That made perfect sense. I am going to have to start doing that. My Greenwing seems to know when she is going to get her reward. One thing I have noticed is that I first taught her to hand shake I just started giving her treats when she would raise her foot. She has that down really good now. I just started clicker training her with a target. But now she does not want to target she puts her foot up and wants her treat. I want to be able for her to do both target and hand shake is there any way I can keep both of those or am I going to have to phase one out. I love what you guys are doing. I have all of your training videos has helped alot. It has helped alot. One thing I have not tried yet is I have a Blue Front Amozon who really dislikes me. I know it is possible to start clicker and target training with him in his cage So how do I actually go about this. Pull his food dish out and put one in for treats while I am trying to train with him? I will look forward to hearing from you. Keep up the Tuesdays it is the best part of my week. Thanks again

Thanks for great videos and am implementing your training tricks with my lovebirds with great success. Some say my birds have me well trained as I spend so much time with them. They are pretty smart Fids and the things I have learned from you folks have made a huge difference in our relationship. Thanks again.

Thank you that was very informative. I now understand how this works. Do you always use the same tricks or do you use random tricks. If your bird knows 20 tricks would you use the newer tricks?

As always a good lesson and its always fun to see the three of you. Lol

I love seeing you daughter in these videos it show how even a child can learn to live with birds. Yesterday I reiceved a gift from my neighbor. What a great suprise:0) It was a baby Quaker.. It is 4 to 5 weeks old… it is the cutest thing. I will be click training with it all all our other birds.( this is now 6) I would probably would be feeling a little overwhelmed right now (Do to the fact our bird life started in March this year.) But I am just super happy.. They bring us such joy and a little pain wink wink to our lives. Again thank you for all the information you both give so freely.

Thank you for the video I just bought two young ring necks, green in colour and I think using what I have learned will help me train them well, God bless you all.

Excellent training video….not for the birds but for us. I cant wait to receive my courses recently purchased.

Thank you! That answers my question of when to start random rewarding. I think you said “when the bird understands it well enough that it will do the trick when someone else cues it”. I have heard the “complex” answer, but I really like your simple answer! Your daughter is certainly a delightful part of the video!

Enjoyed your video again. I have questions though. I clicker train, but once my bird learns a behavior, I quite clicking it every tune before I go to random reinforcement for that trick. I guess I did it that way because I use the clicker to mark the correct behavior and announce a treat is coming. Then, after he knows the trick, a click after several tricks means I am going to give the treat. Do you always click or do you wean that out? (You certainly aren’t clicking throughout a performance are you?) Should I go back to more clicking as I mostly use it for training and not so much for performing what has already been learned? Have to teach this bird to roll over as that is so cute.

I LOVE BBT thank you so much for taking out of your busy schedules to “train us” to be better parrot owners. I have a black winged Jardine who is such a ’"cuddle buggle" however due to circumstances I have had to temporary leave him with a friend who also has one (Country I am currently in, is not easy to get him here, due to reglations) They both males and get on EXTREMLEY well, and are like two peas in a pod. Prior to this they would spend time together when either one of us where on vacation, as this separation has been quite long (4 months, booooo hooo, miss my baby soooo much), my plan is to get him to me as soon as I can. My question would it be cruel to separate them afer tey have been together so long? Would they both adjust easily to being apart?

Question, what if your bird will not take a bird treat, or does not like them?

Thank you, Jamieleigh and Dave! This week’s video was really informative and helpful. I’ve been trying to train our rescued Amazon using the clicker and chopstick. I can get her to spin but only if I use the stick and make her follow it all the way around. She’s basically just trained to go after the stick rather than spin :( So far she will not do anything without the stick. I’ve tried using a hand gesture but she has not caught on to that yet and it seems like we just aren’t progressing beyond the stick. I’m wondering if random rewarding will help in this situation and I will try it. Do you have any tips on how to move her from just following the stick to actually spinning for her treat?

I watch all the videos and I’m working with a cockatoo who is very willing to work with me BUT she doesn’t like any small treats at all. She was never tought to step up or anything else. I went out and bought a clicker, chopsticks, and a few different kinds of treats. She’s accepting of the clicker and stick but I am unable to reward her unless I give her a large nut. She likes the big ones she can crack herself. She will take the smaller treats and spit them out. She will touch the stick with her beak and I immediately click but I don’t know what to do with the rewarding? Help!! I tried yogurt covered sunflower seeds, dried exotic fruits and a few other smaller bits and she doesn’t want them. This process won’t correctly work if I’m not giving her a treat right?

I can’t get my Amazon to eat the organic pellets. He has been on a pellet diet for a while now but I can’t seem to get him to eat the organic food you guys use. Any suggestions!

I know I saw the video where you explained you wouldn’t be doing this every Tuesday.. I wanted to tell you thank you so much for all the time you’ve given us all. It has been very helpful to me and I really appreciate it. I had an interesting experience with my 10 year old niece and her new green cheek. After the first week or so, they left, so I bird sat for several days. I worked diligently at teaching the bird several tricks. Then when they got back, I basically spent a whole day with them helping them understand what to do and how to do it. When the day was over, I realized how much of my “input” was really YOUR input from the One Day Miracle CD’s. I wanted to thank you again for them.

Hi Guy`s Well Done, As usual, this light hearted way of getting your training tips across was great. The thing that struck his week, was some comments you made on free flight training. I have a fantastic female Quaker called Oscar ( The Name is another story.) and she lives with me in a unit here in Bowen Hills in Queensland Australia. I have had her since she was 6 weeks old, now Oscars 5yo. I don`t clip her wings (never have or will.) During the day I open the top of her cage and she follows me and joins in on my daily activities, just as a child of her age would always keeping her insight. If I need to leave her unattended (and at night.) Oscar always go back to her closed cage. With the help of your training books, CD`s, DVD`s and audio casts over the years She has turned out tobe a fantastic companion. Such a little bird, she has such a large personality. Oscar is ( I know this might sound strange,) “is caring and considerate” She will wait quietly of a morning until I get up and uncover her, she knows when I have had a bad day and seems to respond to me in a different way. She is protective of me when friends are around but she socialises with most of them and will even allow most to scratch her on the head. Absolutely the best bird ever !!!! Well back to my point. Even though I don`t and probably never will allow her free flight out side, the point you made about Free Flight Training, was the First Step is to get the bird to instantly fly straight to you on command and so on. Because Free Flight was never on my agenda, I had never considered any aspect of this training, until now. Even though her flight area is restricted to the area within my unit, the training involved would be just as important. Allowing Oscar to fly around my unit and having this training over her return safely on the First request and immediately could be life saving. Even keeping an eye on our birds we all know how quickly our inquisitive little mates can get up to a heap of mischief. I don`t really remember how I came across Bird tricks, but I`m really thankful I did. Some years ago now, I started using your training products, toys and information blogs, and NOW your current " Birdtricks Tuesday ". This is a great way to get your training tips out. I really look forward every week to the Birdricks Tuesday, eager to see what new ideas, training tips or way to make the life with our little mates better. Thanks guys. Next week is the "Day in the life of … " which I`m looking forward to. It`s been interesting seeing how you and your family ( in which includes the feathered members.) deal with ship board life and it`sbinterruptions. ( lol…) Keep up the great work. Cheers, Thanks again

My African Gray flew when I got him. I clipped his wings for a while. I have high ceilings in the house. I quit clipping several years ago and he could fly, but doesn’t. How do I get him to fly again? It is almost like his wing muscles have atrophied. If he flutters down from his cage top, he kind of lands with a thud. He sometimes flaps his wings while in the cage, scattering bits of shredded paper, which seems to be a favorite pastime.

Thank you so much for sharing your extensive knowledge. We purchased One Day Miracles long before our African Grey, Tsali, was weaned and ready to come home. Watching, rewatching and having discussions afterward made my husband and myself much better “first time” parrot parents. Our Tsali has been home for almost three months now and is an absolute delight. Because of tips we learned from your videos, he is a fully flighted and extremely outgoing and friendly parrot who loves people. THANK YOU DAVE AND JAMIELEIGH!