away from you on the down command one time and towards you the next time. If your bird is young and seems confused by this, then slow down and permit the bird to step up and down in any way that it is comfortable. However, more will be expected of your baby as it gets older.
The "up" and "down" commands are very important. Your bird must learn to do these without question. If there is an emergency and you must quickly vacate the area, it could save the life of your birds.
Keeping your bird at chest level (so that you are in control at all times) have your bird step from your right hand to your left hand and back to your right hand. Repeating the "up" command every time your bird steps up. Do not forget to praise your bird. When the timer goes off, stop immediately and praise even if your baby did poorly. That way it will continue to look forward to future training sessions. It is important to stop when the timer goes off. If the training session went poorly then you may be stressed and in these circumstances you cannot do your best work. The shorter the training session the less time there is to make mistakes or become frustrated. Training sessions should take place once or twice a day. If you can do these short sessions four times a day that is even better. Everyone in the family should participate in training their pet bird. This should not be the responsibility of one person. Training will increase the bond between people and birds. When only one person is involved in training then other family members may become the object of the bird's jealous wrath.
Once your bird is comfortable with its private training sessions, begin doing them in areas where there may be some distractions. After all the bird must behave in many different situations. However, if at some point the bird becomes uneasy or difficult, go back to doing the training in a private area.
When your bird gets to the point that the training sessions become boring for both you and your bird, then you can attempt trick training. However, trick training is just for fun and should never become serious or work for either of you.
"Warm potato" will keep birds comfortable and friendly with many people. This is an activity that I strongly recommend with babies or when birds are new to a home. The family and everyone that may be expected to handle the bird should get together and sit in a circle. One person gets the bird and brings it to the circle. The bird is petted, sweet talked and then passed it to the next person, who repeats the petting and sweet-talking. This warm show of affection continues with each person until the bird goes full circle. The person who took the bird out of the cage returns the bird to the cage or to its gym to play. With new birds, play "warm potato" every day for two weeks and then six days out of the following week. Do this five days the next week. Continue reducing the sessions until you get down to once a week. The weekly session is done for the bird's entire life. Every family should sit down together like this once a week any way!
Teaching a bird to understand the meaning of "no" is often difficult for many people. The consistent use of language, tone of voice and facial expression is paramount when teaching a bird the meaning of, "no." This is important in all aspects of bird training. When language, voice and expression are consistent and proper in other aspects of training, "no" becomes easier for a bird to understand.
Consistent language means that you always use the same word for a particular command. "No" for instance would always be used whenever you want your bird to stop whatever it is doing. You should not say, "Stop that," or "Don't do that." You must consistently use the word, "no" during the learning phase. Once a bird understands a particular word (command) very well, it can be taught other words that have the same or similar meaning. However, it will always understand and respond to the first word it was taught more efficiently. It is much like learning two languages. The first language will always come easier.
When praising a bird it is important to know that birds enjoy high-pitched sounds and baby talk. So, use a high pitched and excited voice when encouraging or praising a bird. If you have trouble understanding the proper voice for praise or encouragement, watch a children's show on television. Shows such as Sesame Street have characters with voices and body language that maintain the attention and admiration of children and birds.
The proper voice for "no" is serious and deep. The word
"no", should never be screamed. Screaming at your birds teaches your
bird to scream back at you. Screaming is drama reward. When people scream their
voices become high pitched there body language is exaggerated and frankly they
look very comical. This is enjoyable and rewarding to birds. If you are having
trouble with the proper voice for "no", study Darth Vader's voice in
the movie Star Wars. His voice is calm, serious and deep.
Facial expressions are often the most difficult to control. However, once you get accustomed to praising your bird for good behavior that just happens to follow bad behavior your facial expressions will improve. Being able to say, "Good bird!" right after you bird threw a screaming fit, paused and then said, "Peek-a-boo" takes great self-control. "Good bird!" is likely the last thing you feel like saying. Yet, the good behavior must be reward or the bad behavior will continue. Once you have developed this self-control the facial expression will become easier. You will not grimace so much when trying to praise your bird.
I have often seen people smile when saying, "no." This sends mixed messages and the command is not take seriously. There are two reasons that a person will smile when they say, "no" to their bird. One is that they are not giving the bird their full attention and their mind is on some other subject. If you do not give your bird your full attention it will not give you its full attention. Two, the person is worried that the bird will not love them if they tell it, "no." Nothing could be further from the truth. If people are unable to set boundaries for their birds, the birds will lose respect for them not necessarily stop loving them. However, they will treat people that they love and respect with much more affection than people they do not respect. If you feel that you are telling your bird "no," too frequently then you must reevaluate your expectations of your bird.
If at any time you feel compelled to punish your bird, you should remember that the best punishment is to withhold reward. Physical punishment instills fear, not respect. It teaches the birds that you are out of control. Birds do not respect people who are out of control. Punishment also fosters resentment and resentment leads to aggression or phobic behavior.
I believe that the terrible twos is a myth. Young birds are full of life and energy. They are exuberant. Once they have the coordination to do so they will play hard and challenge everything. This is how they teach themselves about life and their own limitations. To create a structured environment, a bird's human companion must:
If all these things are done then the bird will become better behaved when it reaches two or three years of age. Most species are very malleable till they are two and a half to three years of age. For Hyacinths and other slower growing species this baby stage will last till they are three or four years old. If a structured environment (lifetime training) was not created in the early years then at two or three years of age a bird will try to take control of its life and the lives of the people in the birds home. Hence, the twos become the terrible twos and the bird owners must now work harder at creating the structured environment that would have been much simpler to create when the bird was younger and more impressionable.
Training is a lifestyle for birds and their owners. I realize that this can be a demanding regime. Yet, good behavior must be reinforced on a regular basis. If good behavior is not constantly reinforced then negative behaviors can occur in the best-behaved birds. A loving environment with fun training sessions will keep everyone happy.
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