If your bird is leaving the perch before your cue you
have two options.You can let the bird land on your hand and withhold your reinforcer and bring him back to his perch. Or if you have enough room you can take a step out of the way, duck, ormove so that the bird is unable to land on you. The bird will likely fly to another perch. Note: Only use the strategy of moving out of the way if your parrot is a skilled flyer and can easily maneuver on the wing to find another perch.
Either way once the bird is back on the perch, now is
the time to present your cue. The reason it is important to do this right away is that it is closely connected with the presentation of the undesired behavior.The idea is that by not reinforcing the uncued launch, and quickly following itwith reinforcing the correct behavior your birdwill learn launching doesn’t work, but responding when cued does.
This all happens very fast and will take a very attentive
trainer. To help slow down the pace, your next step is to employ the following strategy.
TRAINYOUR BIRDTOWAIT A second part involves training your bird to wait longer
intervals of time before he is given the cue to recall. At first your parrot may only wait long enough to finish his treat before he is ready to go. He may look like he can barely contain himself as you prepare for your next pres- entation of the cue. Your goal here is to create tiny inter- vals of time your parrot will wait before you present the cue. This may only be a second or two in the beginning. You can gradually build this time by watching your bird’s body language. Try to hold out on presenting your cue until you think he just can’t wait a second longer. If you wait too long and your bird launches, just follow the strategiesmentioned in the previous section. Either let the bird land on you and don’t reinforce, or move out of the way. Once back on his perch, don’t ask him to wait quite so long before you cue him. The goal is to avoid any un- cued launches if possible. In other words do your best to set him up to succeed every time.
As you start to fine tune training your bird to wait for
your cue, you will find he will wait longer and longer. Once you get to this stage you might transition to allow- ing your bird free time to explore and play and cue him occasionally when he is out and about. Remember mak- ing other perches such as play stands and cage tops very entertaining will also help keep him from only thinking about being with you. Your goal is to create a balance of reinforcing value between acceptable parrot perches in the house and you.
When my young flighted yellow naped Amazon parrot
Delbert first arrived in my home he was so eager to fly to me it was almost bordering on annoying. I spent the first two weeks focused on fine tuning that recall. Now I can pretty much trust whenever he is flying around the house he has landed on one of his designated perches.Andmost importantly hewill recall almost immediatelywhen cued, but rarely, if ever launches at me without a cue. This means hours of stress free flight time in my house as I clean up, pack for travel, prep bird diets, etc.
For me having a strong recall that is on cue has made it
a joy to spend time with my parrot flying around the house. It means more time for flight, more enriching ex- periences for my bird and more time to enjoy my parrot’s companionship. Try this one at home!
Once the bird is back on the perch, present your cue. Photo credit: Barbara Heidenreich
34 Good Bird Magazine *Special thanks tomodels Laura Coday,Nyla Copp and Brody!
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