By David Vickery
I wonder how many people, like me, have seen clicker training as an excellent idea, but have given up and their clicker remains gathering dust in that special drawer used for collecting junk! Well, I picked up another clicker while at Think Parrots and was determined to see it through. After all, I thought, Stacey, my daughter who was close to the end of her studies resulting in an Animal Behaviour qualification, would help me out if I went wrong. So, here is my story of Clicker Training second time around. I have assumed you know the basic theory behind clicker training and positive reinforcement.
I picked two of my Macaws – Georgie a twelve-year-old Green Wing Macaw, and Millie a two-year-old Military Macaw, neither of which had come across clicker training before. Stacey told me to be sure from the outset just who was training who, and that was good advice.
Throughout the entire process there were a number of occasions when Stacey had to point out that they were training me! Being macaws they both love Walnuts, but I was reluctant to use walnuts for rewards due to the fat content, so I used Pine nuts which are known for putting on very little weight. If your bird won’t eat Pine nuts you will need to find a treat that will incentivise it, which needn’t be nuts. Small pieces of fruit or veg would arguably be better, but make sure you use small pieces, or they will spend most of their time eating and not being trained. Some birds aren’t food motivated, so rewards can be verbal – an enthusiastic ‘good girl’ or touch – for example a cuddle, or play – a simple toy for them. What’s important is that it works for you and your bird.