Make a bird drop something....

[clark_conure]

I tried searching the forums but putting the word "drop" or "drop something" in a bird forum is well you can imagine...

Sometimes my GCC Clark will pick something up and it's small and I don't really know what it is, and he'll have it inside his beak playing with it with his tongue.

I'll ask him to give it, drop it, I'll even hold his beak and try to work it out, and he stays there for that then it's gone. Then I look back over and he's looking at me dead in the eye and showing me he still has it in his beak.

I'll reach out again and he will literally let me hold his beak and dare me to get it....so it's a game to him. Has anyone come up with a way to make a bird give you something he "has" with a command. I don't always have a treat to bribe him or etc.

 

[plumsmum2005]

It's basically always going to be food. Food/treats have a higher value to them.

 

[wrench13]

Saltys nightly training session always includes a fair number of things that he is asked to put into a small bowl, and then to take it out and give it to me. Things like a small bell, small wooden hoop, a baby spoon , a ball. As a result, outside of our training sessions, if I ask him to give me something that he has in his beak, he usually hands it over.

 

[clark_conure]

I'm still kind of working on "fetch", in time that sounds like a great second half of the exercise.

 

[T00tsyd]

I would imagine that if you offer something that has much more appeal - something to die for - then whatever is in the beak would be dropped pretty quickly. If you couple that with an appropriate word then hopefully association would eventually follow.

For Syd it would a sunflower seed the bigger the better!

 

[GaleriaGila]

Agreeing with the folks above.
Isn't that beak an amazing thing? It can yell, bite and hide things all at the same time. My wonderful vet was just the other day telling me about new information on how there are 7 interacting joints/systems (I forget his exact word) that allow that crazy stuff. All you have to do is look at a side view as it's moving and you know it's an amazing piece of work.

 

[clark_conure]

Like I said I don't always have a treat available....can't you all see I'm asking for a magical spell here? Or a get rich quick scheme? It could take months and months of careful training and dedication to get him to give me something he's playing with.

Sigh. I'll just have to put in all the effort then. Like wrench talked about. Fine.

 

[T00tsyd]

Like I said I don't always have a treat available....can't you all see I'm asking for a magical spell here? Or a get rich quick scheme? It could take months and months of careful training and dedication to get him to give me something he's playing with.

Sigh. I'll just have to put in all the effort then. Like wrench talked about. Fine.

LOL It's a hard life!

 

[Tsali]

Saltys nightly training session always includes a fair number of things that he is asked to put into a small bowl, and then to take it out and give it to me. Things like a small bell, small wooden hoop, a baby spoon , a ball. As a result, outside of our training sessions, if I ask him to give me something that he has in his beak, he usually hands it over.

I do something with Tsali. When he procures a "NO-NO" I play the trading game. I trade something of value to him for something of value to me. Unfortunately, he has learned both sides of the game. So now when he is on the counter "helping" and he wants attention, he will grab a "NO-NO" to grab my attention.

 

[Tsali]

Like I said I don't always have a treat available....can't you all see I'm asking for a magical spell here? Or a get rich quick scheme? It could take months and months of careful training and dedication to get him to give me something he's playing with.

Sigh. I'll just have to put in all the effort then. Like wrench talked about. Fine.

You CAN teach a "drop-it" command. However, it may take a long time. Clicker training would be a great way to go. Once Clark has learned that when he drops the coveted item and he gets a treat, then start giving him treats randomly and then space it out to just once in a while.

Tsali loves to drop things off the counter and watch them bounce off the floor. If it is a china cup and it shatters, it is all the better. Maybe you could teach Clark to drop things on the floor - Click/Treat until he does it consistently, then add your word cue and continue with the Click/Treat until it is a consistent behavior. Then just reward him with a food treat randomly. Tsali accepts my excited "YEAH" as an occasional substitute for a food treat with behaviors that have been learned. ALWAYS give food rewards occasionally to established behaviors to keep them reinforced.

 

[clark_conure]

Oh he already drops things, to many things. It's just not the ones I want. I like your methodology though...It's rare I find him with something I don't know what it is and worry maybe 4-5 times since he adopted me, but when it happens I want him to let me see what he has.

I'll work on the drop/reward method.

 

[Tsali]

This may sound like fuzzy logic. BUT, if you "teach" (better word - reinforce) Clark to drop things he already drops for a reward, in time the "drop-it" on command behavior will become second nature and Clark will automatically drop what ever coveted contraband he is holding when he hears drop-it. This, like many things will be a work in progress and may take an agonazingly long time to establish.