Trained Parrot BlogParrot Wizard Online Parrot Toy StoreThe Parrot Forum

Running away with reward... I would like some advise!

Discuss the methods and techniques of clicker training, target training and bonding. These are usually the first steps in training a young parrot.

Running away with reward... I would like some advise!

Postby Lisom » Mon Jan 30, 2023 1:57 am

Hello guys.

I have a red fronted macaw that is very scare of me. So far I have manage to train him to come next to the door of the cage and step up, problem is the moment I reward him for step up he takes the reward, jumps out of my hand and runs away to the other corner of the cage. I have been thinking on focus on time, reward him for staying longer time on my hand but he has this tendency of run away with his reward... Any suggestions?
Lisom
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 4
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Macaws, cockatoo
Flight: Yes

Re: Running away with reward... I would like some advise!

Postby Pajarita » Mon Jan 30, 2023 10:53 am

Welcome to the forum, Lisom and macs. You don't say how long you've had the bird, how old he is, what his diet, light and training schedule is and all those details are VERY important but, generally speaking if the bird does not want to step up on its own (meaning without having to bribe him) and flies off your hand as soon as he gets the nut, the problem is that the bird is not only not bonded to you but actively distrust you. Don't put your hand inside his cage to get him to come out of his cage (you are 'invading' his personal space and causing him to continue his distrust of you), open the door to the cage and allow him to come out on his own (and, if he stays in, let him stay). Do not ask for ANYTHING, just spend at least 4 hours with him in the same room (in the middle of the day, night doesn't work), talk, sing, whistle, dance for him and, every now and then, offer him a treat. This treat is a gift from you to him, a token of your desire to be his friend - not a reward and not a bribe.

Parrots are not naturally obedient because, in the wild, nobody tells them what to do, when to do it and how to do it so the 'obedience' gene is simply not in them (like it is in dogs, for example). But they do things out of love because, when they love you, they want to please you. My birds are never trained in the formal sense -meaning you give them a command and, when the bird does it, you reward it- but they know A LOT of commands, words and phrases and, when I ask them to do something, they do it. I took in a macaw a few months ago and, as it always happens, once he saw that this was now his home (meaning, the honeymoon period was over), he started acting up lunging at me every single morning when I am cleaning the cages and putting out fresh water and food. it is still going on but he has now decreased the number of lunges significantly (I only say "NO! Be nice!" and move away). He sometimes opens his wings upward and completely when he does this so I raise both my arms (as if they were my wings) and tell him "Big boy!" and, when he holds them open for a couple of seconds, I give him a treat. This re-directs his attention while training him to open his wings on command. Aggression takes a long time to eradicate but other commands are much easier to teach. The previous owners said they never could get him into a cage but he goes into his every single night all on his own and without a single problem and it only took one time to teach him. I simply waited until it was quite dark in the evening (the other birds had already all gone in), put his dinner (nuts) in the bowl, showed to it him, put it back in his cage and told him: "Go home! Peanuts!" (all nuts are 'peanuts'). He did not do it the first night but he did it the second (I had to wait and wait, repeating the 'go home, peanuts' over and over again) and now I don't have to wait at all because he realized that he only gets his nuts in the cage and that he only eats dinner and sleeps in it (the doors to the cages are open as soon as there is the merest sliver of light showing on the horizon) so he has no reason not to want to go into it and a very good reason to do it.

He still hasn't bonded with me but he now trusts me more because a) I never trick them, b) I never punish them, c) I am SUPER consistent and persistent. He now eats a good diet (all he got was pellets and an AWFUL parrot mix with mostly sunflower seeds and peanuts), knows several phrases (peanuts -for all nuts, que rica papa -for gloop and raw produce, papa rica -for formula in a syringe, I am watching you -when he is eyeing a little bird's cage, and a couple of commands (step up, step down, go -for him to fly back to the top of his cage, go home -for him to go into his cage, No or Stop it, when he starts flying from one cage to another and Loro Loco -my name for him (his name is Yogui and he knows it, too).

Teaching a bird to cohabit in a human environment is not the same as training for tricks. You can have a perfectly well mannered bird without training but you can't train without getting the bird to trust you implicitly and love you. So work on bonding with your bird because it's the only way to be successful in your training. If you read Michael's book, you will see that his birds loved him before he started training.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Running away with reward... I would like some advise!

Postby Lisom » Tue Jan 31, 2023 2:12 am

Thank you very much for your reply pajarita.

This bird has been with me for less than a week, he is an adult (10 years old aprox) eating a mix of fruits and parrot pellets along with a few seeds during training time. I try to have around 4-5 sessions with him daily

I will follow your advise and focus on him coming to me and build an stronger relationship before asking for step up, so far I have been feeding him all the diet by hand so that he can associate me with something good... Let's see how it goes in the next days :)
Lisom
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 4
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Macaws, cockatoo
Flight: Yes

Re: Running away with reward... I would like some advise!

Postby Pajarita » Tue Jan 31, 2023 10:30 am

Oh, my dear, one week is NOTHING to a rehomed parrot! You shouldn't be training him (and you should never have more than 3 sessions of 2 minutes each a day) it will backfire because he doesn't know you from Adam and, as far as he is concerned, you have no right whatsoever to ask him anything. You are a complete stranger that cannot be trusted because you took him from his home and human. Be VERY careful because he is on his honeymoon now and if you keep on antagonizing him, he not only might never bond with you, he might also dislike you forever.

Leave him alone for a couple of months, concentrate on getting him to trust and like you first. Also, be very careful which pellets you are using for his dinner, don't use the colored ones that have sugar added to them, macaws end up with diabetes from them.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Running away with reward... I would like some advise!

Postby Lisom » Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:25 am

Maybe I didn't explain myself correctly. In those 4 to 5 sessions I am not asking the bird for anything, I am just bonding by offering him some food. It just happened that by introducing my hand to desensitize he started to step up although he leaves whenever I give him the reward... Of course I am not expecting the bird to be like a machine doing whatever I ask him to do, I know positive reinforcement is not about that, it is about giving the animal reward for the good behavior so the animal is motivated to do it more often ;)
Lisom
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 4
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Macaws, cockatoo
Flight: Yes

Re: Running away with reward... I would like some advise!

Postby Lisom » Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:26 am

And yes, I am not a big fan of pellets neither but this was his diet before and can't make a sudden change, I will try to eventually removed them and give him a diet closer to what he would be eating in the wild but this will take some time
Lisom
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 4
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Macaws, cockatoo
Flight: Yes

Re: Running away with reward... I would like some advise!

Postby Pajarita » Wed Feb 01, 2023 10:59 am

Just two last things: 1) handfed parrots don't need to be desensitized to hands UNLESS hands were used to hurt or scare him. As he learns to trust you, he will come to your hand on its own - but, and this is just a note for you to take into consideration, I have found that large birds prefer the arm and not the hand to step up on. 2) I change my rehomed parrots' diets the second day they are with me. I don't believe in waiting to feed them right because a bird that is not eating a good diet is not a bird that feels good. Also, if that bird ate colored pellets for 10 years, his health is already compromised and there is no time to waste. ALL my parrots, from budgie to macaw, LOVE gloop.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes


Return to Taming & Basic Training

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 16 guests

Parrot ForumArticles IndexTraining Step UpParrot Training BlogPoicephalus Parrot InformationParrot Wizard Store