Timing is Everything
Friday, June 26th, 2015Dear Parrot Lover,
Timing is Everything
The ins and outs of training a bird
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Timing is everything! Everybody learns new things through patterns and associations whether that is your dog, you, or even the bird. It’s amazing to realize we really all do learn the same way. Rewards or positive outcomes encourage us to do a behavior again. Negative outcomes or punishment force us to avoid something in the future. The timing of the rewards is so important too because if you receive the reward when you’re doing the behavior, you know exactly what you did to get the reward.
Training your bird can be accomplished by remembering this important concept of rewards and timing. It’s how you can create new behaviors, and it’s also how you can change bad behaviors.
Click here to read more in-depth on training
Let’s look at a couple of examples:
If your bird squawks loudly, and you respond to your bird in any way, you’re actually encouraging the bird to talk to you to get your attention. This isn’t the only way screamers happen, but it’s one way, especially when it’s attention driven.
If your bird opens his mouth to bite you and does so if you touch him, stop moving up to touch him so quickly. He has learned that biting gets you to retreat and leave him alone. Instead, walk towards him and stop a short distance from him. Wait. When he closes his mouth and calms down, reward him. By breaking it down into smaller pieces where he can be rewarded, he learns to allow you to get closer and eventually touch him. You could even incorporate the use of a whistle or clicker to let him know the exact moment his behavior is correct.
Look at what behaviors you want to teach or what behaviors you want to change and see if you can determine the pattern your bird is using. Then alter the pattern and reward so he learns something new.
Click here to read more about how birds are trained
Professional help to figure it all out
Professional bird trainers who have done a lot of this kind of training with a variety of birds can be a valuable asset to you. You can access videos and materials specially designed for you and your situation. It makes it feel like a pro is right alongside you! This helps really to drive the concepts home in an easy to understand and implement method.
Parrot Secrets is one such training system you may find useful. You’ll have access to the training program as well as online seminars to make sure you learn everything you need to know.
Click here to check out Parrot Secrets program
Regards,
Nathalie Roberts