Clicker Training

[Lindades264]

Hello, this week my husband surprised me with the book Clicker Training for Birds and a few gadgets to train my birds. I was a little surprised as I have never trained any of my animals to do 'tricks'. My first feeling was that I was not interested in this, so I planned to return all the items. Tonight I decided to have a look at the book. It seems that there may be some benefits to using a clicker other than teaching tricks. The book states that birds learn to be more playful - among other things. I thought I would post this to ask if anyone else has done this type of training and what has been your experience. To give a little background, I have 4 lovebirds. Three are 10 months old and the 4th is 3 1/2 years. They are caged in pairs. 3 of my birds are hand tamed. Johnny, my oldest does not come to me willingly. Once I do pick him up, he is fine and stays on my hand or shoulder. Johnny does not play too much. He is active in that he is out of his cage several times a day and on his play centre. Lilo is 10 months old, she is a little tempermental - she is nippy when she does not like something, but I understand her personality and respect her when she is uncomfortable with something. She is very active and fun loving. Finnigan and Milo are fun loving, easy going, very active birds. I wonder that if I did decided to attempt to clicker train; would it be too difficult with 4 birds; would I break their spirit; is it necessary in order for a bird to have a better quality of life....? As you can see, I am really unsure about this. I do not want to shut the door so soon if there are some benefits that I am not aware of. I have only read about 20 pages of the book. If you have had an experience with Clicker training, please share your comments. Thanks, Linda

P.S. I only know of one person who has clicker trained her bird, and it was to do tricks.

[linda040899]

Hi Linda,
I've never tried clicker training but I've had mixed reviews from a few people who tried it. I can see where it might work for tricks but I've got another thought as to where it might prove useful. I wonder if it could be used to teach your birds to come to you on command (click?)? This would prove invaluable should any of your birds get outside or even in case of emergency where time is of the essence.

[Lindades264]

Hi Linda, thanks for the reply. Yes, I like your idea. I used a similar clicker with my small dog who always escaped from our yard, which is surrounded by hedges. I clicked with a clicker whenever I gave him a dog cookie. Then, when he ran away, I would walk down the street and click. Once he heard the click he came running to me, and of course I gave him a cookie.

[Lindades264]

Hi, does anyone else have any comments? I would love to hear your feedback.