Great article Michael (though you need to work on your chart-visualising skills
)!
The main reason to manage your parrot's weight is to keep it healthy rather than for training. However, with your parrot's weight already managed to keep it at the optimal healthy weight, motivation for food can exist. An overweight parrot with constant access to food will not only be unmotivated to eat, but it will also be less motivated to participate in activity because it is physically harder.
While I believe this is true, and that you can achieve more motivation by food managed, both parrots were still eager to train when free fed. I am hoping that managing the food intake a little bit more (but still offering the same ammount as with todays food management) that we can up their motivation a little bit more
.
There is also the desirability of certain treats over others. This can be a great aide in training. There are two ways to improve motivation based on the relative value of different treats. You can generally use less favorable treats but then mark major success with the better treats. The other approach is to mix all treats and provide different ones randomly. This approach is good for sustaining motivation because the parrot never knows what it's going to get. It must keep trying because the next treat may just be a whole nut.
Which method do you use? I find that our fellas like 2 things as training treats, everything else isnt something they like enough. Sunflowers as regular treats, and almonds as supertreats. Other seeds are used to train them to like the carriers etc through being available only there.
So to make the most of the motivation in a training session (after a warm up if one is needed), begin with more difficult or strenuous tasks first and then work your way back toward easier things by the end. For example, let's say your parrot knows 5 tricks, step up, and flight recall. But at the same time you're teaching a new trick and working on getting the parrot to let you grab it. To maximize training motivation and get the most out of a single training session, work on some flight recalls first, then teach the next portion of the new trick, then practice some old tricks, and end the session by taming
This is great advice, and something Ive found to be most effective as well.
Thanks for the article
!