Distractions can really put an abrupt halt in training. For example, I had three birds out while attempting to work with just one of them. I didn't plan it that way - I had them all out flying around and then Bondi told me she wanted to work on her "roll over/play dead" trick so I began training on the hallway floor. Well, once Bandit saw Bondi ...

Photo  by Dave Location: Orlando, FL Lawn Mowing: Galah "Bandit"   Putting natural behaviors on cue is FUN and EASY! You need to know the basics of clicker conditioning and you're ready to go. I'm going to explain the steps I took to do so with my rose breasted cockatoo, Bandit, and how you can follow what I did with your own bird at home!   St...

I talk about desensitizing your bird pretty often with different things like dropping books or introducing a new toy, it can be something simple or something really odd (like a giant piñata!)   The purpose of desensitization is to get your bird use to as many different things as possible as a way to reduce the impact of change so it doesn't caus...

Photo by David Location: Holland America Line Wearing me out: Congo African Grey “Cressi” Do you feel like your parrot has more energy than you do? By the time you get to him or her, he or she is just wearing you out? That’s how I felt when my above picture was taken. I had just finished saying, “You are wearing me out, Cressi!” before I face p...

 Photo by Dave Location: Holland America Cruise Line Theater Pictured: Galahs "Bandit" and "Bondi" I touch trained my 4-5 month old rose breasted cockatoo, Bandit, in two days with three training sessions. It’s the very first thing I taught him (aside from flight training outdoors) and it was actually harder to touch train (or target train) h...

The easiest treats to train with are things that already come in small sizes such as sunflower seeds, pine nuts and spray millet. It's easy to hand your bird a single seed for a job well done or give them a quick bite of a millet stick. Other treats, such as peanuts or almonds, are more time consuming to prepare since you have to break them int...