Training Parrots

In recent years many more products have been released to help you train your Parrot more easily and effectively.

Without proper training and stimulation Parrots easily become bored, which often causes challenging unwanted behaviours.

Let’s not forget Parrots have an equivalent intelligence to at least a four-year-old child.

Animal training experts around the world widely recommend using positive reinforcement training methods, meaning each time your Parrot does the desired trick, activity or behaviour, they are rewarded with praise or a small edible reward.

We would suggest that there are two reasons you might want to train your Parrot, to teach your bird to follow commands such as go into a crate, stepping up and taking medicines to make living with your Parrot easier.

Then there is training that makes life more entertaining rather than easier, although they do help to keep your Parrot’s clever mind occupied.

Your Parrot can learn to count, identify colours and numbers, skate and learn complex words and phrases with the correct training.

The right training can also help you toilet train your bird. Being able to train your Parrot to ‘go poop’ in a dedicated place saves a lot of time cleaning!

Parrots are notorious for being scared of anything new or changes to their environment – training can help reduce the effect.

There’s an ever increasing range of training products available on the market for pet bird and Parrot owners, many rely on using positive reinforcement training methods to establish the best results.

Let’s take a look at some of the products that have a positive impact on the life of your feathered companion.

Speech Training Parrots are one of the best mimics in the animal world, so it’s important you teach your Parrot words you want them to say, and not the ones they don’t!

Training devices like the Mimic Me make teaching new words so easy. Record a word or short phrase onto the device, and then set it to play back at a timed interval throughout the day.

The Birdy Babble Ball is a fun interactive toy that makes interesting sounds when your Parrot plays with it. Teaching your bird to talk makes life more entertaining and means greater interaction between you and your Parrot.

DVD’s There’s even a DVD that can help you teach your Parrot to talk by the well-respected professional animal trainer Barbara

Heidenreich. It’s often easier for you to see someone else demonstrating the correct training techniques first, before trying it out for yourself.

DVD’s from professional animal trainers such as Barbara show how using positive reinforcement methods can yield amazing results.

Clickers A clicker is a small device that makes a clicking noise when activated.

Being able to make a consistent sound each and every time a wanted behaviour happens (like stepping up) prevents confusion and makes training a lot easier. Trainers call this a bridge because it connects the desired behaviour with the reward.

Some clickers have an adjustable volume control which is useful as some birds can be frightened by loud noises.

Training Perches ‘Stepping up’ onto the hand is often one of the most important behaviours you can train your bird to do. It’s used for getting your bird out of the cage, off play gym stands or even down from curtain rails!

For both you and your bird step up training can be a stressful time. Your bird has a large hand thrust towards them, whilst you may be worried about being bitten by your Parrot’s sharp beak.

This is where a training perch such as The Percher can have a positive impact. Incredibly versatile, it can be used in seven different ways, including as a hand held ‘T’ perch – offering your bird a place to stand whilst protecting your hand. This

allows you both to learn and grow in confidence and trust.

Activity and Trick Toys This kind of training is much more fun and based around play. Teaching and learning new skills not only helps you and your Parrot spend time together, cementing the bond between you, it provides vital mental stimulation.

The more puzzles your Parrot can learn and solve, the more enriched their lives are. Activity and trick toys like roller

skates, shape stackers, colour stackers, shape puzzles,basketball sets, scooters and miniature shopping trolleys are fantastic activity and trick toys.

When your Parrot shows the desired behaviour it is vitally important they are rewarded straightaway. When training your Parrot, food is a great motivator, they’ll happily follow commands and show the desired behaviour in return for a piece of their favourite food ortreat.

As you can see, there are lots of ways you can train your Parrot to enrich their lives. Let us know how you train your Parrot in the comments.