Holly's FIRST day in a Harness!!

[Shirley]

I just harnessed Holly (her first ever time in a harness) --- with not one single bite!!!!! NOT ONE!!!! and took her outside and she loved it!!!

It took a long time and a lot of p-nut pieces, but not even one mention of a bite!!!! And, no toweling, either!!!

She's amazing!!! (proof attached, and this is not photoshopped!! ha!) Clicker Training rocks!!! http://9.forumer.com/html/emoticons/bof/dance.gif http://9.forumer.com/html/emoticons/bof/banana.gif http://9.forumer.com/html/emoticons/bof/dance.gif


http://shirleymorgan.com/misc/BF/equipment/Holly-harness2.jpg

http://shirleymorgan.com/misc/BF/equipment/Holly-harness1.jpg

This is the same harness Catherine uses on Milo, her RB2. It's WAY better than the Feather Tether.

http://orthobird.net/

[Shirley]

This is Holly's harness - I goofed and put Skyler's on her yesterday. The red is to match her tail.

http://shirleymorgan.com/misc/BF/equipment/Holly-red-Harness.jpg

It's not as loose around her neck as it looks, and that's as tight as it will go. It's a size medium.

[Shirley]

I have worked with her just a few times since Skyer had to be in a collar. Dr. Cook highly recommended clicker training, and I said I'd tried it way back when I got Shelby, and it didn't really work. Well, right there in the exam room she demonstrated that it DOES work and had Skyler touching a target stick for a treat w/the clicker and a voice command in a matter of moments!! So, I bought Melinda Johnson's book Clicker Training for Birds, re-joined her Yahoo Group, and away we went.

I have the things I've taught them on little movie clips online. I'll start a new thread if there's interest... http://9.forumer.com/html/emoticons/bof/smile.gif

Shelby immediately quit nipping once she started c/t. That wasn't even anything I was working on. C/T is for positive behaviors, not for discipline. But the stopping of the nipping was a nice by-product of the C/T. She just liked it so much that she stopped nipping when I asked her to step up off of whomever she was on that she didn't want to get off of!

[Shirley]

You can get the clicker at Petsmart and other pet stores. I can't stress enough the importance of doing the training steps correctly, and slowly. Melinda Johnson's book is excellent, and about $15.00. I've talked to her on the phone a lot back when she was in the final stages of writing it, two years ago. But I didn't get the book until November! Go figure!

You can get it at Amazon.com, or order it at just about any local book store, or from her Website:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bird-Click/

That's the clicker training site I joined, which is good, but a hassle to use sometimes. I set it NOT to receive the emails, but to check the site for answers, or your mailbox will be flooded with everyone's emails.

Melinda answers all the posts and is extremely helpful. She lives in Washington state, btw, and has a Goffins, a Timneh, and a macaw, but can't remember which kind - Greenwing?

Here's the link to my clicker videos when I FIRST started Holly, Shelby, and Skyler.

Shelby is VERY ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and has a very short attention span.

Holly is very focused and has a very long attention span.

None are to the point yet of bringing things to me, putting balls in hoops, those kinds of things, but I also rarely work with them.

They never forget what they've learned, and all I have to do now is say "Touch" and they beak touch and I click and treat and say "Good Boy!" or "Good Girl!" I did that with the harness. Touch click treat on lots of parts of the harness. Held it high, low, etc. That's "target training" and they all know that from the "target stick" they learned it with.

The benefit of c/t is they can learn to drink Koolaide from a syringe (medicine later), have their body parts examined (roll over, turn around, lift your wing, your foot, etc) for vet work. It helped with Skyler's collar. And the training stand - they know once on the training stand - it's time to play for treats.

I made the movies in two formats b/c some people couldn't see them in one or the other. The .mov files are exactly the same as the .mpg files, but the .mov files are larger and will take longer to download. They all will run on Quicktime, and if you have the plugin installed and associated with your web browser, then they should run automatically when you click the link. The files are in a list... so you just choose one and click it, then hit your back button, choose another, and so on.

.mpg files: Clicker Training Holly, Shelby, Skyler:

http://shirleymorgan.com/misc/Holly/Movies/

.mov files: identical files to the above:

http://shirleymorgan.com/misc/CT/

You will probably have to play each movie once in a choppy form, then it will be buffered, and will play smoothly the second time. Each one is only a few seconds long, just long enough to perform the behavior.

~ Shirley

[Jean]

:bestpost: This is a great thread. I love the way you have explained everything. It brings out your teaching ability.The picks are wonderfal to view with you
explain.

The links and info on clicker training are wonderful. I want to learn more anout that type of training myself.

:thanx:

[Shirley]

Thanks, Jean! I just realized I posted this here after posting it by itself in squawk n talk -- oh well... this is where it came in so handy! :agree:

[sammiesmom]

I'm amazed you didn't get bitten! If I tried this with Sammie, I'd pull nubs back that used to be fingers.:ohmy: