Power Pause training *vid*

[Featheredsamurai]

This is a Dante update too.
Power pause is a fantastic technique that I've used on several birds, I've found that it is always successful. With different birds it can take longer or shorter.

In this video you'll notice I pull away a few times. Normally I don't recommend doing that. At .27 I did it on accident without thinking, but the other times I pulled back it was telling Dante he would not get a "click" which would earn him a reward. Dante is a very eager learner and this works well with him in the first session. In the next sessions I did not pull back, he by then learned what I was asking of him and I did not want him to learn that biting means he will get release.
[ame="http://youtu.be/zmmZVbcKKpc"]Dante training - YouTube[/ame]


This is a video taken the next day. I now have him to were he would rather get pet as a reward than millet. A huge difference. The first part he is waving, something he already new but I improved his form. I improved the form of the wave by only clicking if he waved a certain way. The second part is "wings, a trick I taught him that same day.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbUJWWITaz0&feature=share&list=UU5QPzcyW6sHN0OBkffHzk7A"]Dante the cockatiel - YouTube[/ame]

 

[MonicaMc]

Dante really is cute! But I have to wonder, is he a confirmed male?


BTW, well done in with the training!

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Dante really is cute! But I have to wonder, is he a confirmed male?


BTW, well done in with the training!

He has never been confirmed but I would be stunned if he was a female. He talks pretty good, whistles various things, and also taps on his cage and mounts things.

male pied cockatiel often never loose the female markings. Dante already went through his first molt and still has his. With cockatiel mutations we mess things up a bit and we usually can't relie on norm markings. I know that the pearl can be identified as the male will loose the pearling while the females keep it.

 

[MonicaMc]

I was pretty sure I saw the female markings. I have heard of the occasional females that talk, whistle and even do heart wings. Heck, I have a hen who wolf whistles! Confirmed female via eggs! She's also a pied.

I thought Dante was an older bird though, since you had previously said that you had found him?


I'm interested in adult pied male cockatiels to see how many of them have the markings or don't. The last pied male I saw pictures of did not have any female markings from what I saw.

 

[sodakat]

In the first video, is Dante beaking your finger? I'm absolutely no trainer but do manage with my birds to communicate and achieve recall, etc. If I saw that behavior with the beak reaching to the finger I would interpret it as leave me alone, I don't like that. Also with my reluctant birds it might result in a bite. First I think they would fly away though. Can Dante fly? It looks like he is clipped so can not leave the perch.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

I was pretty sure I saw the female markings. I have heard of the occasional females that talk, whistle and even do heart wings. Heck, I have a hen who wolf whistles! Confirmed female via eggs! She's also a pied.

I thought Dante was an older bird though, since you had previously said that you had found him?


I'm interested in adult pied male cockatiels to see how many of them have the markings or don't. The last pied male I saw pictures of did not have any female markings from what I saw.

When I found him I talked to a few breeders and was active on a cockatiel forum. That is where I found out about how pied males often don't loose the female markings(some do though). As for age I was told that because of how he acted he was probably a young bird who escaped.

We won't know 100% if he is a male or not though.

In the first video, is Dante beaking your finger? I'm absolutely no trainer but do manage with my birds to communicate and achieve recall, etc. If I saw that behavior with the beak reaching to the finger I would interpret it as leave me alone, I don't like that. Also with my reluctant birds it might result in a bite. First I think they would fly away though. Can Dante fly? It looks like he is clipped so can not leave the perch.

Yes Dante is beaking my finger, yes he is clipped, and yes he is telling me he doesn't like my hand being there. Dante WANTS to be pet, but hates hands being above his head. I am teaching him it is ok and that he can be pet this way. As you can see by the second video he is very happy to be pet now that he realizes that is what happens when my hand is at that angle. I did this three times throughout one day and each session was around 3 minutes. By the end he was doing fantastic.

The most important part of training this way is to also give release the moment they do the right behavior. Without the release it would not work.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

I was pretty sure I saw the female markings. I have heard of the occasional females that talk, whistle and even do heart wings. Heck, I have a hen who wolf whistles! Confirmed female via eggs! She's also a pied.

I thought Dante was an older bird though, since you had previously said that you had found him?


I'm interested in adult pied male cockatiels to see how many of them have the markings or don't. The last pied male I saw pictures of did not have any female markings from what I saw.

I was just looking at Dante's wings and I noticed he did loose the female markings in all but one feather, but he still has them in his tail.

 

[sodakat]

So you are doing something he doesn't like because once you succeed you know he'll like it? The bird is not doing something proactive that you are rewarding, instead he is sort of tolerating something, right? I'm trying to understand the concept here.

Also, would you use this exact method with a very large beak that you knew would reach up and bite you? I mean would you come from above then move back, over and over until you managed a touch? I'm not too keen on getting bit hard and feel there is a huge difference between beaking and biting.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

So you are doing something he doesn't like because once you succeed you know he'll like it? The bird is not doing something proactive that you are rewarding, instead he is sort of tolerating something, right? I'm trying to understand the concept here.

Also, would you use this exact method with a very large beak that you knew would reach up and bite you? I mean would you come from above then move back, over and over until you managed a touch? I'm not too keen on getting bit hard and feel there is a huge difference between beaking and biting.

In a way yes. And I'm rewarding him when he is sitting their calmly, even if it wasn't for very long. Also, just to give you a example. Right now I will bring my hand in the same way to pet him, and he is ok with that. But if he postures in a way that says I don't want to be touched I let him be. I am not training him to not be a bird, instead I am showing him, with positive reinforcement, that my hand is a ok thing.

I did use this method on a African gray who was a big beaker and drew my blood a couple of times but in the end it worked out fine. I haven't needed to use it on anything bigger.

Also I normally wouldn't start so close. When I first tamed Dante I would reward him for remaining calm when my hand touched his cage, or I was standing next to his cage. When Rosie was much more aggressive towards my female friends I rewarded her when she allowed my friends to move their hands towards her and she didn't lunge at them. I don't care if she bites them a little after posturing and giving them clear warnings to stay away, that's there fault for not listening to her(and I make sure to point it out to them.)