Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, for your edification and curiosity, The Amazing Saltini , renowned Psittacine performer from far away lands did his show last nite to capacity crowds at the infamous Living Room ! The throngs thrilled to his dizzying steps, daring rolls , the wearing of the Restricting Bands of Doom and even simulating DEATH!
Here he is, in the hands of his faithful but dumb assistant ! Notice at no time do his wings leave his body !
OK, ok, so a few friends and the family watched as I put Salty thru his current training session activities, in our living room. First, he gets a whole pine nut, to let him know the session is starting. Well he knows anyway becasue he sees me gathering the materials and measuring the pine nuts and breaking them in half. So, whole nut down, first trick is to ask him to spin in circles a few times. I always say "Thank you, thats what I wanted" and give him a little scratch on the nares, along with the treat, to let him know he did the trick right, immediately after he does the trick. Next a few rollovers, which is his favorite trick to do. He will do this one just for kicks any time.
Next we shake hands. Then his least favorite, laying in my hand, playing dead. Oddly, the first time we do it, he fights me. If i repeat it a few times, he does it docily and no nipping. Next I get him to step up onto a chop stick. eventually, once he is more comfortable , the idea is to spin him around on the chop stick, both horizontally and vertically. Max used to love doing this trick, Salty not so much, but he does cooperate bit but little bit. Next is his color training. I bought that kit, 5 plastic posts on a base, each with 5 colored rings. This is a hard trick to teach, becasue he has to know colors, and also develope the skill to put the rings on the posts. At this point, he and I will both hold a ring and put it onto a post. Slow going but we've only been at this one for 2 weeks. Last is his harness training. He loves this so far. Salty has progresseed to the point where he puts his head thru the harness and I lay the rest of it on his back and side, and he will stay with it on as I slowly feed him crumbled up pine nuts, just alittle at a time, then say OFF, and he backs out of the hardness and gets a regular treat. We spend maybe 10 min doing just this. And then he gets a whole pine nut, also crumbled up to eat out of the palm of my hand , to signal that the session is over. Last night was the first time he has done this with more then one person watching and he did really well, only a little distracted at times. And thats how he got the name:
Here he is, in the hands of his faithful but dumb assistant ! Notice at no time do his wings leave his body !
OK, ok, so a few friends and the family watched as I put Salty thru his current training session activities, in our living room. First, he gets a whole pine nut, to let him know the session is starting. Well he knows anyway becasue he sees me gathering the materials and measuring the pine nuts and breaking them in half. So, whole nut down, first trick is to ask him to spin in circles a few times. I always say "Thank you, thats what I wanted" and give him a little scratch on the nares, along with the treat, to let him know he did the trick right, immediately after he does the trick. Next a few rollovers, which is his favorite trick to do. He will do this one just for kicks any time.
Next we shake hands. Then his least favorite, laying in my hand, playing dead. Oddly, the first time we do it, he fights me. If i repeat it a few times, he does it docily and no nipping. Next I get him to step up onto a chop stick. eventually, once he is more comfortable , the idea is to spin him around on the chop stick, both horizontally and vertically. Max used to love doing this trick, Salty not so much, but he does cooperate bit but little bit. Next is his color training. I bought that kit, 5 plastic posts on a base, each with 5 colored rings. This is a hard trick to teach, becasue he has to know colors, and also develope the skill to put the rings on the posts. At this point, he and I will both hold a ring and put it onto a post. Slow going but we've only been at this one for 2 weeks. Last is his harness training. He loves this so far. Salty has progresseed to the point where he puts his head thru the harness and I lay the rest of it on his back and side, and he will stay with it on as I slowly feed him crumbled up pine nuts, just alittle at a time, then say OFF, and he backs out of the hardness and gets a regular treat. We spend maybe 10 min doing just this. And then he gets a whole pine nut, also crumbled up to eat out of the palm of my hand , to signal that the session is over. Last night was the first time he has done this with more then one person watching and he did really well, only a little distracted at times. And thats how he got the name:
THE *** AMAZING *** SALTINI
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