…And then keep going until you match your initial definition! Hit a bit of a road block with Vi (extremely limited progress…) until today. I was headed to my local bird shop (Busy Beaks Bird Shop if you’re interested–I volunteer for them by maintaining their website) and decided to see if I could coax her into…
Category: Training
Posts about training our birds.
Step Up Training: One Full Step Up (The First Time!)
A leap of faith takes at LEAST the Holy Grail… of toast! More progress today! …But at what cost? I think this is a mistake that a lot of novice bird trainers (i.e. me) make–we don’t provide a reluctant feathered friend with enough incentive to take a biiiiiig leap of faith. Sure, Wa-Wa-Waddles adores toast… but…
Step Up Training, Consistent Foot/Wrist Contact: Slow and steady wins the race
We have foot-wrist contact! Consistently! Woohoo! Vi now knows exactly what she needs to do to get her tasty toast, and she did it several times–and she reminded me very clearly that it’s so important to continue going slowly with her. I tried to entice her with a big piece when she repeated the gesture five times in…
Step Up Progress: Lifting a Foot
Progress! Eeee! VI LIFTED HER FOOT TO STEP UP TODAY! I MADE MY GOAL! …The reason I am so excited about this is because I didn’t think I was actually making any progress; she was comfortable leaning against my wrist to take a chip from me, but refused, refused to even try to move her foot closer…
Training Rescued Parrots: Setting Goals
Well, we’ve had Vi for a little over three and a half weeks now–things are going well. Slow, but well. Man oh man, unless your rehomed parrot is super well-socialized (which many aren’t–probably why she’s a rehome), this task is not for the impatient. I’m following my mantra of “every experience a positive one” and it seems…
Day Four: Free-Falling, but Forward!
Today, hubby came a little too fast down the stairs and startled the daylights out of Miss Vi–or, “Viola Valkyrie Waddlesworth”, as we’re now calling her. Pretty sure her being dubbed with three names means we’re keeping her… But I digress. Miss Vi went FLYING across the room (note to self: get wings clipped PRONTO),…
Early Step-Up Training: Let The Bird Come To You
Day Three – The Bird Calls the Kitty Okay. How UNBELIEVABLY adorable is this?! View this post on Instagram Omg. The bird calls the cats. Ha! #amazon #amazonparrot #parrot #parrotsofinstagram #herekittykitty A post shared by Snowpack Deactivated (@the.snow.pack) on Mar 15, 2016 at 6:15pm PDT We have continued to let her come to us at…
Step Up Training, Day Two: Venturing Out of the Cage
What to do in the early days of new parrot ownership of an older bird. Patience and ambient attention is important.
Step Up Training, Day One: Waddles has arrived!
…And I want to rename her “Viola”, even though she knows her name and a chorus of “Hi Louie!” and “Hi Waddles!” is echoing back and forth between my main floor and my basement. We met Samantha (the grey) as well, but the other woman decided to brave her fears and take her home. It’s…
Flock Mentality – The Pull of other Parrots & Whistle Training
I now understand why Karen (the former owner of the bird shop where I volunteer) told me to keep my budgies in separate cages where they can’t hear each other. Flock Mentality: It’s A Thing. Qtip (our cockatiel) came to us knowing the “Imperial March” and “Zippity Doo Da”. Sure, he’d get stuck on the four…