Free Training Resources

MonicaMc

MonicaMc

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2012
7,960
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Parrots
Mitred Conure - Charlie 1994;
Cockatiel - Casey 2001;
Wild Caught ARN - Sylphie 2013
(Mods - please let me know if this is alright?)

Someone recently told me that there was only one trainer on the internet that had free training advice. This is, quite simply, false. This “trainer” they spoke of is an amateur that has taken advice from salesmen who market themselves as bird trainers. Not to say that they don't enjoy helping people connect, or even reconnect, with their birds, simply that they [the salesmen and amateur trainer] still have a lot to learn when it comes to animal behaviors and training.

In response, I put this list together that has a ton of resources for free information! And if you need more personal advice, you can set up a skype call, webinar or otherwise with some of these behaviorists and trainers for more one on one information!

This is *SOUND* advice from people who truly understand the science of behavior! :D I have also included some additional links with great advice!



Barbara Heidenreich
Parrot Digital Media | Online Parrot Media #8 Free! Definitely worth viewing!
Barbara's Force Free Animal Training Talk
Barbara Heidenreich - YouTube
Good Bird Inc - Barbara Heidenreich | Facebook
Barbara Heidenreich | Facebook
Barbara Heidenreich | Facebook


Susan Friedman
Written Works: Learning and Behavior - BehaviorWorks.com (explore other areas on the site, too!)
Behavior Works | Facebook


Lara Joseph
Lara Joseph | An animal training, behavior, and enrichment specialist. (older - still amazing advice!)
Blog - The Animal Behavior Center (new!)
Lara Joseph - YouTube
The Animal Behavior Center, LLC | Facebook
Lara Joseph | Facebook


Hillary Hankey
Blog | Learning Parrots
LearningParrots | Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/hillary.hankey


Pamela Clark
Articles
Pamela Clark | Facebook


Steve Martin
Companion Parrots | Natural Encounters, Inc.
Papers and Presentations | Natural Encounters, Inc.
Natural Encounters, Inc. | Facebook


Phoenix Landing/Jenny Drummey (recently discovered all this fantastic info!)
Articles
Online Videos
Phoenix Landing Blog – Helping Parrots (new blog for links that don't work from Project Parrot website)


The Bird School by Ann Castro
The Bird School for Parrots by Ann Castro | Welcome | Caring for Parrots | Parrot Behavior | The Bird School by Ann Castro
The Bird School by Ann Castro - YouTube
thebirdschool.com | Facebook


Stephanie Edlund
Articles – Understanding Parrots


World Parrot Trust
Ask an Expert | World Parrot Trust


Rebecca K. O’Connor
Heckled By ParrotsRebecca's Books & Articles - Heckled By Parrots


Vicki Aquino Ronchette
www.braveheartdogtraining.com
Braveheart Dog and Bird Training | Facebook
Vicki Aquino Ronchette | Facebook


Robin Cherkas
Living With Parrots Cage Free


Melanie Phung
Best in Flock - Parrot Blog | Updates and Musings About Life with Parrots




Although not about training animals, Temple Grandin has a great book about understanding how animals think! Definitely worth a read if you want to better understand your companions! The book I’ve read is Animals in Translation.

Temple Grandin - Books and DVDs
 
Nice set of resources. I don't agree with 100%; who will? Worth a stickie.
 
Thank you for spending your time creating this! <3
 
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I'm not a personal fan of Sally Blanchard. She does have some good info, but it's not the kind of information I'd expect from a behaviorist or trainer. Some of the things that she recommends I do not (or no longer do, since I've learned better methods).

I do like Eb Cravens, but I've never found a source of where all of his information is... it's scattered.

I'm not familiar with Rosemary Low, and there's really nothing on the site to help with training.


Flboy, as much as I may know, I don't consider myself anywhere close to *really* understanding behavior like Barbara Heidenreich and Lara Joseph do. I'd love to someday feel like I could say that I was at least comparable, but I've still got a lot to learn myself. :)
 
In the interest of being fair and balanced! The 'Science' of Behavior Training has its strengths, but also its limitations.

My very close friend 'plumsmum2005,' provided three (3) excellent sources that provide a much greater depth of understanding the Loving, Living and Working with Parrots. A full picture that as a part of their writings includes some training.

From the pure view of 'training,' the behavior method does the job well!

Its serious limitations are founded in not developing a deeper relationship with one's Parrot, i.e. the behavior approach is founded in the Parrot being motivated to begin training. To The Point: The Parrot hasn't Eaten!!!

Starvation is a strong motivator. Yes, the 'experts' do not advocate starvation as the proper starting point. But in all cases, their preference is that its best done with the Parrot not having eating for an extended time period. In the presentation I saw, the participating Parrots had not eaten for at least 14 hours. Yes, the Parrots responded quickly to the treat!!! To me, it was clear that all of the Parrots 'motivation' was very high!

Behavioral Training is not the only answer! It is totally unfair to define any other means of Training as Something Less! Yes, the high motivation of hunger gets one there faster!

Personally, I believe in the long, slow process of 'Free Will' based training. The Parrot chooses to participate. Its boring and, in some people's mind, painfully slow. That said, it also develops deep trust bonds that strengths the relationship.

Thank-you, for presenting the leaders in Behavioral Training. And, Thank-you 'plumsmum2005' for presenting another approach. In my mind, a more balance approach.

Just My Two Cents!
SailBoat
 
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SailBoat said:
My very close friend 'plumsmum2005,' provided three (3) excellent sources that provide a much greater depth of understanding the Loving, Living and Working with Parrots. A full picture that as a part of their writings includes some training.

In the presentation I saw, the participating Parrots had not eaten for at least 14 hours.
Click to expand...

I guess we'll have to disagree about Sally Blanchard then.

Also, I made this thread about Free Training Resources. I cannot find any information from Rosemary Low that talks about training parrots. Just articles about species specific birds, breeding, emotions.... Nothing about training. Am I missing something?


Although looking back, I do see a mistake. Barbara Heidenreich's video about training rescued and rehomed animals is not free, but it is only $1 - which is beyond reasonable. (and donate more if you want!) I watched it prior to this requirement.


And in regards to the presentation of a parrot who hadn't eaten for 14 hours... who did that?
 
Starving the parrot so it will learn? Bosh! Salty gets his main meal, chop + and we train in the middle of his meal, and he is more then willing to train, some times so excited to train he is hopping around the training table, and then when done, going back to his dinner. For us, it's not about the tricks, though we both get a kick out of it, it's about building our bond more and more.
 
MonicaMc said:
SailBoat said:
Also, I made this thread about Free Training Resources. I cannot find any information from Rosemary Low that talks about training parrots. Just articles about species specific birds, breeding, emotions.... Nothing about training. Am I missing something?

Although looking back, I do see a mistake. Barbara Heidenreich's video about training rescued and rehomed animals is not free, but it is only $1 - which is beyond reasonable. (and donate more if you want!) I watched it prior to this requirement.

And in regards to the presentation using parrots who hadn't eaten for 14 hours... who did that?
Click to expand...



The who: Barbara Heidenreich! Live presentation to near fifty Parrot owners. Is it her standard, as presented in her 'works,' NO! But it is the harsh reality of live 'presentations.' The Parrot's 'Need to Respond.'


It is very important to understand that I am not damning Behavior Training. Only stating that it is not the only way. The true danger of any approach is to worship (yes, the word is used for its impact) it as the only Way. Parrot Behavioral Training's counterpart has lost huge followings for this very reason. The 'process' when used correctly has merit. The dangers are when not used correctly.

To those others reading this, please understand: I am not damning Behavioral Training! I want Behavioral Training to be part of the resources available to provide help! There are areas that this type of training has excellent results!

* Rehomed Parrots are a very dangerous area to use Behavioral Training due to the fact that a large enough number of those Parrots have been starved in their prior lives, and that motivating fear is deeply set. Testing for that fear is rarely talked about as part of Behavioral Training. It is also important to test for the same motivating fear with younger Parrots. This is a result of the practice of questionable breeders (small 'b') who are selling Baby Parrots still on formula to 'new' Parrot owners. Our CAV's are seeing ever increasing numbers of baby Parrots starving because of this practice.


- The Sad Reality is that those Authors' who's works had not been 'Printed' resulting from Publishers' not being interested in very small sales volumes. Plus, the Authors' not seeing, understanding, or being interested in the value of the Internet; their Body of Works (Example: EBC and RL) are not widely available. In many cases the copy machine 'Booklets' are all that is available. The Avian World has lost huge amounts of Knowledge to these simple realities!


*** Regarding yourself: I have nosed back through and found examples of your Writings! Please do not make the same mistake that far too many Well Studied Individuals, as you have sighted, have made! The Not placing your writings into a single location is a serious error! Please, at the very least, preserve it here on Parrot Forums under a single Thread!!!

I no longer consider myself to be a Word Smith! I have wonderful days of clarity followed days of humdrum. Do not wait as long as I have. Get what you have gathered and stored in your wonderful mind and present it! God for Bid, that this period of time is represented to the future by the likes of the Wizard Boy!

Regards,
SailBoat
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wrench13 said:
Starving the parrot so it will learn? Bosh! Salty gets his main meal, chop + and we train in the middle of his meal, and he is more then willing to train, some times so excited to train he is hopping around the training table, and then when done, going back to his dinner. For us, it's not about the tricks, though we both get a kick out of it, it's about building our bond more and more.
Click to expand...

Salty may very well enjoy what is known as 'contrafreeloading' - that is, Salty chooses to work for his meal instead of just eating it from his dish.



Description taken from Barbara Heidenreich :)

ContraFreeLoading: Researchers have coined the term contrafreeloading to describe the phenomenon that animals choose to perform a learned response to obtain reinforcers even when the same reinforcers are freely available. For example, given a choice between working for food and obtaining food for free, animals tend to choose to work, often quite hard, with a bowl of free food placed right next to them. This phenomenon has been replicated with rats, mice, chickens, pigeons, crows, cats, gerbils, Siamese fighting fish, and humans (Osborne, 1977); starlings (Inglis & Ferguson, 1986); Abyssinian ground hornbills and bare-faced currasows (Gilbert-Norton, 2003); and captive parrots (Colton, et al., 1997). There are several interesting hypotheses explaining why this phenomenon occurs. For example, contrafreeloading behavior may be motivated by innate foraging behaviors that are otherwise frustrated in captivity; animals may be engaging in information seeking behaviors as they work to predict the location of optimal food sources; or they may be responding to the additional reinforcement provided by stimulus changes when one works for food such as the sound of a hopper. (Friedman, 2005)

Example of contrafreeloading: A Cockatiel was offered food in a bowl along with food scattered among the leaves of a piece of Astroturf. Rather than eat from the bowl, the cockatiel chose to forage within the turf to gather his meal.​
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Sailboat, I wish I knew more about what happened there, as I know Barbara Heidenreich is against starving birds or using weight management in order to train.

The live presentation? If it was done first thing in the morning, then not having eaten for 14 hours (how long night may be) could well make sense. If the session was in the evening, and the bird is fed two meals a day, then that could make sense, too. I guess, just not enough info to judge what took place.

What I do know is that there is a huge difference between training a bird who isn't starving and one that is. Birds who are starving may be overly eager to take food and may even regress in behaviors. I've been to one of Barbara Heidenreich's presentations, and the birds she worked with were not starving.



SailBoat said:
The 'process' when used correctly has merit. The dangers are when not used correctly.
Click to expand...

This is why there are two sets of trainers that I *DO NOT* recommend. One group are sales people (and I have found proof of this - they even change training terms, then tell you that it's hidden secrets, so when you try and search for their info, you can't find anything! But if you use the correct terms, you'll find a whole host of information!) and the other is just an amateur following their advice - and he's put his own birds in danger. It's scary that anyone would follow their advice!

I do believe that both groups *WANT* to help people with their birds, but I also feel that they are lacking in knowledge and understanding.



SailBoat said:
*** Regarding yourself: I have nosed back through and found examples of your Writings! Please do not make the same mistake that far too many Well Studied Individuals, as you have sighted, have made! The Not placing your writings into a single location is a serious error! Please, at the very least, preserve it here on Parrot Forums under a single Thread!!!
Click to expand...

I don't really have articles or videos on training like the experts do, so my info is "preserved" in each response made to an individual asking for help, and will remain for however long the forum remains, or until a glitch deletes older threads. ;)
 
Wgreat resource list Monica. Thank you for taking the time to put it together. I hope the mods consider making it a sticky within this training sub forum.
 
MonicaMc said:
Although looking back, I do see a mistake. Barbara Heidenreich's video about training rescued and rehomed animals is not free, but it is only $1 - which is beyond reasonable. (and donate more if you want!) I watched it prior to this requirement.
Click to expand...

She gives a 'voucher code' in the description that lets you watch it for completely free.
 
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