Bird will not focus on training :(

BirdyMomma

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Location
Long Beach, NY
Parrots
Lilac Crowned Amazon (Bacci- Forever on my shoulder, forever in my heart.)
Yellow Collared Macaw (Loki the Monkey Bird)
Military Macaw (Wingnut)
Citron Crested Cockatoo
(Knuckles)
I am having ridiculous trouble target training my newer parrot. She is a 9 1/2 week old yellow collared macaw. The problem is that she has the attention span of a gnat. She will target, and accept treats for targeting, but the entire time, she is dancing back and forth, waiting for an opportunity to jump at me, climb up, and get on my chest or shoulder.

At this age, my Amazon would target, wave, spin and do wings. He craves the interaction. He is a sweet, intelligent, well behaved bird. All this bird wants is to be on my chest/shoulder. She has started biting when she doesn't get her way. I refuse to treat, pet or acknowledge her when she behaves this way, but I am not going to let this go on.

Are macaws typically this stubborn and recalcitrant? Does anyone have any suggestions, or experience dealing with this breed?:mad:
 
Species.

Is there any other time of the day in your macaw is calmer and could be more receptive to training?

Have you tried training prior to meals?
 
Macs are the most toddler-like of all of them.

He's young.

Some birds don't have the patience for trick training. Some love it.

My conures did. My macs did not.

The more you force it, the more it won't work.

Give it time.
 
It sounds like your juvenile Mac had the same problem a 2 or 3 year old human has. I think concentrating your training at this time would be best served training him to be calm. (Just don't forget to give her plenty of time to be herself. She wants to be WITH you, once she figures out PLEASING you is even more rewarding, she should make a dramatic change.

(She's a lot like me ... LOL ... eat and play, HEY, I'm good.)

You've heard of ADHD? Sounds to me like PPCP (Parrot Playtime Concentration Problem). Could be much worse ... could be MPBFP (Macaw Prefers Biting Fingers Problem)

Sorry, I'm a smart A*S. Sounds like once you teach her to calm down and "play" with you, her training time should improve.

Have fun, best of luck.
 
9.5 weeks seems pretty young. I admit I don't know much of anything about zons, but from the few I've known they are just happy to be with their people, but every Mac I've known wants hands on.
 
My caique is like this too. She'll do some trick training for about 1-2 minutes, and then she decides she NEEDS to climb up me and hang from my hair. It's like she'll be completely focused one second, and the next she wants nothing more than to play with me. A lot of parrots are like this I think, and you just have to learn to work with them. I've taught Pippi to do several tricks despite the short training sessions, though, so just keep trying. Take it slowly, and don't worry if you seem to be getting nowhere. I'd recommend trying to do mini training sessions several times a day, instead of one big one, and that way he'll be more productive in the time he does spend training, even if it's not a large amount of time. :) Good luck!
 

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