approved tricks?

[eeyoresdad]

I was wondering if there's anything wrong with teaching my lovebird to lay on its back? I plan on spending a lot of time with the new addition to the family once its ready to leave the petstore and I read that a good way to spend time with them is to teach them tricks. Would anybody be willing to shed light on what else I could try teaching my bird? Basic domestication would also be nice to be informed about:D. Thanks!

[BarbieH]

There's nothing wrong with it as long as it's something the lovie wants to do. :) I enjoy seeing something that my bird likes to do anyway, or does naturally, and then build on it.

Positive reinforcement is the way to get a parrot to repeat a behavior. I mainly use vocal reinforcement ("Yay!! Good Birdie!") with the lovies for any behavior I want the birds to repeat.

Part of lovebird domestication, I have found, hinges upon my own expectations. I don't really expect them to do anything; we are partners, buds, friends. They will always remain wild at heart, but they learn to adapt themselves to our homes and their surroundings. In fact, some of them tend to take over. :rolleyes:

Best wishes,

[Ducky]

The quickest way to be able to spend a lot of time with the bird is to get one that is not wild. You ought to be able to find local breeders in your area beyond a pet store. These are usually healthier too.

As for training, clicker training also works very well for parrots. You can google this, or there's a Yahoo group I believe with lots of information. This works very well from what I understand, but all I have taught mine is to target. :whistle: Maybe when summer comes...

[Janie]

There's nothing wrong with it as long as it's something the lovie wants to do. :) I enjoy seeing something that my bird likes to do anyway, or does naturally, and then build on it.

Positive reinforcement is the way to get a parrot to repeat a behavior. I mainly use vocal reinforcement ("Yay!! Good Birdie!") with the lovies for any behavior I want the birds to repeat.

Part of lovebird domestication, I have found, hinges upon my own expectations. I don't really expect them to do anything; we are partners, buds, friends. They will always remain wild at heart, but they learn to adapt themselves to our homes and their surroundings. In fact, some of them tend to take over. :rolleyes:

Best wishes,

Excellent advice from Barb! I have three, all very tame and they love to be held and petted, but not a single one likes being on his back at all so we don't do that. :) We do what they like to do. :D

[Emery]

My lovie will not lay on its back and he's very tame. As for tricks though, I taught Amaretto to do foot.

I started off holding millet in one hand while using my other hand to ask for his foot. I'd poke his upper leg gently to encourage him to pick it up (which he did). Once his foot touched my finger, I'd say "good boy!!" in a very excited voice and let him nibble the millet. I just repeated this over and over and soon I could just say "foot" and show my finger and he would just put his foot on my finger without me having to nudge him. It's a cute trick. :)

[michael]

My two year old lovebird likes to lay on his back in my hand and stare at me. He also hangs upside down and does the same. He'll stay that way for fifteen minutes or so and let out an occasional peep. Likes to gently swing around in circles from the stem of my glasses and jump off and then back on for more. I've been starting to cup him in my hand and set him down on his back and as long as I keep eye contact he'll stay for a little bit. None of this I taught him. I think all I did was reinforce his already goofy behavior. We have peeping sessions too where we touch nose and beak and make peep sounds back and forth. I'm starting to think he's the one doing all the teaching here!...Do ya's think its safe for ME?....Goofy N' The apprentice.

[chellybum]

I would LOVE to have play time like that with my birdie.. all she ever wants to do is eat and cuddle. When I come home from work I take her out (actually she comes out on her own because I can't get near her cage) Then I say "up up" when she is on top of her cage.. she comes up no problem... then she eats up a storm, and we cuddle for like 45 mins (she jsut never wants to leave) she hardly ever wants to play around.. and if she does it is only climbing to the top of my head.. she chirps "up up" and I come and take her off OR we play "up up" on my fingers.. (she uses them like a ladder).. it is like we are stuck in a rut :confused:

[michael]

I think I understand what you mean. A lot of times I would like Goof to stay on top my head for a little bit as he can really tie up my hands for awhile. Plus he can sometimes be demanding too so I try to work activity time that conforms to whatever behavior he exhibits at the time. I sometimes find that walking around doing small chores that don't pose a danger to him help to get him interested in other things as he's naturally curious about everything. He sometimes won't do anything else unless he sees me do something else. That position that we seem to be stuck in sometimes is the trust we've gained between them and us and may just be a starting point. Just don't try to do important paper work around them as they're absolutely no help. I've been playing with some of his toys to help keep him from just laying upside down in my hand and this helps break the monotony plus lets him know his toys aren't out to get him. It could be we get ourselves stuck in what seems a repetitious spot and just need to explore other ways to learn with them, afterall we are still relatively new to this and there will always be something new to learn down the road no matter how experienced we become.....Have fun and give your friend a little smooch on the head for me....if she'll let you....Goofy N' Michael.

[wilkiecoco]

kiwi has taught ME alot of tricks - run to get the toy mama, pick up that food i dropped mommy, take me out of the cage NOW MOM!!! , and my favourite, give me your finger so i can do the swishy swish !!!!:( :blush:

i did teach him to give kisses with the appropriate sound, bring me the birdie ball, i ask him to do mommy's favourite chirp, which is quite different than all his others, and he does it every time. but he had an interest in doing all these things, mainly by my making such a happy fuss every time he did them. :happy: :happy: :happy: :happy:

as for on his back, not if i gave him all the millet in the world. he hates it!!!!>:

[chellybum]

maybe noticing these behaviours are more subtle than I thought, Isabella will only eat certain foods from my hand, and she always waits for me before eating dinner. If she drops something then she just looks at me like "uhhh mom.. pick that up.. I dropped it"


But today I think we had a break through, and even though she is a sick birdie, she perched on my finger after our cuddles and she just stared at me while I sung to her. I would bring my hands and face close to her and she didnt back away or shiver at all! AND when i went to put her back in her cage she sat there, stared at me, and she let me put her hand to her cage before she hopped up on m finger.. A FIRST since i've had her!!!

so it is the slow baby steps that pay off!!

[eeyoresdad]

Are there any tricks that are unhealthy or hurtful to the bird besides letting them do what they don't want to? I really want to experiment and have a good time with her.

[michael]

As long as I know My Goofy's comfortable and happy I don't care if he can do tricks or not. I do think its neat though that poeple can train their birds to do many things, but only when its through positive reinforcement. You know, at first I thought that Goofy was one of the only lovebirds that gave kisses, and as a matter of fact I think it was the first thing he learned by human example. Now I've noticed these little boogers have been giving kissies all over the place for years! No wonder we call them lovebirds!....Michael N' Michael.

[Janie]

Are there any tricks that are unhealthy or hurtful to the bird besides letting them do what they don't want to? I really want to experiment and have a good time with her.

When I think "lovebird" I do not think about a parrot who does tricks. I'm not saying that there aren't a few who might do a trick or two but that is not what lovies are known for. They are curious, playful and a bundle of energy but not known for performing tricks. I've always dreamed of having a parrot that talks but certainly did not expect that I could teach a lovebird to talk since it is rare when one does. You really might want to consider another parrot species if you're interested in having a bird that does tricks. :)

[BarbieH]

Let's see; any tricks that involve materials that are unsafe for a lovebird would be generally unsafe.I would want to keep the bird away from having soft metals in its beak. Anything involving alcohol, cigarettes/tobacco, or any other toxic substance should be avoided.

Take a good look at the lists of potential poisons and harmful substances in the Resource Library. I've always found Robin's guidelines for new owners especially helpful.

Other potentially harmful tricks are those involving your mouth and saliva (it drives me crazy when Animal Planet shows videos of peoples' birds in their mouths, or cleaning their teeth); any tricks involving other pets, like dogs or cats; any tricks involving things that generally aren't safe for the bird, like ceiling fans; or any tricks that might lead to the bird being squeezed or suffocated.

That's all I can think of for now. Will keep my thinking cap on a while longer. :)

Best wishes,

[T&T]

My Tex leanrt to do the wave in 30 minutes and to target ANYWHERE in 10 minutes. I'm teaching him to lie on his back but he's a bit reluctant..I don't push him if he doesn't like it.

[michael]

Janie and Barb have good points there. You know theres been plenty of entertaining acts on worlds funniest video's and animal planet. Some showing birds playing with dogs and cats as well as other amusing acts. One thing I did notice was the lack of lovebirds performing them. The smallest I've seen were cockatiels and cockatoo's. I do appreciate the small acts, tricks, that poeple have taught their birds that are safe as it shows that they spend a lot of time with their pets. I haven't witnessed any professional bird handlers that let their birds do acts with other animals, kind of a coincidence. I too at one time never thought of the dangers of thinking various pets are miscible. And I always thought I was a advocate of pet safety! So much to learn! I spent a lot of time thinking about whether I could properly care for a lovebird. I fell in love with my daughters lovie named Jones so she brought home his sibling Goofy. She knew of my final decision to get a lovie so she got him for me as a birthday gift. I think she knew I would care for him because I was willing to babysit Jones any time. He was a very special bird. You know whats funny is, in all the thinking I did before finally having a lovie, I never once thought about whether it will do tricks or not.........Michael and my wonderful bird Goofy.

[eeyoresdad]

I just wanted to let everyone that replied to this know that I'm thankful for every answer. I also want to apologize because I feel like I gave the impression that I might exploit them into thinking that they should do tricks. I just wanted to know if it happens to learn a trick, if there might be anything wrong with it e.g. if having it lay on its back could do something to the poor guy's health. I really hope I didn't give any bad expression that I wanted to exploit the bird:( . Thank you:)

[Janie]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a lovie that will lie on his back if that's something he/she wants to do. :) I didn't think for a second that you would want to exploit a lovie when you get one. My concerns were/are that you might be expecting a different personality than what you'll likely get with a lovebird. Someone recently sent me a video (youtube I think) of a Ringneck Parrot doing the coolest tricks, all safe, and I watched it about 10 times cause it was so cute. When my hubby saw it he asked me if a lovebird could be taught those tricks and I laughed and said, "not likely!" :D Since you haven't gotten a lovebird yet, I just wanted to make sure that you understand they aren't typically "trick" type parrots. A few lovies out there might say a few words and a few might do a trick or two but that is not to be expected with lovebirds. But still....they are tons of fun! :D

Take a look at this link from Cindy. Bo is her adorable lovie and that boy does do tricks! :happy: I don't know if she taught him to do these things or if it's something he just started doing on his own but I was impressed when I saw this link but realize that my lovies aren't going to preform like Bo. Some lovies like to play with a ball and will toss it, my three are afraid of a ball! :lol

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2098723119

[BarbieH]

I never thought you wanted to exploit your bird! I don't like some of the things I see on Animal Planet (or other funny video shows), and I only wanted to make sure that you knew which kinds of tricks could be harmful. :)

Things that seem relatively safe to humans, can be very dangerous for birds, but it's not always obvious until we learn better. I appreciate that you asked the question. :):)

[michael]

I believe you've witnessed the dedication that a lot of members here share. There's absolutely no reason to apologize. I doubt anyone here thought you were going to do anything questionable. I'm sorry if I contributed to your feeling like maybe you were ganged up on. Most of the information here comes from personal experience, some good and some not so good. The last thing we want is for anyone to lose their bird and then suffer the guilt because of a couple small details. I'm pretty sure most poeple here love to answer questions, besides, we just love to gang up on someone! So PLEASE ask some more questions. throw in a couple dumb ones too, that way I won't feel alone here!......Michael N' Goofy

[mjm8321]

My won't do tricks, but the certainly have me trained to do them. Yep, that's right, clean water dish as many time as lovebird wishes to make mess in it. Change food dish when lovebird is hungry, if not, lovebirds will bang on dish or call repeatedly until done. No unauthorized placement of new toys in cage without approval outside the cage first. No leaving the room without taking lovebird along or else you get to hear hollering!

Are you getting the idea? :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[michael]

Seems like some pets have it made behind bars! Hopefully they don't get a hold of any cigarettes. And I would continue to limit them to one phone call a day!.....Michael and the Goof