Today I got to play with Peepers and Sparky again. I decided to build on yesterday's session, almost just for the sake of it :). Peepers rocked! I set up the perches side by side, and sent him to the red perch from different spots. That was going well, and for one rep, Peepers did a touch and go on the sisal perch before he went to the red one. shortly after that, it seemed like he was kind of interested in the sisal perch, and what it was doing there. I asked him to step onto it, and he did. Then he offered a short flight to it. Sweet! I ended the session by doing a little circle with him and sending him to each perch in turn. You just can't ask for more than that after you've been a dufus LOL. I hope this continues tomorrow, so we can add in directed flight and recalls from the perches.
I need to change up Sparky's routine a bit. I can't figure out if she's getting bored, or if she's just kind of an on again/off again kind of girl. Maybe what I can do is stationary behaviors for one bird and flighted for the other, and switch the 2 in the middle. Dunno, have to think on it a bit. But she needs to learn new stuff :).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MF0M6fZ68M
The dogs got no training today, as some friends came into town and that sucked up a bunch of time. I really hope to get back on track tomorrow.
Showing posts with label red perch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label red perch. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Geez, another title...
So today I finally got to play with Dempsey and the parrots. Dempsey got to practice his weave poles and box turn, while the birds worked on recalls and sends around the evil sisal perch.
So Dempsey's weaves were better than expected given that he's had over a week off from practicing them. he had some trouble getting into them, then in one of the spots where I had closed the poles last time, he popped out. I guess that was a little too hard to get back into. But, after I opened the one spot about an inch, he just plowed right through like he had been doing it all along. So I closed up the last poles and inch or so and he thought he could totally handle that.
Like I said, Peepers and Sparky worked on recalls and sends, near the sisal perch. You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaLxkrjyph4. You can see I sent Peepers towards the sisal perch to the red perch near it. I did one rep where I stood between the sisal and red perches, and sent Peepers to the red perch from there, but he was uncomfortable with that, so I went back to what he was more comfortable with. I mixed in recalls for Sparky in between Peepers reps. This is one thing I can do with the birds that I can do with the dogs - play with them both at the same time. the dogs swallow so fast that I don't have time to cue another one.
I'm hoping tomorrow to continue with the stuff I did today, apparently that's enough for my plate right now LOL
So Dempsey's weaves were better than expected given that he's had over a week off from practicing them. he had some trouble getting into them, then in one of the spots where I had closed the poles last time, he popped out. I guess that was a little too hard to get back into. But, after I opened the one spot about an inch, he just plowed right through like he had been doing it all along. So I closed up the last poles and inch or so and he thought he could totally handle that.
Like I said, Peepers and Sparky worked on recalls and sends, near the sisal perch. You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaLxkrjyph4. You can see I sent Peepers towards the sisal perch to the red perch near it. I did one rep where I stood between the sisal and red perches, and sent Peepers to the red perch from there, but he was uncomfortable with that, so I went back to what he was more comfortable with. I mixed in recalls for Sparky in between Peepers reps. This is one thing I can do with the birds that I can do with the dogs - play with them both at the same time. the dogs swallow so fast that I don't have time to cue another one.
I'm hoping tomorrow to continue with the stuff I did today, apparently that's enough for my plate right now LOL
Monday, March 23, 2009
What a good break
Hey all,
I took a day off after my disastrous "work" with Peepers and the sisal perch. I needed to regroup and work through my issues with pushing too hard and really just being dense.
So today was a busy and really kind of disturbing day for the birds. The cleaner came, and so they were outside with Bungee and Dempsey for part of the day. when the cleaner was almost done, I wanted to move Tiny (our foster pony-sized dog) outside and bring in the little ones. So I did this, and left the birds outside. Peepers blew an absolute hissy fit, and was scared to death of Tiny (who wasn't that interested). So I moved the birds inside, which removed the immediate problem, but still left Peepers a little upset and discombobulated.
A little later, I decided to try training, but since I knew Peepers was having a rough day, I decided to start easy. I did step-ups and recalls with both birds, then took a break. After a bit, we got going again, and this time I pulled out the red perch to do some sends to it. Peepers did very well. He was very distracted, but every time I said "ready" he would focus on the perch, and he went straight to it when I cued him with "go". Every time. It was cool, because he'd be looking around, clearly upset, then when asked would just get right in the groove. It's the kind of thing I really love to see, and gives me a good glimpse of what is possible.
Naturally I haven't done a thing with the dogs. maybe tomorrow...
I took a day off after my disastrous "work" with Peepers and the sisal perch. I needed to regroup and work through my issues with pushing too hard and really just being dense.
So today was a busy and really kind of disturbing day for the birds. The cleaner came, and so they were outside with Bungee and Dempsey for part of the day. when the cleaner was almost done, I wanted to move Tiny (our foster pony-sized dog) outside and bring in the little ones. So I did this, and left the birds outside. Peepers blew an absolute hissy fit, and was scared to death of Tiny (who wasn't that interested). So I moved the birds inside, which removed the immediate problem, but still left Peepers a little upset and discombobulated.
A little later, I decided to try training, but since I knew Peepers was having a rough day, I decided to start easy. I did step-ups and recalls with both birds, then took a break. After a bit, we got going again, and this time I pulled out the red perch to do some sends to it. Peepers did very well. He was very distracted, but every time I said "ready" he would focus on the perch, and he went straight to it when I cued him with "go". Every time. It was cool, because he'd be looking around, clearly upset, then when asked would just get right in the groove. It's the kind of thing I really love to see, and gives me a good glimpse of what is possible.
Naturally I haven't done a thing with the dogs. maybe tomorrow...
Friday, March 20, 2009
Boy, when I mess things up...
Well, the 2 sessions I have had with Peepers and the sisal perch have been just yucky. The 2nd taped session (here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyqfgx8Nj5c ) I thought that he would be ready to progress really quickly, like he did before. So, I brought the red perch out and tried to be ready for the fantastic session I was sure was coming.
Peepers wasn't in any way ready for my optimistic agenda. I tried to be sensitive to what was going on with him, but the fact is, I married my agenda on this session, and not much was accomplished as a result. bleh. I hate it when I do things like this. I know better. I really do. And, on top of that, we don't have a timeline that I have to work with on this one. There's just no good reason for me to get like this.
So, today I came into our session trying to be sure that Peepers was ready for the next steps, and not getting too attached to my agenda. Peepers came into our session a little jumpy, it was very strange. I did notice this, and I tried to back off a little bit so that he wouldn't feel too much pressure. I managed this, but then I was stoopid and moved the perch to clean the crumbs off the island. That scared Peepers and he didn't want to touch the perch anymore. So I tried to salvage the session. You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Scoo5IgOcCI
Sometimes my asperations and goals get way too high for the current situation. I guess it's time to reevaluate everything and come back fresh tomorrow for Peepers.
Dempsey hasn't gotten to play with me at all. I really need to get back on track with all of this. Tomorrow morning I have agility practice with my friend, and then hopefully when I get back I can get some good training in with the birds.
Peepers wasn't in any way ready for my optimistic agenda. I tried to be sensitive to what was going on with him, but the fact is, I married my agenda on this session, and not much was accomplished as a result. bleh. I hate it when I do things like this. I know better. I really do. And, on top of that, we don't have a timeline that I have to work with on this one. There's just no good reason for me to get like this.
So, today I came into our session trying to be sure that Peepers was ready for the next steps, and not getting too attached to my agenda. Peepers came into our session a little jumpy, it was very strange. I did notice this, and I tried to back off a little bit so that he wouldn't feel too much pressure. I managed this, but then I was stoopid and moved the perch to clean the crumbs off the island. That scared Peepers and he didn't want to touch the perch anymore. So I tried to salvage the session. You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Scoo5IgOcCI
Sometimes my asperations and goals get way too high for the current situation. I guess it's time to reevaluate everything and come back fresh tomorrow for Peepers.
Dempsey hasn't gotten to play with me at all. I really need to get back on track with all of this. Tomorrow morning I have agility practice with my friend, and then hopefully when I get back I can get some good training in with the birds.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Dunno what to title this, but it was good
Hey all,
Today was a busy training day, it was so beautiful out I guess I was inspired to add a couple more training sessions.
Peepers got the first session, which was #5 with the red perch. I had gotten some suggestions for improving our sessions, so although I started the session with a clicker, I got rid of it shortly after we started. I also held the perch so that it moved less (I was able to stop it from rolling, but not from shifting around a little). He got right into the whole thing, and we ended the session by stepping onto the perch. Woohoo! Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhGJStSm600. On a side note, this put so much pressure on him, he really started biting his nails. I can relate - I'm a nail biter too :).
Later in the day, we did another session with the perch, and Peepers progressed to flying to the perch while it was fully set up. I taped this also, and will check to see if you can actually see anything in the video. I tried to put it within view, but I'm really not sure if it worked out. Peepers did a great job, though, and we finished really strong. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpAnIhedc-Q
During the second session, Sparky decided she wanted to do recalls, so I tried to fit her in while Peepers was munching on his almonds. She's just so cute, I guess I will have to work on teaching her to station while I play with Peepers, since it's really not fair to him when she does that.
Dempsey got to practice weaving and his new skill, box turns for flyball. He was a rock star for his weave session! I was able to close 6 more poles, and he really worked all the poles, you can see he's thinking it through and trying to get everything right. I need to tape again, although I suppose the steps are so small that it may not show well on video.
Dempsey also worked his tail off when we practiced his box turns. This was session #3 of shaping a turn, and in this one, we got to the point where he goes to the box, and puts three feet on it. He started by putting his back feet on, so now I can click when his front foot hits the box, and he naturally puts on his back in his effort to come back to me for the treat. Once again, I guess I need to tape this. But he's making just super progress on this, even though it totally exhausts him.
Tomorrow should be another great day for these guys. I am hoping to really start some fun stuff with Peepers in the next day or 2 involving the red perch and hopefully another one. And who knows how quick Dempsey will be with his skillz :).
Today was a busy training day, it was so beautiful out I guess I was inspired to add a couple more training sessions.
Peepers got the first session, which was #5 with the red perch. I had gotten some suggestions for improving our sessions, so although I started the session with a clicker, I got rid of it shortly after we started. I also held the perch so that it moved less (I was able to stop it from rolling, but not from shifting around a little). He got right into the whole thing, and we ended the session by stepping onto the perch. Woohoo! Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhGJStSm600. On a side note, this put so much pressure on him, he really started biting his nails. I can relate - I'm a nail biter too :).
Later in the day, we did another session with the perch, and Peepers progressed to flying to the perch while it was fully set up. I taped this also, and will check to see if you can actually see anything in the video. I tried to put it within view, but I'm really not sure if it worked out. Peepers did a great job, though, and we finished really strong. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpAnIhedc-Q
During the second session, Sparky decided she wanted to do recalls, so I tried to fit her in while Peepers was munching on his almonds. She's just so cute, I guess I will have to work on teaching her to station while I play with Peepers, since it's really not fair to him when she does that.
Dempsey got to practice weaving and his new skill, box turns for flyball. He was a rock star for his weave session! I was able to close 6 more poles, and he really worked all the poles, you can see he's thinking it through and trying to get everything right. I need to tape again, although I suppose the steps are so small that it may not show well on video.
Dempsey also worked his tail off when we practiced his box turns. This was session #3 of shaping a turn, and in this one, we got to the point where he goes to the box, and puts three feet on it. He started by putting his back feet on, so now I can click when his front foot hits the box, and he naturally puts on his back in his effort to come back to me for the treat. Once again, I guess I need to tape this. But he's making just super progress on this, even though it totally exhausts him.
Tomorrow should be another great day for these guys. I am hoping to really start some fun stuff with Peepers in the next day or 2 involving the red perch and hopefully another one. And who knows how quick Dempsey will be with his skillz :).
Monday, March 9, 2009
Not too much training
Today so far the only animals that have gotten any training are the parrots. peepers had session #4 with the perch, he started to put weight on the perch today. it wasn't very eventful, but I did tape it, and am posting it to youtube in 2 clips here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEXHxdYIzGE and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW1zxB1q0F0
Sparky practiced her recalls while Peepers worked. She's really getting back into everything, which is so nice to see. She has such a sweet little personality, and it really shows when she works. I'll be taping her sessions more now, since she's also managing to ignore the camera instead of attacking it. (Ok, I just reread this, and in one paragraph I describe this bird as sweet, and also how she attacks cameras. Kind of funny :))
My big project today while the house was cleaned was to figure out how to split up the previous sessions so I could download them to youtube. I finally got it, and am going to add the links in the right spots. I feel like my grandparents must've when I had to teach them how to use the VCR - I just can't imagine why they don't make software an adult can use. I guess I need a 12 year old :).
Peepers sessions are starting to get really long, and he just wants to keep working. I need to set up a system where the sessions don't last much more than 10 minutes, so neither one of us gets sour on all of it. I'm better off with more shorter sessions, it helps keep enthusiasm up.
I'll post if anything more interesting happens today, but I kind of doubt it will, as I really feel like I could just go to bed.
Sparky practiced her recalls while Peepers worked. She's really getting back into everything, which is so nice to see. She has such a sweet little personality, and it really shows when she works. I'll be taping her sessions more now, since she's also managing to ignore the camera instead of attacking it. (Ok, I just reread this, and in one paragraph I describe this bird as sweet, and also how she attacks cameras. Kind of funny :))
My big project today while the house was cleaned was to figure out how to split up the previous sessions so I could download them to youtube. I finally got it, and am going to add the links in the right spots. I feel like my grandparents must've when I had to teach them how to use the VCR - I just can't imagine why they don't make software an adult can use. I guess I need a 12 year old :).
Peepers sessions are starting to get really long, and he just wants to keep working. I need to set up a system where the sessions don't last much more than 10 minutes, so neither one of us gets sour on all of it. I'm better off with more shorter sessions, it helps keep enthusiasm up.
I'll post if anything more interesting happens today, but I kind of doubt it will, as I really feel like I could just go to bed.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Wow-o-wow-o-wow!
Ok, so I didn't post yesterday, but i did do some training.
I started yesterday (Saturday) by going over to my friend Annie's with bungee and dempsey and practicing agility. Both dogs did really well, we seem to have hit on a way for Dempsey to have a running a-frame, which I think is important to save his shoulders from wear and tear. In addition, Annie has a set of 6 slanted weave poles, so we took them out and let Dempsey practice his new behavior in her yard. Once he figured out that yes, in fact there is such a thing as weaving in places other than our own backyard, he did fantastic. He even demo'd his leap-n-wiggle thru the last 4 poles behavior for Annie, and she thought it was darn funny :).
When I got home, I got out the red perch and worked with Peepers some more on it. I decided he needed to touch the red part to get clicked, and within a really short time he was touching away. He was still nervous, but he's so willing to try things that each rep makes him more brave in the face of scary things. I only had a few minutes, so Sparky only got a few reps of stepping up for almond pieces before I needed to leave. But it was a really good day. Oh, and video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slNMj2HiHRs and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI6WvZzpZvo
Today was also a big training day. We started by taking Bungee, Dempsey and Sidney over to a flyball practice. Bungee and Sid have done it before, but Dempsey's only even seen flyball from a distance once in his life. Bungee was his usual rockstar self - he went out there and played the game like he had been doing it every weekend for the past 2 years, when in fact he hasn't even seen any of the equipment for 2 years. His turn on the box didn't detriorate at all, and he still is passing into other dogs like he always has. Dempsey really impressed me - he did recalls in his lane while another dog was running down the other lane, and he just thought that was easy as pie. And he's fast. They both really impressed the team, and we were asked to join them this next weekend for a tournament in California. I haven't decided yet, but it would be fun for Bungee to get in the lanes again. Sidney got to have a turn, and showed everyone that the old man still has it. Man, I love playing with that dog.
So I came home and built a ramp that looks like the front of a flyball box for Dempsey to learn how to turn. I'll be taping these sessions, and posting them, so hopefully he'll progress at least somewhat well. After that is was back to training Peepers and the perch.
He was a superstar!!! Today I thought I could get Peepers to touch the perch with his foot. it turns out he thought that was an ok plan, too, and for his last rep he even started to put some weight on the perch. It was totally awesome. The change in his demeanor from tape #1 to #3 is just ridiculous, he's almost totally calm now around the perch. I suppose if nothing goes horribly wrong he'll be standing on it tomorrow. Video:
While I was playing with Peepers, Sparky suddenly decided she wanted to start doing recalls again for the first time in something like 4 years. So that was super exciting. I guess once the ball starts rolling, we really gain momentum LOL.
I'm almost done for the day, I may train Dempsey in the weaves, and may or may not start the box turn. The parrots will get to do some recalls for fun before they go to bed. Tomorrow is cleaning day, so they may or may not get to play tomorrow, but I'm pretty excited about the progress everyone is making, so I may just have to figure out some time to see what happend tomorrow.
EDIT: Youtube is giving me fits trying to post my videos. I'm still working on dowloading the 2 videos of Peepers - they been rejected because they're a little too long. So I am either finding a new home for them or learning how to use the video editing software I have. Either way I hope to have it done by the end of today (3/9/09)
I started yesterday (Saturday) by going over to my friend Annie's with bungee and dempsey and practicing agility. Both dogs did really well, we seem to have hit on a way for Dempsey to have a running a-frame, which I think is important to save his shoulders from wear and tear. In addition, Annie has a set of 6 slanted weave poles, so we took them out and let Dempsey practice his new behavior in her yard. Once he figured out that yes, in fact there is such a thing as weaving in places other than our own backyard, he did fantastic. He even demo'd his leap-n-wiggle thru the last 4 poles behavior for Annie, and she thought it was darn funny :).
When I got home, I got out the red perch and worked with Peepers some more on it. I decided he needed to touch the red part to get clicked, and within a really short time he was touching away. He was still nervous, but he's so willing to try things that each rep makes him more brave in the face of scary things. I only had a few minutes, so Sparky only got a few reps of stepping up for almond pieces before I needed to leave. But it was a really good day. Oh, and video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slNMj2HiHRs and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI6WvZzpZvo
Today was also a big training day. We started by taking Bungee, Dempsey and Sidney over to a flyball practice. Bungee and Sid have done it before, but Dempsey's only even seen flyball from a distance once in his life. Bungee was his usual rockstar self - he went out there and played the game like he had been doing it every weekend for the past 2 years, when in fact he hasn't even seen any of the equipment for 2 years. His turn on the box didn't detriorate at all, and he still is passing into other dogs like he always has. Dempsey really impressed me - he did recalls in his lane while another dog was running down the other lane, and he just thought that was easy as pie. And he's fast. They both really impressed the team, and we were asked to join them this next weekend for a tournament in California. I haven't decided yet, but it would be fun for Bungee to get in the lanes again. Sidney got to have a turn, and showed everyone that the old man still has it. Man, I love playing with that dog.
So I came home and built a ramp that looks like the front of a flyball box for Dempsey to learn how to turn. I'll be taping these sessions, and posting them, so hopefully he'll progress at least somewhat well. After that is was back to training Peepers and the perch.
He was a superstar!!! Today I thought I could get Peepers to touch the perch with his foot. it turns out he thought that was an ok plan, too, and for his last rep he even started to put some weight on the perch. It was totally awesome. The change in his demeanor from tape #1 to #3 is just ridiculous, he's almost totally calm now around the perch. I suppose if nothing goes horribly wrong he'll be standing on it tomorrow. Video:
While I was playing with Peepers, Sparky suddenly decided she wanted to start doing recalls again for the first time in something like 4 years. So that was super exciting. I guess once the ball starts rolling, we really gain momentum LOL.
I'm almost done for the day, I may train Dempsey in the weaves, and may or may not start the box turn. The parrots will get to do some recalls for fun before they go to bed. Tomorrow is cleaning day, so they may or may not get to play tomorrow, but I'm pretty excited about the progress everyone is making, so I may just have to figure out some time to see what happend tomorrow.
EDIT: Youtube is giving me fits trying to post my videos. I'm still working on dowloading the 2 videos of Peepers - they been rejected because they're a little too long. So I am either finding a new home for them or learning how to use the video editing software I have. Either way I hope to have it done by the end of today (3/9/09)
Friday, March 6, 2009
new skills, little twists
hey all,
Today when I worked with Dempsey, he started the session looking at the sky and barking, rather than really working. I think this is how he shows the stress of the job I am asking him to do. He worked through it, and did some nice reps of all 12 poles, but I think I need to find a way to help him through the tough stuff. In any case, I taped it (I really thought we would have another great session like yesterday), and it's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAPTxj0RG0g
I thought a lot about what I wanted to do next with Peepers. Historically, he's been frightened of the perches I built for my original parrot agility project, so I thought a good start may be to work with him on dealing with those perches. The perches are PVC covered in vetwrap, one blue and one red. The blue one is getting a makeover (for some reason it gets disturbingly sticky in some weather), so I chose the red one. When I thought about how best to go about teaching Peepers that it's not scary, some of the more typical suggestions didn't seem to fit what my goals are (in the end, it's not just that I don't want him to be frightened, I want him to be enthusiastic about working with/around it.
So, since the perches kind of come apart, I put the perch portion of it on the kitchen island where we have been playing for a week. My original thought was to just have the perch there, and we would do other things around it, giving Peepers the idea that it's not dangerous just sitting there. I wasn't prepared for Peepers' reaction.
I set the perch down, and then went to get the clicker and treats. While I was doing that, Peepers flew to the island and immediately started circling the perch. That completely changed my plans for this session. We went straight to "do something with the perch". Kind of 101 things, although I have a behavior that I want in the end is for him to step onto it. Anyway, I taped the session, and it's here: . He did some really interesting stuff, so it's well worth watching. And I did a bunch of different stuff too :). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBIPGjVLMzg
Then sparky was acting kind of interested in training, so I played with her and targeting. I taped it, and please forgive the sorry state of her feathers - I went on vacation for a coupla weeks, and she snipped a good portion of her wing feathers. For those of you who noticed, it was at the same time that Peepers broke off his tail feathers. Anyway, Sparky learned a new skill, which was to go down the bars to touch the target. You can see when I first ask her to do it, she doesn't know what to do. It was a nice little piece of problem solving for her, as she doesn't usually think about how to do things much. the video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op_1BR3kyPE
I had a really nice lunch today with Nikki, and am feeling kind of energized about working towards a business for training parrots here in Phoenix, kind of like dog classes. I really think that parrots and their people could benefit from this, and group classes are a format that I think I am pretty good at. We'll see what I can do over the next few months to achieve this.
As a note, I am going to publish this now, and add in the links to videos as they go live on youtube, so if there's no link, please check back. These take a while to download, and I want to get the information about these sessions out because they really got kind of interesting.
Today when I worked with Dempsey, he started the session looking at the sky and barking, rather than really working. I think this is how he shows the stress of the job I am asking him to do. He worked through it, and did some nice reps of all 12 poles, but I think I need to find a way to help him through the tough stuff. In any case, I taped it (I really thought we would have another great session like yesterday), and it's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAPTxj0RG0g
I thought a lot about what I wanted to do next with Peepers. Historically, he's been frightened of the perches I built for my original parrot agility project, so I thought a good start may be to work with him on dealing with those perches. The perches are PVC covered in vetwrap, one blue and one red. The blue one is getting a makeover (for some reason it gets disturbingly sticky in some weather), so I chose the red one. When I thought about how best to go about teaching Peepers that it's not scary, some of the more typical suggestions didn't seem to fit what my goals are (in the end, it's not just that I don't want him to be frightened, I want him to be enthusiastic about working with/around it.
So, since the perches kind of come apart, I put the perch portion of it on the kitchen island where we have been playing for a week. My original thought was to just have the perch there, and we would do other things around it, giving Peepers the idea that it's not dangerous just sitting there. I wasn't prepared for Peepers' reaction.
I set the perch down, and then went to get the clicker and treats. While I was doing that, Peepers flew to the island and immediately started circling the perch. That completely changed my plans for this session. We went straight to "do something with the perch". Kind of 101 things, although I have a behavior that I want in the end is for him to step onto it. Anyway, I taped the session, and it's here: . He did some really interesting stuff, so it's well worth watching. And I did a bunch of different stuff too :). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBIPGjVLMzg
Then sparky was acting kind of interested in training, so I played with her and targeting. I taped it, and please forgive the sorry state of her feathers - I went on vacation for a coupla weeks, and she snipped a good portion of her wing feathers. For those of you who noticed, it was at the same time that Peepers broke off his tail feathers. Anyway, Sparky learned a new skill, which was to go down the bars to touch the target. You can see when I first ask her to do it, she doesn't know what to do. It was a nice little piece of problem solving for her, as she doesn't usually think about how to do things much. the video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op_1BR3kyPE
I had a really nice lunch today with Nikki, and am feeling kind of energized about working towards a business for training parrots here in Phoenix, kind of like dog classes. I really think that parrots and their people could benefit from this, and group classes are a format that I think I am pretty good at. We'll see what I can do over the next few months to achieve this.
As a note, I am going to publish this now, and add in the links to videos as they go live on youtube, so if there's no link, please check back. These take a while to download, and I want to get the information about these sessions out because they really got kind of interesting.
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