Morgan Update: Going Outside + Flight Skill Development

Here's your Morgan fix this week! First off, due to weather I was only able to work on outdoor desensitization one day (come on, Idaho-spring!) And here is what that looked like: After some serious time off from YouTube, Patty came back in a whole new light! Check out her and I training with our macaws, flying them back and forth between one an...
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Teaching BRAVERY To a Parrot

Just like raising a child, you want them to be confident beings, it's the same with your parrot - you NEED to teach bravery to instill confidence. A confident parrot is a much healthier parrot in body and mind.  When we bring these animals into our homes to live, there is so much that is crazy to ask them to be OK with: running, screaming childr...
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Can I Train a Macaw To Like ME in 1 Day?!

Long story short: Dave and I met this macaw, Amur, who immediately loved Dave for being a male and hated me for being a female.  I told myself, this is fine, I don't have to even work with this bird anyway.  ... right, self? Right?!  Um, have an entire day with this bird and not TRY to work with it? Yeah, that's not gonna happen! See bird, mu...
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How & When to Use "Jackpot" Rewards

Because jackpot rewards lead to things like properly shaping a behavior, and random rewarding (a broader version of the concept), I want to leave links to those related resources to expand on the idea. So here are more helpful resources: Shaping a behavior Random rewarding introduction  In the following video Patty improperly uses the ja...
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Forcing a Training Session (Why Not To)

The more times you let your bird say "no" with its body language and you respect that decision, the more often your bird will say YES! The more often you give your bird a choice, the more often it will choose you.  This is an incredibly important lesson in parrot ownership. If your bird doesn't want to go on the counter, don't make it. Ask your...
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How to Ask a Bird To Step OFF Of Your Hand (And How NOT To!)

Everyone involved needed this session to fill their souls. Morgan included. Sometimes the shorter sessions make it easier to squeeze more positivity into them, and leave the bird and person wanting more next time.  Patty's lessons:  1. Hold foot immediately when Morgan steps up (thumb immediately down on foot.) this makes Morgan feel more se...
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