Established Trainers and Their Methods

[charmedbyekkie]

In my effort to take our training to another level, I've been digging up established/educated trainers to reference. Here's quick summary:

https://www.exoticdirect.co.uk/news/how-train-bird-using-positive-reinforcement
^ I quite liked this article for going through the different training methods (negative, positive, punishment, reinforcement, etc) and evaluating the trade offs. Of course it is meant to highlight positive reinforcement/association and show how to implement it, but it does put a good argument forward.

Steve Martin's site is also a good summary: Companion Parrots | Natural Encounters, Inc. I've just been unable to find an official YouTube channel to reference. But this site does cover basic things like common question of height dominance, biting, screaming, etc, with techniques on how to approach the latter two.

I've also been taking a peek at some of Barbara Heidenreich's YouTube videos. Her official site is a bit outdated in terms of navigation Training Parrots | Parrot Training DVDS & Books but she has a YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL535EQukKq4rB4esk5p8-gCgBO7m5JIp6

Hope newbies and maybe also some old hats will find something new to take away from these sources. At the very least, it's a good reference to point beginners to for their first steps with their fid

 

[chris-md]

I’ll add BirdTricks to this list as well. Slightly commercialized but their YouTube videos on parrot training and podcasts are training gold. I think they had some questionable methods once upon a time but they’ve cleaned up their act in the intervening years, and are solid as far as I’m concerned.

 

[charmedbyekkie]

It was actually because I heard of BirdTricks' questionable actions that I started searching for reputable and educated trainers

 

[chris-md]

Yeah, it’s a case of when you know better, you do better; their trouble years are behind them. There was even a debate here years ago and Jamie actually weighed in.

Their videos show it. Watch a couple of their masterclasses on YouTube, you’ll see it’s all incredibly intelligent training.

 

[chris-md]

Barbara actually pissed me off. I Reached out to her to see if I could find out how do I encourage closet talkers to pull their speaking out of the closet. She said it was possible, and to find out I needed to pay for her video.

Answer: reward the talking.

Seriously? You make bank traveling the world monthly to the most prestigious zoos in the world to train the most eco tic of animals, and you’re so money grubbing you can’t spare three words? I didn’t need a private tutoring session, just quick two cent advice.

So I stay away from Barbara. That was all I needed to know about her personally and professionally to say “never again”.

You’re incredibly intelligent with Cairo, I would submit everything you need to know - and need to take and run with - is available for free on YouTube. And you have us for fine tuning if you’re looking for established trainers, you’re smart enough that you don’t need to pay for anything. Nothing you’re doing is so urgent as to require paid assistance