HOW TO TRAIN YOUR PARROT (Chapter Five)

Chapter Five: Training The First Behavior Target Training 

Target Training 101

Target Training is a trick that I talk about a lot in videos and my elite par- rot trick training program so I’m going to keep it brief here. For a more in depth explanation of target training please refer to our video.

Lots of animals target train and it is an excellent concept that teaches any kind of parrot (mean or perfectly nice) how to touch the end of a stick

that you are presenting to it. The end result of target training will be that your bird is willing to climb around his cage, or even cross the room, to touch a stick or target.

To begin training this behavior, you introduce the stick with a click. De- pending on your bird’s level of comfort with you and the stick, it may be introduced in his cage or merely in the room. Again, depending on your bird’s level of comfort with you and the stick, he may initially get re- warded for simply looking at the stick. The goal is to gradually get your bird more and more comfortable with the stick until he touches the end of it.

Eventually he’ll cross a room to touch the end of a a stick. It is the first behavior you should teach a bird. Refer to our video taming, training and

tricks volume one for a more detailed explanation.

Why Teach Target Training?

I teach this first because it is a shaping behavior. It teaches your bird how to think and it helps him to understand the rules of the training

game. You’re not luring the bird, you’re not training him to follow food. Instead you’re teaching him to figure out what he’s supposed to do next.

Intelligent bird problem solving!

Your bird knows that the rule of the game is to earn clicks, now he will learn what he needs to do to earn those clicks.  If he moves toward the stick, you give him clicks.

Through positive reinforcement, you shape your bird’s behavior. You guide him to figure out the rules of the game on his own. When you teach target training first, he’ll be drastically better at figuring things out during future training sessions.

You Can Teach Target Training To A Mean Bird

If your bird isn’t able to leave the cage yet, maybe he’s too mean or still too frightened, you can train this behavior right in the cage.

The only reason that you might not want to train this first is that your bird may not be ready for training.

Here are some instances where your bird may not be ready for training:

1.  Traning too long. 

Seriously, you can really start with a minute or two of training. Pay attention to your bird’s behavior. One or two repetitions at a time. Don’t burn them out before you even get into the good stuff. Mentally burning out your bird is the number 1 reason birds stop

training. Give them a break! Make sure that your bird enjoys this. He doesn’t need to be on a training diet to do this kind of initial one or two repetition training. Patience is the key here.

2.  Training diet is too restrictive. 

Monitor your bird’s weight so that he stays in a safe zone. He can totally begin to associate hunger with train- ing and that is a bad thing. If he doesn’t want to train, take him off the diet and train him with one or two repetitions of the behavior, rather than

10 or 20, so that he learns to enjoy training.

3. Difference of opinion. 

Maybe your bird just doesn’t want to do what you want him to do. Train him to perform a natural behavior that he does

enjoy.

Maybe your bird enjoys fluffing his feathers, spreading his wings, talk- ing, etc… When he performs this behavior, click and reward. (This means that you must keep the treats handy and keep your clicker on you at all times.)

After a week or two of being rewarded for performing a natural behavior that he enjoys, your bird will associate the behavior with the click and the reward. You’ll notice that he’s learning the pattern. He’ll actually begin to perform the behavior repeatedly in anticipation of the treat. When he stops offering the behavior, stop the training. Don’t overdo it.

Once your bird understands the behavior receives a reward, you can add a verbal or physical cue to the behavior.

For example, my cockatiel didn’t want to train and rather than make him dislike training, we trained him to spread his wings because it was a be- havior that he enjoyed. One he learned the pattern of behavior equals click and reward we added the word “Flex,” to the trick.

Every time he’d perform the behavior we’d say the word so that he began to associate the word with the behavior. Knowing that he’d spread his wings, we’d insert the cue prior to him performing the behavior.

After a couple days of this, when he offers the behavior don’t click. Say

the cue, wait for the behavior, then click and reward. You teach him that he doesn’t get rewards unless you offer the cue.  He can’t just flex and always get a reward, he has to realize that flexing gets the reward when you ask him to perform the behavior.

Once smaller conditioning type behaviors are understood, like target training or training a behavior that the bird enjoys, you are ready to move onto bigger and better tricks. You’re ready to move onto creating a last- ing relationship with your bird.

Summary

You now know how to set up an environment for your bird so that he feels safe and comfortable.

You now know how to get a bird to stop being afraid of you.

You now know that food rewards aren’t the only rewards that your bird can receive, but that they are the easiest to use for training sessions.

You know about how to set up a SAFE training diet. A diet that encour- ages training.

You know how to motivate your bird to work for treats, you know how

to target train or add a cue to a behavior to shape your bird’s understand- ing of the training process.

You’re ready for bigger and better tricks.  More importantly, your bird is ready for bigger and better tricks.

I highly encourage you to train your bird to know as many tricks as possible. I sometimes hear people complain that they don’t want their bird to perform, they don't want their bird to learn tricks. They just want it to be a nice bird that doesn’t bite them.

Guess what, if you want a bird that doesn’t bite, scream, or throw a fit when you walk in the room, you have to teach him tricks. Why wouldn’t you?

You are a FOOL if you think that you don’t have to teach your bird tricks. Your bird will not be a fraction of the bird that he can be.

•    A bird that knows how to do tricks has fun.

•    A bird that knows how to do tricks is mentally stimulated

•    A bird that understands you, loves you.

•    If you don’t like playing with your bird, and would rather he just stay in his cage and not bite you then WHY DO YOU HAVE A BIRD?!