Tricks!!

[PeterGogl]

We bought a 10 week old lovebird from a breeder 2 weeks ago. He was handfed and is becoming quite tame. He comes out of his cage when he wants to, and he knows how to "step up." We named him Kevin, after the bird from UP. Ironically, we don't know know if he's a male or female Now, the question: how do we know when it's OK to start training him tricks. I've got a book and a clicker and a DVD. We're excited to give training a try, but we don't know if he's tame enough yet (ie if there's enough trust--how would we know). I'm also wondering if he's old enough yet. He still has dark markings on his beak.

Peter

[jenseits]

Welcome to BirdBoard.

As long as he's fully weaned and eating on his own you can start training. Clicker training is itself a trust-building activity, so no need to wait until he's "tame enough" - you can start using positive reinforcement training at any time.

Which book/DVD are you using and what's the first trick you plan to teach?

Look forward to hearing about your progress!

[PeterGogl]

The book is by Robin Deutsch entitled "The Click that Does the Trick." The DVD is Tani Robar's "Teach Your Parrot Beginning Tricks." We hope to start with "turn around" and then move on to "wave" Eventually I'd like to teach him how to ring a desk bell. So we're not going after real involved tricks, but we are just beginners. We'll see how the easy stuff goes, one trick at a time.

Any suggestions re: treats? I haven't had any luck feeding him any solid food by hand.

[Emmilyy]

Does he like sunflower seeds? Millet? Those are the treats i use with Cookie - and sometimes a bite of apple. anything small that doesn't take him too long to eat, i think.

[proviewsg]

Congrates to you on getting your lovebird. They are gorgeous and intelligent little parrots. Anyway you can start training anytime and of any age, as long you that you little Kevin has settled down in the new environment and comfortable with your presence.

With a clicker or without a clicker, it doesn't make much different, as the clicker is just to "mark" the right behavior at that instance. But you've got condition the bird with clicker first, else the clicker has totally no meaning!

I had a lovebird named Kiki too and I trained without a clicker. I used the word "Good Girl" to mark the right behavior. Here are some of the trick video collection that I compiled years back:

Kiki’s Tricks | Bryan’s Angels – The Adventures of Kacy | Parrot Training, Parrot Tricks & Parrot Health