Three Ps of Training Positive, Patience, Praise Positive: Always *Accent the Positive* Your parrot will respond better to a happy controlled voice. Ignore unacceptable behaviors and praise the positive. Patience: A parrot does not speak People. He speaks Parrot. With this in mind remember it will take time for him/her to figure out just what it is you are saying. Just like a human child they need to learn this object is a toy, this sound means step up . . . Praise: I cannot stress this strongly enough. Praise in a happy sounding, and positive voice will bring you great rewards. A loud, shouting negative voice will only serve to confuse your parrot making her feel insecure and threatened. Your Parrot wants/needs to please you. Be Patient and calm, soon you will be so proud. Hints: All practice sessions should take place away from your Parrots cage preferably in a different room. It is a good idea to start in the bedroom over the bed so if your Parrot jumps she has a nice soft place to land. All Pet Parrotlets should have their wings trimmed. Your Parrotlet will be sweeter and far safer. Do not move onto a new trick until your Parrot is accomplished and happy doing the first one. Never move faster than your Parrots level of confidence develops. Never ever hit, drop, throw, shake yell at or otherwise abuse your parrot. End every training session on a happy note. Give lots of praise and maybe a healthy treat. You want your Parrot to learn it is fun to be playing with the humans. Step Ups: The first basic command must be mastered before attempting anything else. Have your parrotlet on your finger. With the back of your open hand facing your Parrotlet, place the index finger just above her feet gently pressing on her tummy. Say *Step up Name* . . . if she does praise her goooooooooood girl and immediately do the exercise again. If she does not slowly close all but your index finger then push a little firmer against her tummy which will cause her to lean backwards and force her to step up. Say step up Name again. The second her foot raises to step say Good Name. Praise even though this attempt was not exactly as you wanted it . . . Practice step ups for about five minutes three times a day until the task is mastered. NB: Never approach your Parrotlet with your index finger pointing at her. This could be perceived to be a big beak wanting to bite. When your Parrotlet tries to bite, do not to react other than to say "bad bird" in a deep firm voice. Not loud and yelling. She must learn that biting does not get her what she wants. Hint: I always say Goooooood Name I never say Bad Name. Never use the bird's real name in a negative manner. Ladders: Ladders should be your next step after your Parrot steps up with confidence and no hesitation. Ladders means simply having the Parrotlet step from one hand to the other over and over. Use the same method as for step ups but keep rotating the index finger on each hand. Encouraging your Parrotlet to step, step, step. Praise after each step with a bright, happy voice. As your parrotlet Master's ladder's move your hands faster and faster . . . Ladders develops into quite a fun game. Advanced Step Up/Game: Try having your parrotlet step onto the baby finger of your right hand. Encourage her to step over each finger until she gets to your thumb. Have the baby finger of your left hand just above the thumb of your right hand . . . This way she can scoot from finger to finger and hand to hand. As she gets practiced at this, you will be amazed how fast she can go. You better practice hand rotations. :-) Step on: You will want your parrotlet to learn to step onto objects other than your finger. First allow your parrotlet near the object. Let him see it. Let her see you playing with it. As your parrotlet has become accustomed to this object tell your parrotlet to *step on*. Gently turn your hand so your Parrotlets feet are tipping toward the object. As soon as he touches the object say goooooooooood Name. Allow your parrotlet to sit for awhile and explore this new thing. You will find step on and step off are valuable tricks for your Parrotlet to know. As your Parrotlet gains trust in you, he will step on and off very willingly. His natural curiosity will make him want to see it and his trust in you lets him know it is safe. Step Off: is basically the same as step up . . . Some people prefer to teach their Parrotlet both meanings. Stay: Now it is time to teach the stay command. Have your parrotlet on your finger, walk toward her T stand, jungle gym wherever you would like her to stay. Tell her to step off. Place your open hand, palm facing Parrotlet near her and say stay name. Keep your hand there for a second. Slowly start to move your hand away. Say in a bright happy voice Good Girl name stay. If she starts to lean forward like she is going to jump move your hand slowly back toward her and firmly say stay name. Keep repeating this over and over until you can actually back away from your bird. This trick does take awhile to accomplish. If your Parrotlet Immediately jumps pick her up and place her back immediately. Say nothing until you have her where you want her then say Good girl name Stay. If she jumps three times in a reasonable short space of time take her and put her back in her cage with a firm bad bird. Leave her alone in the room. In another room sing to yourself. Bang a few things around. Let her know you are having a wonderful time and she is missing all the fun. In five minutes go back, open her door, say step up good name, step off, stay good name with your hand palm facing her. Wait just a mere three seconds, tell her to step up, say good girl name stayed. Make a huge fuss and repeat step off, stay step up, good girl several times. You will see when you will be able to increase the length of time. As your Parrotlet begins to stay slowly move further away but keep talking to her. Start to do something else. Stay in the same room so your Parrotlet knows where you are. When you see her start to preen or play with a toy you will know that your Parrotlet is becoming comfortable being away from you for short times. Once you have mastered this trick in one place move onto several other places so your Parrotlet learns that stay means in many different areas of the house. This accomplishment will be invaluable to you when out visiting, at the vets office and under many different circumstances. Although this training trick needs lots of time and patience you will be so rewarded to have a Parrotlet that you can put down and trust to stay and play while you are busy with something else. NB: If you are going to be busy and distracted please put your parrotlet back in their cage. More Parrotlets die of accidents than any other reason. You must be aware of where they are at all times. Even the best behaved Parrotlet is likely to jump and run to find you if there is a sudden frightening noise. Fear of hands This is a common fear with most species. If your parrotlet seems afraid of you and your hands approaching initially, you should approach with your hands behind your back. This way you look like your wings are folded back. Not aggressive. No bird ever attacked in this position. Be sure not to use a pointing finger. That can be perceived as a pointy beak just waiting to attack. As in all things body language is very important that you are always aware of what message you are sending. While in this position open the cage door and just stand and chat softly, sing a song. You aim is get you parrotlet to settle down and just sit and listen to you. Once you Parrotlet is talking to you and taking in interest slowly let your arms fall down to your sides one at a time. Talk the whole time. When she is comfortable with you in this position slowly bring your one hand and pat your head, rub under your nose, slowly touch the outside of the cage and pretend to be adjusting a toy. When you Parrotlet is calm with all these activities then slowly bring your hand up to the door, with your hand folded into a fist (no fingers) and ask him to step-up. You can slowly take your fist and reach into the cage talking and praising all the while and give a little pat to his beak with the back of your hand . . . It can take many months for a bird to get over this fear but when you finally reach the day your parrotlet step on your hand keep your fist clenched . . . Walk around slowly. Go to another room. Slowly over many days begin to open your fingers. Start with the baby finger. Allow your parrotlet to look and inspect your finger . . . Keep this up until you have your whole hand open. Remember no pointy fingers and always approach with the back of your closed hand. Make sure that anyone having contact with your Parrotlet does so in the exact same manner that you do. Biting: Before we address what to do about bting let us think a moment why your parrot is biting. Biting is a reaction to something. Is she afraid, ill, playing to get your attention, hormonal? Is your parrot actually biting or just nipping in fun. Is your parrot just trying to groom you and remove that unslghtly mold which does not belong there. Before taking any firm steps be sure to acess the situation first. Remember to that parrots use there beak as a third foot. They will feel that perch (your finger) first to be sure it is safe. They need to learn to do this gently but it should be remembered this is a natural instinct. Thoughts on biting by Sandee Molenda - The Parrotlet Ranch As someone who went from large parrots to small (we still have a 22 year old B & G macaw) I have never really thought of parrotlet bites as bad. Yes,they can nip and nip hard enough to break the skin but usually the have to be either REALLY mad or REALLY scared. And, it really isn't that they bite so hard as they know where to bite (cuticles, between the fingers, back of the hand - its almost like they have a road map) and that they don't let go. My opinion, for what its worth, is that these birds come from highly competitive places in the jungle. They have to fight for food, nesting sites and mates. They are also eaten by almost everything including other birds (remind me to tell you about the time the Dallas Aquarium wanted to put parrotlets in with hornbills in their South American exhibit). Therefore, if you are going to live some place where spiders are bigger than you and everything, including your next door neighbor thinks of you as a delightful snack, you better be tough and you better make that first bite count. Happy parrotleting, Sandee L. Molenda, Certified Avian Specialist If your parrot is really biting them of course we must stop this behaviour and the sooner the better. All of us like to ealk around with our parrot on our shoulder. This is not a good idea until you have the biting under control and can expect that your parrot will step off when asked. If your parrot bites you say NO Bites in a firm voice while at the same time giving your hand a litle rocking motion to distract her.At he same time hand them something that is allowable to bite. Paper, toy, anything that you can safely allow them to chew on so you can say good girl chew your toy. If you receive a second bite repeat this procedure and in a very said voice say you bite meeeeeeeee that hurrrrrrrrrts me..Bad bird.If you get a third bite then immediatley take your parrot and put them in therir cage without another word. Close the door and say Bad Bird No Bites..Walk right out of the room. In another room turn on the radio, clicnk some glasses talk to yourself. Do anything to let the bird know you are having a fine time and she is missing out.In 5 minutes return to the cage and before opening girl ask are you a good Kiwi now. Remember no bites. Open door and ask bird to step up.If this goes well PRAISE< PRAISE PRAISE. Go back to what you were doing in the first place and tell them how very goooooooooood they are. If you get another nip right away close door and walk away again. If it takes awhile then start back at beginning. It will take a few days for your parrot to realize that biting is not acceptable and will land them back in theoir cage while the rest of the flock is playing. He/she will not like this and will realize the biting is hat is causing the problem. Falling to the floor When your parrotlet flutters to the floor do not go and scoop them up. Do not towel them to get them back in the cage. Sit down and let the Parrotlet worry for a little bit. Think how it must be to be 5 inches tall. The view must be rather unsettling. Talk to your bird and then slowly offer your hand and say step up. Your bird will soon realize that YOU are the one that rescued him. Praise him for stepping up even though he did it out of fear. After a few times all you will need to do is say Uh oh offer your hand and the bird will immediately step up. If this is happening often it would be a good idea to go back to the stay command and reinforce it. Playing ball Once you have accomplished your basic training, it is time to start having fun. Parrotlets love to play ball. Get from the pet shop a cat wiffle ball. It is a small plastic ball full of holes where little beaks can grab and has a bell in the middle. The ball should only be played with under supervision. Start by showing your parrotlet the ball. Hold it in your hand while your Parrotlet is on their jungle gym or table. Jingle the bell and show you are having fun. Place the ball on the jungle gm away from the Parotlet and wait for her to come and inspect it. It won't be long until her natural curiosity will make her come and inspect it and you have already shown you are not afraid. After they have taken interest for a while take the ball and gently roll it so it rolls off onto the floor. Brightly exclaim uh oh pick it up while laughing and place it back. Believe me. It will not be long that you will be forcing that laugh. Soon your parrotlet will get the idea that Mom/dad likes this and will be grabbing that ball and tossing it. You won't believe how far a parrotlet can toss a ball. Now that you have got the idea going try and place the ball in different places so she has to run to get it. Hide the ball but be sure they see where you hid it. They will run and get it out of the cup, on top of the ladder but I have not found very good at finding it if they don't know where it is. Peek a Boo With your parrotlet on your finger have a Kleenex slightly balled held in the same hand. Allow you parrotlet to tear it up. As the days progress slowly make the ball less tight until it is just a loosely held Kleenex. Put your Parrotlet down and allow them to play with the Kleenex. Hold the Kleenex up in front of your face and then play peek a boo. When you parrotlet is comfortable with all this drop a part of the Kleenex over your Parrotlets tail, immediately pick it off and say peek name peek. He will probably run and scurry about but that is Ok. Slowly work up the length of his body until you are dropping the Kleenex right on top of them, picking up just a corner and saying peek. You will come to believe your Parrotlet is laughing. They really like to play this game. Super bird Do not attempt this until you know your parrotlet has complete trust in you. Pick your Parrotlet up in your hand completely cupped by your fingers. With your arm fly your Parrotlet way up high, way down low and all over. say wheeeeeeeeeee and see how much they enjoy this activity. Laying on their backs Have your parrotlet sitting on your right index finger. Slowly bring your left hand over and give them gentle back pats. Allow your hand to rest on the Parrotlets back. Slowly tip your right hand so your parrotlet is going backwards supported by your left hand. You will feel their toes begin to grip tight. Talk softly and comforting. The first few times just tip your parrotlet a little. Remember to praise. This is really an accomplishment. As the times go on slowly tip further until your parrotlet is laying on your left hand even though gripping with their feet. Praise and talk gently. With one finger tickle their tummy and say tickle tickle in a bright and happy voice. Good bird. It will take a long time for your parrotlet to lie on your open hand without gripping your other hand but when you do Pat yourself on the back because you have really successfully gained the complete confidence of your Parrotlet. Congratulations and good luck for further fun and games.If you have successfully mastered the above you have a well mannered parrot and may feel confident to go on to many more tricks and behaviours. Give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done. |
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TRAINING FOR GOOD MANNERS should be and can be FUN! |
Three Ps of Training Positive, Patience, Praise Positive: Always *Accent the Positive* Your parrot will respond better to a happy controlled voice. Ignore unacceptable behaviors and praise the positive. Patience: A parrot does not speak People. He speaks Parrot. With this in mind remember it will take time for him/her to figure out just what it is you are saying. Just like a human child they need to learn this object is a toy, this sound means step up . . . Praise: I cannot stress this strongly enough. Praise in a happy sounding, and positive voice will bring you great rewards. A loud, shouting negative voice will only serve to confuse your parrot making her feel insecure and threatened. Your Parrot wants/needs to please you. Be Patient and calm, soon you will be so proud. Hints: All practice sessions should take place away from your Parrots cage preferably in a different room. It is a good idea to start in the bedroom over the bed so if your Parrot jumps she has a nice soft place to land. All Pet Parrotlets should have their wings trimmed. Your Parrotlet will be sweeter and far safer. Do not move onto a new trick until your Parrot is accomplished and happy doing the first one. Never move faster than your Parrots level of confidence develops. Never ever hit, drop, throw, shake yell at or otherwise abuse your parrot. End every training session on a happy note. Give lots of praise and maybe a healthy treat. You want your Parrot to learn it is fun to be playing with the humans. Step Ups: The first basic command must be mastered before attempting anything else. Have your parrotlet on your finger. With the back of your open hand facing your Parrotlet, place the index finger just above her feet gently pressing on her tummy. Say *Step up Name* . . . if she does praise her goooooooooood girl and immediately do the exercise again. If she does not slowly close all but your index finger then push a little firmer against her tummy which will cause her to lean backwards and force her to step up. Say step up Name again. The second her foot raises to step say Good Name. Praise even though this attempt was not exactly as you wanted it . . . Practice step ups for about five minutes three times a day until the task is mastered. NB: Never approach your Parrotlet with your index finger pointing at her. This could be perceived to be a big beak wanting to bite. When your Parrotlet tries to bite, do not to react other than to say "bad bird" in a deep firm voice. Not loud and yelling. She must learn that biting does not get her what she wants. Hint: I always say Goooooood Name I never say Bad Name. Never use the bird's real name in a negative manner. Ladders: Ladders should be your next step after your Parrot steps up with confidence and no hesitation. Ladders means simply having the Parrotlet step from one hand to the other over and over. Use the same method as for step ups but keep rotating the index finger on each hand. Encouraging your Parrotlet to step, step, step. Praise after each step with a bright, happy voice. As your parrotlet Master's ladder's move your hands faster and faster . . . Ladders develops into quite a fun game. Advanced Step Up/Game: Try having your parrotlet step onto the baby finger of your right hand. Encourage her to step over each finger until she gets to your thumb. Have the baby finger of your left hand just above the thumb of your right hand . . . This way she can scoot from finger to finger and hand to hand. As she gets practiced at this, you will be amazed how fast she can go. You better practice hand rotations. :-) Step on: You will want your parrotlet to learn to step onto objects other than your finger. First allow your parrotlet near the object. Let him see it. Let her see you playing with it. As your parrotlet has become accustomed to this object tell your parrotlet to *step on*. Gently turn your hand so your Parrotlets feet are tipping toward the object. As soon as he touches the object say goooooooooood Name. Allow your parrotlet to sit for awhile and explore this new thing. You will find step on and step off are valuable tricks for your Parrotlet to know. As your Parrotlet gains trust in you, he will step on and off very willingly. His natural curiosity will make him want to see it and his trust in you lets him know it is safe. Step Off: is basically the same as step up . . . Some people prefer to teach their Parrotlet both meanings. Stay: Now it is time to teach the stay command. Have your parrotlet on your finger, walk toward her T stand, jungle gym wherever you would like her to stay. Tell her to step off. Place your open hand, palm facing Parrotlet near her and say stay name. Keep your hand there for a second. Slowly start to move your hand away. Say in a bright happy voice Good Girl name stay. If she starts to lean forward like she is going to jump move your hand slowly back toward her and firmly say stay name. Keep repeating this over and over until you can actually back away from your bird. This trick does take awhile to accomplish. If your Parrotlet Immediately jumps pick her up and place her back immediately. Say nothing until you have her where you want her then say Good girl name Stay. If she jumps three times in a reasonable short space of time take her and put her back in her cage with a firm bad bird. Leave her alone in the room. In another room sing to yourself. Bang a few things around. Let her know you are having a wonderful time and she is missing all the fun. In five minutes go back, open her door, say step up good name, step off, stay good name with your hand palm facing her. Wait just a mere three seconds, tell her to step up, say good girl name stayed. Make a huge fuss and repeat step off, stay step up, good girl several times. You will see when you will be able to increase the length of time. As your Parrotlet begins to stay slowly move further away but keep talking to her. Start to do something else. Stay in the same room so your Parrotlet knows where you are. When you see her start to preen or play with a toy you will know that your Parrotlet is becoming comfortable being away from you for short times. Once you have mastered this trick in one place move onto several other places so your Parrotlet learns that stay means in many different areas of the house. This accomplishment will be invaluable to you when out visiting, at the vets office and under many different circumstances. Although this training trick needs lots of time and patience you will be so rewarded to have a Parrotlet that you can put down and trust to stay and play while you are busy with something else. NB: If you are going to be busy and distracted please put your parrotlet back in their cage. More Parrotlets die of accidents than any other reason. You must be aware of where they are at all times. Even the best behaved Parrotlet is likely to jump and run to find you if there is a sudden frightening noise. Fear of hands This is a common fear with most species. If your parrotlet seems afraid of you and your hands approaching initially, you should approach with your hands behind your back. This way you look like your wings are folded back. Not aggressive. No bird ever attacked in this position. Be sure not to use a pointing finger. That can be perceived as a pointy beak just waiting to attack. As in all things body language is very important that you are always aware of what message you are sending. While in this position open the cage door and just stand and chat softly, sing a song. You aim is get you parrotlet to settle down and just sit and listen to you. Once you Parrotlet is talking to you and taking in interest slowly let your arms fall down to your sides one at a time. Talk the whole time. When she is comfortable with you in this position slowly bring your one hand and pat your head, rub under your nose, slowly touch the outside of the cage and pretend to be adjusting a toy. When you Parrotlet is calm with all these activities then slowly bring your hand up to the door, with your hand folded into a fist (no fingers) and ask him to step-up. You can slowly take your fist and reach into the cage talking and praising all the while and give a little pat to his beak with the back of your hand . . . It can take many months for a bird to get over this fear but when you finally reach the day your parrotlet step on your hand keep your fist clenched . . . Walk around slowly. Go to another room. Slowly over many days begin to open your fingers. Start with the baby finger. Allow your parrotlet to look and inspect your finger . . . Keep this up until you have your whole hand open. Remember no pointy fingers and always approach with the back of your closed hand. Make sure that anyone having contact with your Parrotlet does so in the exact same manner that you do. Biting: Before we address what to do about bting let us think a moment why your parrot is biting. Biting is a reaction to something. Is she afraid, ill, playing to get your attention, hormonal? Is your parrot actually biting or just nipping in fun. Is your parrot just trying to groom you and remove that unslghtly mold which does not belong there. Before taking any firm steps be sure to acess the situation first. Remember to that parrots use there beak as a third foot. They will feel that perch (your finger) first to be sure it is safe. They need to learn to do this gently but it should be remembered this is a natural instinct. Thoughts on biting by Sandee Molenda - The Parrotlet Ranch As someone who went from large parrots to small (we still have a 22 year old B & G macaw) I have never really thought of parrotlet bites as bad. Yes,they can nip and nip hard enough to break the skin but usually the have to be either REALLY mad or REALLY scared. And, it really isn't that they bite so hard as they know where to bite (cuticles, between the fingers, back of the hand - its almost like they have a road map) and that they don't let go. My opinion, for what its worth, is that these birds come from highly competitive places in the jungle. They have to fight for food, nesting sites and mates. They are also eaten by almost everything including other birds (remind me to tell you about the time the Dallas Aquarium wanted to put parrotlets in with hornbills in their South American exhibit). Therefore, if you are going to live some place where spiders are bigger than you and everything, including your next door neighbor thinks of you as a delightful snack, you better be tough and you better make that first bite count. Happy parrotleting, Sandee L. Molenda, Certified Avian Specialist If your parrot is really biting them of course we must stop this behaviour and the sooner the better. All of us like to ealk around with our parrot on our shoulder. This is not a good idea until you have the biting under control and can expect that your parrot will step off when asked. If your parrot bites you say NO Bites in a firm voice while at the same time giving your hand a litle rocking motion to distract her.At he same time hand them something that is allowable to bite. Paper, toy, anything that you can safely allow them to chew on so you can say good girl chew your toy. If you receive a second bite repeat this procedure and in a very said voice say you bite meeeeeeeee that hurrrrrrrrrts me..Bad bird.If you get a third bite then immediatley take your parrot and put them in therir cage without another word. Close the door and say Bad Bird No Bites..Walk right out of the room. In another room turn on the radio, clicnk some glasses talk to yourself. Do anything to let the bird know you are having a fine time and she is missing out.In 5 minutes return to the cage and before opening girl ask are you a good Kiwi now. Remember no bites. Open door and ask bird to step up.If this goes well PRAISE< PRAISE PRAISE. Go back to what you were doing in the first place and tell them how very goooooooooood they are. If you get another nip right away close door and walk away again. If it takes awhile then start back at beginning. It will take a few days for your parrot to realize that biting is not acceptable and will land them back in theoir cage while the rest of the flock is playing. He/she will not like this and will realize the biting is hat is causing the problem. Falling to the floor When your parrotlet flutters to the floor do not go and scoop them up. Do not towel them to get them back in the cage. Sit down and let the Parrotlet worry for a little bit. Think how it must be to be 5 inches tall. The view must be rather unsettling. Talk to your bird and then slowly offer your hand and say step up. Your bird will soon realize that YOU are the one that rescued him. Praise him for stepping up even though he did it out of fear. After a few times all you will need to do is say Uh oh offer your hand and the bird will immediately step up. If this is happening often it would be a good idea to go back to the stay command and reinforce it. Playing ball Once you have accomplished your basic training, it is time to start having fun. Parrotlets love to play ball. Get from the pet shop a cat wiffle ball. It is a small plastic ball full of holes where little beaks can grab and has a bell in the middle. The ball should only be played with under supervision. Start by showing your parrotlet the ball. Hold it in your hand while your Parrotlet is on their jungle gym or table. Jingle the bell and show you are having fun. Place the ball on the jungle gm away from the Parotlet and wait for her to come and inspect it. It won't be long until her natural curiosity will make her come and inspect it and you have already shown you are not afraid. After they have taken interest for a while take the ball and gently roll it so it rolls off onto the floor. Brightly exclaim uh oh pick it up while laughing and place it back. Believe me. It will not be long that you will be forcing that laugh. Soon your parrotlet will get the idea that Mom/dad likes this and will be grabbing that ball and tossing it. You won't believe how far a parrotlet can toss a ball. Now that you have got the idea going try and place the ball in different places so she has to run to get it. Hide the ball but be sure they see where you hid it. They will run and get it out of the cup, on top of the ladder but I have not found very good at finding it if they don't know where it is. Peek a Boo With your parrotlet on your finger have a Kleenex slightly balled held in the same hand. Allow you parrotlet to tear it up. As the days progress slowly make the ball less tight until it is just a loosely held Kleenex. Put your Parrotlet down and allow them to play with the Kleenex. Hold the Kleenex up in front of your face and then play peek a boo. When you parrotlet is comfortable with all this drop a part of the Kleenex over your Parrotlets tail, immediately pick it off and say peek name peek. He will probably run and scurry about but that is Ok. Slowly work up the length of his body until you are dropping the Kleenex right on top of them, picking up just a corner and saying peek. You will come to believe your Parrotlet is laughing. They really like to play this game. Super bird Do not attempt this until you know your parrotlet has complete trust in you. Pick your Parrotlet up in your hand completely cupped by your fingers. With your arm fly your Parrotlet way up high, way down low and all over. say wheeeeeeeeeee and see how much they enjoy this activity. Laying on their backs Have your parrotlet sitting on your right index finger. Slowly bring your left hand over and give them gentle back pats. Allow your hand to rest on the Parrotlets back. Slowly tip your right hand so your parrotlet is going backwards supported by your left hand. You will feel their toes begin to grip tight. Talk softly and comforting. The first few times just tip your parrotlet a little. Remember to praise. This is really an accomplishment. As the times go on slowly tip further until your parrotlet is laying on your left hand even though gripping with their feet. Praise and talk gently. With one finger tickle their tummy and say tickle tickle in a bright and happy voice. Good bird. It will take a long time for your parrotlet to lie on your open hand without gripping your other hand but when you do Pat yourself on the back because you have really successfully gained the complete confidence of your Parrotlet. Congratulations and good luck for further fun and games.If you have successfully mastered the above you have a well mannered parrot and may feel confident to go on to many more tricks and behaviours. Give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done. |
Before reading this page I want everyone to know these are my ways of training. I do not claim them to be anything other than the way I do things and how well they work for us. Both of my parrots are well behaved, do not bite, will go to anyone if I ask them to, make visit to schools, travel extensively with me. All without fear,in fact I would say with eager enthusiasm. One other thing I must say is you will notice I do not, would not ever use any kind of time out box, bag, or enclosure other than their normal everyday cage. I train my birds the same way I treat my children and my students, with love and respect. I would never lock them in a closet isolated and scared. Enough said. If I have your interest please read on. |
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Feb.9.02 |
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