Help: Treats Guide

[Sheeji]

Hiya,
Leo is almost 9 months CAG. We have had him for two months only. We taught him to step up and down. He goes in his cage to eat when we say "food time". We talk to him all the time. When I say "I'm just gonna touch your head" he offers his head for a scratch. That happened by it self.
Now we want to start clicker training him but the problem is he wouldn't accept treats from us. Any suggestions? We have tried almonds, cheerois and sunflower seeds. He'll eat them from his bowl but not off our hands.

We want to start toilet training him too eventually. Is attaching a large bowl at the bottom of the cage a good idea for this?

 

[strudel]

Can you put a bowl in front of him and when he does what you are wanting, drop the treat in the bowl, or just put it down for him to pick up?

 

[Ronnie517]

Is it really possible to potty train a bird?? I'm sooo interested!

 

[strudel]

Is it really possible to potty train a bird??

Yes, many forum members have done it. Mine hasn't been taught, it's probably because I haven't devoted enough time to training, I'm too busy with cuddles and beak rubs.

 

[Flboy]

Is it really possible to potty train a bird?? I'm sooo interested!

For sure! My JoJo has never dumped on me, if I try to cuddle her at the wrong time, she will bite the crap(pun?) out of me, trying to tell me she has to go! She goes to her perch, dumps-err do girls dump?- then comes back to me.

 

[Grraarrgghh]

Is it really possible to potty train a bird?? I'm sooo interested!

Yep. Albert has recently started responding to "Go poop!" and poops where he is, and will often fly off me back to his cage/playstand to poop when sitting on my shoulder.

The best way to start is by watching their frequency of pooping. Albert is a S/M size bird, so he poops approx every 15m. At general 15m intervals, I will pick him up, put him back on in his cage/on his playstand and say "go poop!". After he poops, I praise him a lot and stroke him lightly.

Regarding the OP, start by eating the treats you are trying to feed him in front of him, making lots of satisfaction noises and a happy face, and then offer them to him.

As well, try irresistible treats for parrots like Nutriberries.

 

[flyingron]

We found that the original (not the owner we got it from) owner of the bird must have trained it. Bacca shreaked in my ear early so I put her on her perch. I quickly realized that was her "I gotta poop" noise so she's pretty good about it. Turns out when she did it I would go "OK OK" as I rushed her to the perch. Soon she was sitting on my shoulder going "OK OK" and I was wondering what that was about and then she pooped on me. OK, Bacca you have me trained.

 

[Grraarrgghh]

Now that I think about it, it must be pretty tricky when you have a non-flighted bird. You would have to be counting minutes/watching body language quite closely.

 

[Sheeji]

Still not going anywhere with the treats. At this point I just want him to accept treats from me so we can move on to training him. We are not taking the clicker out at all. He would take the treat from us then throw it on the floor.

 

[Ronnie517]

Hey! This has been an awesome post! I am amazed at what I have learnt from ya' all. Birds can be potty trained, just blows my mind!! I hope some day to have one of my birds trained, as such. Thank you all for the input and to Sheeji for starting the thread. Too cool!