The Wonders of Clicker Training
haha So I know you guys shouldn't expect hear this from me for a while til I have my own pup, but I just had to see how "amazing" clicker training is 
SO I have been clicker-training the birds!
I wanted to focus on the 4 eldest cockatiels who are all housed together. They experience "cage aggression" where if you stick your hand in their cage they will attempt to bite you. [ more like "mouthing" they don't cause any damage though they use to ] They will also refuse to step onto my finger when they're in the cage, and attempt to run away from me. [ if they don't try to attack ] If I extract them from the cage they're fine, however, I really wanted them to stop being so fearful when they are inside. They didn't use to have this problem when they use to free-roam, it is a "being the cage" thing.
So, my goal was to get the tiels more comfortable with me, to stop biting when I stick my hand in the cage, and eventually, to come to me instead of running away.
So problems I face with clicker training cockatiels;
o1. Very hand shy. Takes a lot of coaxing to get them to do what I want. As soon as they'd see my hand too close they'd get scared.
o2. No bult-in "willing to please" drive that dogs have -_-;
o3. Short attention span. I could only train them for a few minutes at a time at first, gradually worked up to about 30 minutes. They also get distracted really easily, so if the iguana sneezed they'd be too distracted to train anymore. *sigh*
o4. Not particularly food motivated. I combated this by training them before I gave them their food every morning. After a few sessions, I was able to train them any time and they would work just for the treat, not because of hunger.
o5. Can only train them when they are very active; early in the morning & in the evening.
First I started by using a chopstick. This allowed me to get them use to the clicker without my hand getting to close to them. Every time they would "touch" [ not bite! ] the choptick, I would click & treat. [ with millet ] I did this dozens upon dozens of times. After a while, I'd start moving the chopstick farther away from them. They'd actually follow the chop stick knowing when they touched it they'd get a treat! I've been able to make them go all around their enclosure, and one of them will actually come out of the cage!
After that, they've now realized "click=treat" so I began working on getting them to "step up" onto my finger. First, I'd slide my hand under their feet [ which would force them to step onto me ] then click&treat if they stayed on. [ I would then quickly put them back so they didn't get too stressed out ] I'd keep doing this, only making them stand on my finger longer before they got the treat.
After a while, as soon as they'd see my hand in the cage, they'd actually come over to me & step on my finger all on their own! Sephiroth [ my start pupil & fastest learner ] will even come outside the cage on his own now when he sees me open the door.
So now, for the most part, none of my tiels bite when I stick my hand in the cage! I am SO proud! I never thought they were so smart haha
I know this doesn't seem like a big thing, but I worked SO hard to get them to this point. We've been doing this for the past month! Occasionally, they still mess up, but we're getting there I'd like to get them to do some interesting stuff next...like fetch lol
This has definitely taught me a HUGE amount of patience, & I think after this I can train any dog lol ~
SO I have been clicker-training the birds!
I wanted to focus on the 4 eldest cockatiels who are all housed together. They experience "cage aggression" where if you stick your hand in their cage they will attempt to bite you. [ more like "mouthing" they don't cause any damage though they use to ] They will also refuse to step onto my finger when they're in the cage, and attempt to run away from me. [ if they don't try to attack ] If I extract them from the cage they're fine, however, I really wanted them to stop being so fearful when they are inside. They didn't use to have this problem when they use to free-roam, it is a "being the cage" thing.
So, my goal was to get the tiels more comfortable with me, to stop biting when I stick my hand in the cage, and eventually, to come to me instead of running away.
So problems I face with clicker training cockatiels;
o1. Very hand shy. Takes a lot of coaxing to get them to do what I want. As soon as they'd see my hand too close they'd get scared.
o2. No bult-in "willing to please" drive that dogs have -_-;
o3. Short attention span. I could only train them for a few minutes at a time at first, gradually worked up to about 30 minutes. They also get distracted really easily, so if the iguana sneezed they'd be too distracted to train anymore. *sigh*
o4. Not particularly food motivated. I combated this by training them before I gave them their food every morning. After a few sessions, I was able to train them any time and they would work just for the treat, not because of hunger.
o5. Can only train them when they are very active; early in the morning & in the evening.
First I started by using a chopstick. This allowed me to get them use to the clicker without my hand getting to close to them. Every time they would "touch" [ not bite! ] the choptick, I would click & treat. [ with millet ] I did this dozens upon dozens of times. After a while, I'd start moving the chopstick farther away from them. They'd actually follow the chop stick knowing when they touched it they'd get a treat! I've been able to make them go all around their enclosure, and one of them will actually come out of the cage!
After that, they've now realized "click=treat" so I began working on getting them to "step up" onto my finger. First, I'd slide my hand under their feet [ which would force them to step onto me ] then click&treat if they stayed on. [ I would then quickly put them back so they didn't get too stressed out ] I'd keep doing this, only making them stand on my finger longer before they got the treat.
After a while, as soon as they'd see my hand in the cage, they'd actually come over to me & step on my finger all on their own!
Sephiroth [ my start pupil & fastest learner ] will even come outside the cage on his own now when he sees me open the door.So now, for the most part, none of my tiels bite when I stick my hand in the cage! I am SO proud! I never thought they were so smart haha
I know this doesn't seem like a big thing, but I worked SO hard to get them to this point. We've been doing this for the past month! Occasionally, they still mess up, but we're getting there
I'd like to get them to do some interesting stuff next...like fetch lol This has definitely taught me a HUGE amount of patience, & I think after this I can train any dog lol ~
Comments
Great work though, Im sure this experience will help you SO much in the future when your Nihon Ken arrives!
But hey if I can train my stubborn birds I can train anything, MOIHAHAHAHAA...*cough*
Clicker training works wonders! And working with birds must teach a lot of patience. Most caged birds that I have been around have seemed quite vindictive. :-P
I guess Im not a bird person :P
Thanks for sharing....Your pictures of them on the other thread are just great btw!
Snf
I Promise a video eventually! My sony camera is the only one that takes vids & I lost the memory card for it >_> SO when I get a new one from work I promise a vid
However, Osy, that is true. If you can teach birds, I know you can have a dog cooking you breakfast!
On a somewhat unrelated note, PetSmart just opened here and I went to buy a clicker. They didn't have any! They said to come back in a couple weeks.
And you should definitely train your dog to crap in the toilet. Just for the lolz.
I miss my birds.
Clicker training cats:
Clicker training chickens!
I didn't get anywhere with clicker training when I was working with Yoshi. It made me wonder if he was deaf (but that couldn't be it since he can hear my car from nearly 1/4 mile away). But now that we've got a better bond, I think I'm gonna give it another go.