Take A Bow and High Five - BirdBoard.Com - Parrot Message Board & Pet Bird Owner Forums

Angel32067 · #1 (**permalink**) 02-20-2006, 08:33 PM

How do I teach my bird to Take A Bow and High Five

Monica · #2 (**permalink**) 02-20-2006, 09:31 PM

If you can teach your bird to do the "big eagle" (i.e. opening wings up) then you might be able to teach them to bow at the same time.

If you can teach your bird to wave with its foot you might be able to teach to 'high five'.

You want to teach the behavoir, but hopefully someone else will be here with details as to how (I don't do trick training)

LMPego · #3 (**permalink**) 02-20-2006, 10:05 PM

Actually, the "high five" is pretty easy. I'll tell you how I taught Cory (but we call it a wave, even though it's just raising her right leg up high).
I use sunflower seeds and a clicker to train.
First, put your finger like stepping up, but don't let the bird step up. Make sure you click as soon as the bird raises its foot and then reward. At first your bird will be very confused that you're not letting it step up, but as long as you use a different consistent cue word (like wave or high five), it will make the connection pretty quickly. Be sure to keep your training session short, just a few minutes, and end it when the bird has performed successfully.
Next training session, try to get the bird to raise it's foot higher. You may have to move your finger up until he or she gets it. You can try phasing out the clicker, but be sure you reward pretty consistently or they have no motivation to perform. When you phase out the clicker, make sure you replace it with a word like "good bird" so that they know that they are performing correctly.
Eventually, your bird will understand the trick well enough that you can use just the verbal cue. Cory has been waving for months now, but I still reward her for performing sometimes so that she doesn't lose the motivation to do the trick.
I have a video of Cory waving, I'll try to post it tomorrow.
I hope that made sense. If you have any more questions, I'll try to answer.
A good trick training book for parrots is "The Click that Does the Trick". It's pretty specific about chaining behaviors to get a desired result.

Tigey · #4 (**permalink**) 04-04-2006, 11:15 AM

im trying to teach my tiel to wave at the moment and you're not wrong about her being confused about stepping up or not. sometimes she gets frustrated and goes into a nipping frenzy and screeches at me.
but she does anything for scratches

Wing · #5 (**permalink**) 04-05-2006, 01:13 AM

In the March issue of BIRD TALK magazine, they featured the trick of the month, which happened to be the wave. If you don't have that issue, I can PM you the article. I'm guessing that if you can teach your bird to wave and hold the wave, all you'd have to do is teach your bird to hold the wave while you touch the waving foot. It might take some patience to teach that though...as the bird might want to step-up as you have your finger near it's feet.