I could do with some advice with how to set the pace on training work I'm doing with Alice at the moment.
As a little background for those who don't know the story, she's an eight year old bird who was cage bound for some time before she came to live with me. We bonded very quickly, and compared to the miserable ball of feathers she was when I first met her, she's now largely a happy little thing who loves being out and in the thick of things: but we're still having issues when it comes to training.
At first, any attempt to get her interested in training was a total flop - whatever I tried she'd get confused, fluff her feathers and back away, even refusing just to take treats from my hand. She's always been good at practical behaviours such as step up and down, so I decided to not rush it and concentrate on making her feel safe and comfortable. In December we decided to revisit it and by the end of the month she had the hang of the clicker, and was targeting well as long as she felt secure where we were doing it.
This month I'm trying to extend the targeting to try to desensitize her to places she's not comfortable with - the back of a chair, the front room table, window sill etc. The goal I'm working towards is getting her to step into and out of a travel carrier, so I can start taking her out and about a little. We've had some success but it's erratic - yesterday she was scampering happily across the table to get the target, today she did it twice very reluctantly then fluffed up and looked miserable. I've also tried some of Barbara Heidenreich's exercises using targeting such as using the target to cue the bird turning in a circle, and she just seems to get confused and stressed.
I appreciate the broader answer is to go slow and that's fine, I can go whatever pace she needs - it's just knowing how to handle situations where training isn't going how you want it. If she stops targeting and looks stressed, should I stop immediately, or keep trying, or make it easier and try to finish on a run of a few successful easy targets? I'm doing the latter, but then I worry that I'm reinforcing the fact that if she doesn't want to do something she only needs to refuse and an easier opportunity will come along.
Secondly, I guess this thing that if she can't understand something she gets stressed and regresses is probably just a question of trying to set challenges small enough that she can do them, and gradually build up, but is there anything specific I can try to help with this?
Any advice greatly appreciated as always!
As a little background for those who don't know the story, she's an eight year old bird who was cage bound for some time before she came to live with me. We bonded very quickly, and compared to the miserable ball of feathers she was when I first met her, she's now largely a happy little thing who loves being out and in the thick of things: but we're still having issues when it comes to training.
At first, any attempt to get her interested in training was a total flop - whatever I tried she'd get confused, fluff her feathers and back away, even refusing just to take treats from my hand. She's always been good at practical behaviours such as step up and down, so I decided to not rush it and concentrate on making her feel safe and comfortable. In December we decided to revisit it and by the end of the month she had the hang of the clicker, and was targeting well as long as she felt secure where we were doing it.
This month I'm trying to extend the targeting to try to desensitize her to places she's not comfortable with - the back of a chair, the front room table, window sill etc. The goal I'm working towards is getting her to step into and out of a travel carrier, so I can start taking her out and about a little. We've had some success but it's erratic - yesterday she was scampering happily across the table to get the target, today she did it twice very reluctantly then fluffed up and looked miserable. I've also tried some of Barbara Heidenreich's exercises using targeting such as using the target to cue the bird turning in a circle, and she just seems to get confused and stressed.
I appreciate the broader answer is to go slow and that's fine, I can go whatever pace she needs - it's just knowing how to handle situations where training isn't going how you want it. If she stops targeting and looks stressed, should I stop immediately, or keep trying, or make it easier and try to finish on a run of a few successful easy targets? I'm doing the latter, but then I worry that I'm reinforcing the fact that if she doesn't want to do something she only needs to refuse and an easier opportunity will come along.
Secondly, I guess this thing that if she can't understand something she gets stressed and regresses is probably just a question of trying to set challenges small enough that she can do them, and gradually build up, but is there anything specific I can try to help with this?
Any advice greatly appreciated as always!
