Parrot Training Mistakes…and a New Parrot Training DVD!

I have just returned from Finland where I was fortunate to present a two day seminar on parrot training. This was my second time with these folks and it was just as much as fun as the first time. I wanted to share one of my moments of learning from the weekend.

We had a nice big group….around 60 people. Almost every person brought a parrot too. In Finland it is common practice to keep parrots fully flighted. This has helped many parrot enthusiasts in Finland already get acquainted with training with positive reinforcement. We definitely had some great trainers in the room. However all those birds flying around at the same time could get a bit chaotic. Fortunately we were able to split the group into separate rooms for training and made some progress.

One of the challenges with bringing parrots to a new location for training is that sometimes the behaviors they present so well at home fall apart in a new environment. This can be due to a number of factors such as environmental distractions or perhaps the behavior was not generalized to new locales. One such behavior for several of the parrots was going back into the travel cage. Whenever the parrots were to be left unsupervised (for example during the lunch break) we wanted the birds to be safe in their cages. While most cooperated we had a few who probably needed more practice going back into their travel cages for positive reinforcement.

One such bird was Wilma, an Amazon parrot. On the first day when Wilma decided out on a perch was better than in the cage, we got a little sneaky. We basically took parts of her travel cage off so that we could lower it over her while she sat on the perch. The process was pretty uneventful and Wilma was secure. However it was not ideal since Wilma did not voluntarily climb into her travel cage.

The next day I forgot to mention to Wilma’s caregiver that it might be better to work with Wilma in her less distracting hotel room until the crate training was solid. Come lunchtime Wilma was already out and about in the big room. Although what Wilma really needed was a few training sessions, the schedule was tight and we decided to try our sneaky technique from the day before. Here is where we made our mistakes. We all were hungry and anxious to go to lunch..so our patience was limited. Wilma had also learned from the day before that lowering the cage over her would mean she would be in the travel cage and not by her choice. She very quickly started choosing to move away from us. Despite this we tried a few more times……more bad choices on our part. Finally we got smart! We decided Wilma could stay out in the room and someone would remain with her to supervise. We could take turns grabbing lunch.

After lunch, workshop organizer, and parrot trainer extraordinaire Milla volunteered to train Wilma to go into her cage. However because of her trust depleting experience with the cage Milla needed to find a high value reinforcer to get Wilma interested. A lovely pastry did the trick. Another great idea Milla had was to rearrange the cage so that it was easy for her to position her hands so that Wilma might enter the crate. You can see the arrangement in the photos. She also placed Wilma’s perch close to the cage so she could climb from the perch onto the cage and into it on her own. In about 20 minutes Wilma was going in the crate on her own. After so many pastry nibbles we thought she might be ready for a drink of water. We added her water cup to the cage and Wilma took the last few steps she needed in order to get a drink. Success! Wilma still needed more reps on the behavior before it would be solid, but we were happy she made it this far. Everyone felt much better about the process….especially Wilma.





I must admit one of my favorite parts of the live parrot workshops is the interesting training scenarios that occur. Each bird and behavior presents different challenges. And the feedback I often hear is that the parrot training demos are extremely educational. Reading about it from a book just doesn’t present the whole picture. This leads to my mention of the new DVD. A while back we filmed one of my live parrot training workshops. It is finally available. It includes 3 discs and 4 hours of information. You will learn how to train your parrot, read his body language, solve parrot behavior problems and watch me demonstrate these techniques with parrots I am meeting for the first time. Most of all you will learn how to have a great relationship with your bird based on trust. I hope you will check it out and discover how these training methods can help you have a fun, well behaved and interactive companion parrot. To order the Basics of Parrot Training: A Live Workshop DVD just click this link.

Enrichment! More than Just Parrot Toys

I love the word “enriching.” Everything about it just sounds glorious. It seems to suggest being immersed in bountiful fun. Who can say “no” to that? Certainly not the animals in my household! They love enrichment and I love providing it. I can easily spend the entire morning offering fun activities for my pets and watching them revel in it.

One of the great things about enrichment is that it does not have to be all that difficult to include in your parrot’s (and other pet’s) life. Enrichment can be as simple as providing a head of lettuce as seen in this clip with some sun conures at a zoo.
It can also be playing some fun audio sounds for your parrot. I like to use one of those digital pictures frames to play bird sounds for my Amazon parrot Delbert. He sings along while I clean house or hop in the shower. I play this for him almost every day and simply mix up the recordings to add variety.

I also love to take items destined for the trash or recycling and turn them into parrot toys. Clean empty plastic vitamin bottles, plastic caps, and empty cardboard cereal boxes can be big fun! I stuff shredded paper and treats in the boxes and string them up with untreated leather strips. Who cares if they get destroyed? They were destined for recycling anyway. Kris Porter has a site called http://www.parrotenrichment.com/ in which she shares many inexpensive ideas for parrot toys you can make at home.

I also use enrichment as a way to help reinforce behaviors I want to keep strong. For example every time my yellow naped Amazon parrot Delbert is out of his cage I rotate out old toys and put in different ones. This can happen several times a day. This means every time my bird enters his cage something fun and interesting is waiting for him. This helps reinforce going back into the cage when asked. I keep a nice supply of toys on hand to make sure there is lots of variety.

Having worked in zoos for many years I also take advantage of an old zoo enrichment favorite…non toxic browse. I grow my own lemongrass and snip bamboo from a friend’s yard to also offer as enrichment. These are usually only good for a day, but they add yet another fun enrichment item to the list. (Always be sure any plant items you offer are non toxic, free of chemical, pesticides and road grime)

Here is a short list of some of the enrichment items I have on hand for my parrots:

Lemongrass
Bamboo
Plastic straws
Lots of foot toys to stuff into other toys
Untreated wood pieces
Old phone books
Plastic bottles (vitamin- remove any foil)
Cardboard boxes (cereal, crackers, etc)

My dog gets in on the action too. Not only does he forage for his food, but he also chases soap bubbles, plays in the sprinkler, tears apart boxes and even loves to pop bubble wrap. I am not sure who has more fun, my animals or me! Ah yes, enrichment truly is enriching.

Barbra Heidenreich
http://www.goodbirdinc.com/
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2010

New Issue of Good Bird Magazine Available

The latest issue of Good Bird Magazine (summer 2010 Vol 6 Issue 2) is now available at this link.


Addressing Exploratory Biting
Training Your Parrot to Step Up onto New People
Training a Reluctant Macaw to Crate
Best Parrot Shows on Earth - Discover Tikal, Guatemala
Quietly Communicating with Your Parrot

I also wanted to remind everyone that as of the Spring 2010 issue Good Bird Magazine is now a digital publication. We are no longer offering the print version. However the new format includes video, audio, searchability and so much more. It far exceeds what we could accomplish with print. You can take a test drive of the new features at this link.



www.GoodBirdinc.com

Baby Parrot Training: 6 Months Later

Guess who I got to visit? Beni and Wrigley! They are the two young parrots whose training many followed here on my blog. I am happy to report they are both doing extremely well. Beni despite his initial attachment to me has happily moved onto another favorite person, John his main caregiver. However despite having a tendency to choose a preferred person he does still present behaviors for other people, including me. While I was there he did fly to me on cue. He also wowed me with his amazing flight skills. The Kaytee Learning Center is a huge open space and he has really had the chance to practice dipping, diving and circling the center. John installed perches high on the displays that allow for some spectacular flights. I can’t wait to see an audience’s reaction to Beni’s flying. I hear it is a crowd favorite.



Wrigley is also doing well. The first day he saw me he came out and eagerly practiced a few flights. He then launched into some of the new words and phrases he has been learning. His little eyes were pinning with excitement as he and I jabbered away together. I like to think it means he remembers me and was happy to see me. Of course it could have been that I had a pocketful of treats. Either way it was great fun to visit with both birds. Here is a little video clip of Wrigley. He is not quite as excited this day, but at least followers of his story can see how much more yellow he now has on his head. He is growing up!

I will be returning to the Kaytee Learning Center soon and will see if I can capture some clips of Beni too. Check back for further updates!

Barbara Heidenreich
http://www.goodbirdinc.com/
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2010

A Place for People Who Are Crazy About Parrots - The Good Bird WingNutz (TM) Club

I have been biting my tongue for months now. Working on a new project is exhilarating, so much so you just want to tell the world. The day has finally come. I can officially announce ....drum roll please........

Good Bird Magazine is now a part of the NEW Good Bird WingNutz (TM) Membership Program.

What does this mean for you? It means if you become a member you get access to tons of additional resources from Good Bird Inc and the newly redesigned Good Bird Magazine. You can Learn How to Train Your Parrot! Solve Parrot Behavior Problems! Get Inspired! Expand Your Knowledge!

WHAT MEMBERSHIP INCLUDES:
Members will receive access to special online resources including the following:

* Selected Back Issues of Good Bird Magazine
* Parrot Training Videos
* Latest Discounts
* Sneak Previews
* Parrot Training Video Tips
* Selected Articles by Barbara Heidenreich
* Special Messages
* Product Reviews
* Bonus Materials
* Surveys

THE NEW GOOD BIRD MAGAZINE
Included in your membership is the quarterly publication Good Bird Magazine. We changed the format to make Good Bird Magazine a better resource for parrot enthusiasts. The new digital format is unlike anything seen in the parrot world before. It has video, audio, hyperlinks and flips pages just like a paper magazine. You have got to check it out! Take a test drive of the NEW Good Bird Magazine at this link (Be sure to click on the bottom right corner of each page to get the page flip!)

Here is a complete list of all the NEW features in this innovative digital parrot training and behavior resource.

* All Color - Parrots are just too beautiful for black and white
* Video - The perfect tool to teach readers how to train their parrots
* Audio - Audio adds a new dimension and features such as parrot call identification
* Links - Get connected immediately to resources, references and advertiser special offers
* Searchable - Find exactly what you are looking for
* Sticky Notes - Easily add a note to any article for future reference
* Book Marks - Save your place with a custom label
* Zoom Capabilities - No need for reading glasses. Get a close look at just what you need
* Highlighting - Emphasize sections of interest for easy referral
* Page Flipping - Read a digital magazine just like a regular magazine
* Printable - If you still love a printed product, you can easily print a copy
* Downloadable - If you are an ereader user, download Good Bird Magazine for easy portability
* Super Easy to Use - User friendly in every way

GET ACCESS NOW
To get access to membership areas including the latest issue of Good Bird Magazine all you need to do is become a member. Click the link below to start your membership and get immediate access. Membership is only $19 per year.

Become a Good Bird WingNutz (TM) Club Member

After you complete your order go to the Good Bird WingNutz (TM) Club home page

Next click on "register" in the Membership Login Box on the top left side of the page. Fill out the short form. Be sure to use the email address associated with your membership order. This process will confirm you have a placed your membership order.

Once this step is complete you can return to the Good Bird WingNutz (TM) home page and log in using your email address and the password you chose during the registration process. After logging in you will have access to additional materials available in the WingNutz (TM) members only sections.

(Your membership will automatically renew so no need for annual reminders. You can cancel at anytime. Just send a note to info@goodbirdinc.com)

I hope you will enjoy this great new resource designed to help you have an amazing relationship with the parrots in your life.

Barbara Heidenreich
http://www.goodbirdinc.com/

A Six Year Old Parrot Trainer

You are never too old to learn and you are never too young. I was recently in Curacao to teach a parrot behavior and training workshop. The first day we focused on the principles of learning and the “how to’s”. The next day people brought their parrots and we did hands on training sessions. My job was to coach them through their sessions.


The veterinarian who hosted the event Dr Doest had her six year old son in aattendance on the second day. His name is Connor. At one point I played a video clip on how to train a parrot to turn around on cue. This was an example the students could watch and then practice with their parrots. My focus had been on the other attendees and the birds. However out of the corner of my eye, I caught some activity going on behind my back. Connor was training a 26 year old Amazon Parrot to turn around on cue!



But wait! There is more to the story. The parrot in question is named Crockey. And in the past Crockey had not always been very pleased with Connor and would show him aggressive behavior. Instead Crockey was calm and focused on figuring out what she needed to do to earn a treat.

The final piece to the story that I thought was fascinating is that Connor also speaks Dutch and is just learning English. Therefore he learned mostly by watching the video clip as opposed to listening to the verbal instructions.

Best of all I love that Connor was able to have fun training Crockey and build their relationship. Gotta love the power of positive reinforcement training. Way to go Connor!

P.S. I have heard that since the seminar Connor has continued what he started. He and Crockey have been having more successful training sessions together. I can't wait to see what Connor will train next!

Barbara Heidenreich
http://www.goodbirdinc.com/
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2010

Train Your Parrot to Accept Medication

I just had to share this video clip from parrot lover and friend to Good Bird Inc, Dot. Dot has attended a workshop and is a Good Bird Magazine subscriber. She really has done a fine job of applying what she has learned about parrot training to her birds.

As a retired teacher I think she knows that learning never stops and I have had such fun hearing about her training successes with her birds. Here is a super important one. She taught her birds to take medications from a syringe!



I love this behavior because it is easy to train and will help prevent a lot of stress down the road if your bird ever gets sick and needs medication. It breaks my heart when I hear of birds who became terrified of their owners after they were grabbed and restrained twice a day for two weeks to take medication. That experience can really damage the trusting relationship between human and parrot. That is why teaching people how to train this behavior is such a favorite of mine.

It can usually be accomplished in just a few training sessions. Many times it is trained in just one session. Once it is trained it is just a matter of maintaining the behavior. This may mean offering water or juice from a syringe every few weeks or so.

You can learn how to train this behavior from start to finish in the Ebook Train Your Parrot to Accept Medication. Hopefully watching Dot will inspire you to train your bird!

Barbara Heidenreich
http://www.goodbirdinc.com/
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2010

Finding a Lost African Grey Parrot. A Success Story!

Losing a parrot can be heartbreaking! And it can happen to the best of us. I was thrilled to receive this success story about Scarlett, the African grey parrot. I hope it inspires more people to be prepared for a possible parrot escape. It does not take much to have all your tools in place and it can certainly make the job of recovering your parrot a lot easier. Thank you to Keith and Christine for allowing me to share their story with you.


Dear Ms. Heidenreich,

We recently joined a bird support group near Cincinnati and as an organization we showed your video "Get Your Bird Back" to the membership, with DVDs up for sale. This occurred last Sunday and Wednesday my African grey parrot escaped out the back door. We tried to call her but she flew higher and higher and we lost sight of her.

While we had not completed obtaining all the materials you suggest, we had a carrier and most importantly had already trained our two year old bird to step up to us and strangers and to fly to us. We placed the flyers, the Internet ads, newspaper classified, called zoos, vets, TV stations and police departments and then tried not to go crazy with grief.

Yesterday we received a call from a woman who was on a scenic bike trail about 10 miles from our home. She had been out walking and then stopped at a local park where she was near a nature center booth. A man came off the trail and reported he saw a bird on the trail. He stopped and had the bird step up on a stick. This gathered attention and he moved the parrot away and then tried to wrap the bird in a small towel ( He knows nothing of parrot care but he was smart!) She did bite him and then flew away. This woman went to the nature center and asked about the story and then called a vet she used ( the same as mine) and the word was out! This woman called me, my breeder form Columbus Ohio called me, our organization members called....... the hunt was on.

I arrived at the bike trail about an hour later and the woman who called me started walking back up the trail to find the bird, as we kept in touch, she heard another biker say they saw a group of people with the bird up the trail. I drove to that end point of the trail and the woman caller and myself closed in the gap between us but never found the crowd of people or any other reports.

My wife was on her way to this area and immediately called the police department and reported the bird missing. They did not seem too interested at first but my wife made it personal for the officer with her loss and then he wrote a more accurate report. She then drove to a point on the bike trail where we were and we started getting people to different spots up and down the trail to look. At this point, the lady who called left, but not without taking flyers to post near where she lived and she said she would contact local vets near her. (She is a bird Saint!)

We posted fliers on the two ends of the trail and then my wife and I were going to walk the 4 miles of the trail from each end again to meet in the middle as it was getting near dusk. I was then called by the police department with a report that a bird had landed on a basketball goal near a man who was mulching in the town nearby.

I raced, and I mean raced to the house and saw no bird on the goal but another man said the one who was mulching had the bird. It seems that when Scarlett came to land near the man on the goal, his wife thought he was being attacked, but he was calm and told her to go get crackers. He knew it was a pet by the band on the leg. The bird flew to his shoulder and started eating. I taught Scarlett to fly to me this way. He then walked into his garage and put down the door. (Smart!!!)

We found Scarlett inside, put her in the cage and asked for water which she took out of a bottle. She is home now and I am thanking all of those involved including you. Thank you for the video and the help. While we knew we may never have found her again, we knew that you gave us the best chances for success. We are your fans forever.

Keith and Christine Denning

http://www.goodbirdinc.com/

Stick Training Parrots

I recently had the pleasure of watching the results of some great positive reinforcement training with a cockatoo. The parrot in question unfortunately had some not so great experiences with stick training in his past. For many parrots sticks or dowel rods become a problem when they are used to force a parrot to step up for transport to another location. It is an easy situation to fall into. A caregiver needs the bird to step up, a stick is pressed against his chest and eventually the parrot gets on it. Overtime the bird learns to hop onto the stick right away to avoid the pressure against his chest or feet.

This is a very straight ahead example of negative reinforcement in action. The problem is that it is usually not too much fun for the parrot. The parrot complies. However it is because he has to, not because he wants to. What can often happen is the bird ends up showing a fear response or aggressive behavior towards sticks.

This was the case with the cockatoo in question. Getting on a stick often included biting and attacking the stick. His caregivers wanted to create positive associations with sticks. One of their strategies was to teach him to orient his head towards a target. In this case they used a closed fist as the target. The cockatoo learned following the target with his head earned him his favorite treats. This made it easy to teach him to walk towards the stick and step onto it willingly. (You can learn more about how to train this behavior from my parrot training DVDs.)

Another clever strategy this team used was to teach the cockatoo to keep his head upright when he stepped onto the stick. In the past he used to bite at the stick. The target was used to prompt him to keep his head up away from the stick. This was then reinforced with treats. Keeping his head upright and biting the stick are incompatible behaviors. The parrot cannot do both at the same time. This is a great way to address certain problem behaviors.

It was a pleasure to see the incredible progress this team made with this parrot, just by using some simple positive reinforcement training strategies. Best of all the cockatoo can now look forward to stepping up onto a stick because he knows it results in wonderful consequences. That's him in the video clip. Check him out!

Barbara Heidenreich
http://www.goodbirdinc.com/
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2010

Making New Things Fun for Your Parrot

My parrots just blow me away sometimes. Or perhaps it is better to say that training with positive reinforcement blows me away. I recently brought Delbert, my yellow naped Amazon parrot to a new location for a photo shoot. He is fully flighted and an extremely competent flyer. Before letting him out, I made sure the room was safe for a flighted parrot. Windows and mirrors were all covered, dogs were outside and no one was allowed to open a door unless he was safe in his travel cage.

New environments can sometimes be pretty frightening to parrots. Delbert has been around a number of new places, but not near as much as I would like him too. So I was going to have to really observe his body language and see how he responded. What I wanted to avoid was my bird flying around the space in a panic.

My first signal that things were probably going to be OK was when he started chatting away while we were doing the final set preparations. He watched from his travel cage and starting asking “Ya wanna come out?”, “Are ya ready?”, “Here we goooooo”

Letting him look at the space for about 20 minutes was a great opportunity for him to acclimate. There are some things that usually evoke a fear response in parrots such as things moving overhead, quick movement nearby…but sometimes it’s the things you don’t expect that you have to watch out for. This is when reading your bird’s body language becomes super important. Although he had been looking at it for some time, a long narrow cardboard box was simply unacceptable. Any steps too close to that would send Delbert circling around the room. Fortunately because of all his recall training he would land on my hand after a few laps. We opted to remove that box while Delbert was far away from it.

Another thing that proved a challenge was the backdrop. The colored drape would occasionally move. This especially happened the moment Delbert would launch off of my hand for a cued flight. Although it took him a bit of time, the way he gradually got past this challenge was by doing simple behaviors and getting reinforced. Delbert loves flying to new people. So for some of our photos he got to fly back and forth between me and new people. This meant treats and attention that he loves. Pairing doing simple A to B flights and getting reinforced made the background fade into …well, the background!

Delbert presented excellent flights on cue, posed like the super model he is for his close ups and enjoyed preening the hair on every head there. He also ended the day snoozing on the photographer’s shoulder, beak grinding away. I suppose technically a photo shoot is “work” but I have to admit it sure felt like fun to me….and I think for Delbert too. (I think we were done shooting way before he decided it was time to wrap it up.) What made it fun was reading his body language and remembering to use positive reinforcement to make sure the experience was a good one for him too. Hmmmm, maybe he has a future in modeling. Look out Zoolander…..here comes Delbert!

Barbara Heidenreich
http://www.goodbirdinc.com/
Copyright Good Bird Inc

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