I've been talking about training this since I got [access] to Morgan over a month ago. When she showed body language of wanting to interact with me, I decided to give it a go. We spent literally 2 minutes together training this.  I noticed when I lifted my right arm a certain way, she would raise her bum foot. I've noticed this since I brough...

Jealousy among parrots can usually result in two very different outcomes: Aggression towards one another.  MOTIVATION!   I've experienced both, and there's a fine line you have to be sure not to cross to keep in the "motivation" side of things and be able to USE that jealousy to your training advantage.  In my last post I showed you a real tra...

My male galah Bandit already says "baby boy" but he says it whenever he feels like it, not whenever I want him to. So I decided it was the next phrase of his I wanted to put on cue!  He currently says the following on cue already: Cue: Waving of my fingers // Word: Bandit Cue: Word "kiss" // Action: Leaning in, giving a kiss on the cheek with t...

An example of what capturing a behavior looks like:  Why do we advise training sessions be between 2-5 minutes when we show training sessions using capturing that go 15+ minutes?!  What is "capturing a behavior"? Capturing is basically clicking and rewarding a behavior your bird offers on its own. An example of natural behaviors you can cap...

Dave and I have always done this as a "habit" with our birds. We do this mostly with just our macaws because they tend to reject touch more than our other parrots, such as our cockatoos or grey. So, to be on the safe side and to always know that we won't be getting bit in the face, we make sure to present a treat when we kiss our birds on the t...

In my attempts to catch Cressi saying her name, I ended up teaching her to shake her head "no". I know, sounds crazy, right? But every time I would take Cressi out to have  'training session', she would offer everything BUT saying her name. I noticed how often she naturally shakes her head, and I decided to capture it. I figured that since I'm ...