# Coyote's clicker training



## CloudySkies (Jul 11, 2014)

Coyote has only been with us for a couple of weeks but he's already attached to my shoulder and is copying 2 whistles perfectly and working on a couple more. He is clearly highly motivated and obviously the smartest bird in the history of ever, so I figure it is a good time to start clicker/stick training. I thought I'd use this thread as a sort of journal to document our progress.

I started this type of training with Cloud and Ninja, my first two budgies. When I got Waffles, it all fell apart though because they'd end up squabbling over the millet so I couldn't even condition him to the clicker like I had with Cloud and Ninja, so I gave up altogether with them. Before I got Waffles though, I had both Cloud and Ninja conditioned to the clicker and a BBQ skewer stick and had them at the point where I could coax them to certain parts of their cage using the tip of the stick. Then Waffles moved in and ruined everything (but it's ok because he's still supes cute.)

Later today, or tomorrow (my son is having his friend over, so I don't want to start until he leaves because it will otherwise be too distracting) I am going to start conditioning-to-the-clicker training. He loves sunflower seeds, but they take too long for him to shell and then he gets distracted by hopping down to pick up all of the little bits and pieces that fell, so I'm going to use millet instead. 

So it begins!


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## imouto (Feb 24, 2014)

Good luck to you! I can't wait to hear how he does. If he learns any cool tricks please post videos sometime!!


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## CloudySkies (Jul 11, 2014)

I hadn't even thought of cool tricks but that would be so cool! I'm just trying to teach him to whistle "If You're Happy And You Know It" right now. At the moment, my goals for clicker/stick training are to get him to fly to me when I call him, to have him perch where I tell him and to wear a flight suit or aviator harness (I don't have either yet). I guess those are basic "tricks" but I'd consider it a pretty big success if we got there. He seems a lot more motivated and frankly, smarter than the budgies and they started to pick up the stick training pretty quickly. Well, they picked up the concept of it at least, we were still working on the follow through when Waffles entered the mix.

I'm hoping that the budgies won't interfere with Coyote's training. Who knows, maybe they'd pick up a few things just by watching Coyote? Ah well, we'll burn that bridge when we come to it.


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## CloudySkies (Jul 11, 2014)

Clicker training hasn't begun yet, due to sick family, busy schedule, etc. He has, however, started whistling "If you're happy and you know it" with the head bob for the clapping part. I don't have a good video of it yet and he's far from actually whistling the song well but he whistles it well enough for us to tell what song it is. 

SHRIEK! So cute!

I also got my order from My Safe Bird Store and he loves/hates the plastic necklace I got for him. He plain hates the cage top gym thing I got but I think he'll like it more once the budgies start playing on it.


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## CloudySkies (Jul 11, 2014)

Day 1 - Finally started conditioning Coyote to the clicker this afternoon. He was a little nervous about the sound of the clicker and seemed confused that I was only letting him have a bite or two of millet at a time. If i recall correctly, it took Cloud and Ninja (budgies) about 4-5 sessions before they seemed to start to get that the click was associated with the millet but they weren't tame and so therefore I think Coyote will pick up on it sooner. I may do another 5-10 minute session this evening, maybe two.

So it begins!

He also was really working on If You're Happy And You Know It today too. He almost, sort of has it!


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## CloudySkies (Jul 11, 2014)

Still conditioning to the clicker. Day 1 and 2, he seemed annoyed that I was only giving him a couple of nibbles from the millet spray and after 5 minutes of clicking and nibbling, he seemed very frustrated. Today I figured out that it works a lot better for him if I just break off a millet ball or two and let him nibble from that between my fingers instead of presenting him with the whole millet spray for a couple of seconds. Now, instead of seeming frustrated by the whole process, he seemed to be getting the concept that 'click' = treat. I'll probably be working on conditioning to the clicker for a couple more days since day 1 and 2 was more about me learning how to train him rather than the other way around. Heh.

I'm going to be very busy this week and working some long hours, so I'm not sure how much time I'll be able to devote to clicker training. We'll see how it goes. Maybe I can rope my son into helping me. Maybe I could clicker train him, where 'click' = video game time.


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## amberwydell (Oct 13, 2013)

Good luck with your training! It will be interesting to hear your progress, as I'm planning on clicker training my new cockatiel, as well... I'm going to start with target training in a couple of weeks


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## Lopburi (Sep 11, 2014)

Yes I started with a millet spray and at first Boswell was really annoyed when I would start taking it away after a few nibbles. I was worried because I thought, how can I train if he eats the entire spray at once?! However. He doesn't like ANYTHING ELSE. Anything. So I gave up for a week or so and just let him nibble as he liked. Then after a few days - basically I just lured him. One bite and then move it. Eventually he got to realize he could have another bite if he moved too; I wasn't taking it entirely away. Now (after a week or so I guess) he is fine with having just one bite. Normally anyway. Also he will take a larger bite if he feels like he deserves it.


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## CloudySkies (Jul 11, 2014)

I started target stick training last night since Coyote seemed to understand that click = treat. He nibbled the tip of the bamboo skewer I'm using as the stick right away and repeatedly nibbled it several times more. I think it was more out of his natural curiosity though and I don't know if he was even getting the concept that nibbling the tip = click = treat. More like, hey, I'm gonna check out this cool new thing with my beak and hey! treat, awesome!

This was about as far as I got with my budgies, so I'm going to have to look online to review what I do next. For now I'll just reinforce the nibbling tip of skewer = click = treat.


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## CloudySkies (Jul 11, 2014)

Ok, this bird is going way too fast for me. I'm the one being trained here, apparently. He totally gets the target stick thing and not just because he's curious but because he knows he'll get a treat. I could see his little birdy mental gears turning. Now I have no idea what to do. LOL

I just looked up some stuff and I think I'll try teaching him to fetch. Honestly, I just read it, it's for real! First you get him used to the object (for us it will be a little plastic ball with a bell inside, very light weight, like a cat toy) with clicking/treating and then you click/treat when he picks it up and then you get to the point where you click/treat when he drops it in your hand. I'm so excited! If we can get this one nailed, I will totally make a video and post it.

I've encountered another minor problem though. My husband hates the clicker. Like HATES the clicker. I may need to switch to a click pen instead or something like that, so I don't end up divorced but with a very well trained bird.


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## Lopburi (Sep 11, 2014)

Haha... well you can click with your mouth. Sort of a double click sound. I say "good boy" too and that is turning into the reinforcer as well.
It's true. it's all about the treats. They are training you to feed them treats; that's how they see it!


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## CloudySkies (Jul 11, 2014)

Yes, exactly! He is training me to give him treats. That really does sum it up. The breeder I got him from knows a lot about clicker training, so I think that perhaps he'd already gotten the gist of it from living at her house, which is why I'm having trouble keeping up.


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## CloudySkies (Jul 11, 2014)

I was super busy this week, so we just kept to the basics with clicker/target training. He totally has it down but he doesn't come right away when I put the stick out, so we're figuring out how to make that happen. I'm trying to make sure I keep the training at under 10 minutes and when he's hungry. If he's just had a bunch of treats or just had a session at the food bowl, I don't usually try the training.

I did also start practicing having him fly to my hand when I say, "Here Coyote!" with a millet spray lure instead of clicker training. I think the only way this training will take is if we do it a ton and if I say "Here Coyote!" the exact same way every time, so it sort of becomes muscle memory or whatever because he's only flying over for the millet. I will incorporate the target training into this soon.


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## Billy (Sep 11, 2014)

I'm looking to start clicker training with billy. I tried it last night but everytime he saw the millet he would just come running rather than letting me go near him. 

Any tips on how to start off?


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## CloudySkies (Jul 11, 2014)

Billy, the way I figured it out was to take just a nub of millet (hide the rest in a drawer or whatever) and hold it between my fingers in one hand and hold it behind my back. Then, without any distractions going on and Coyote calm on a perch, I would click the clicker in one hand and then immediately bring out the other hand with the millet and give him just a bite of millet from between my fingers and then take it away and put it behind my back again. Then click, feed another bite of millet and take it away again and so on. You do this for 5 minutes or so a few times a day for a few days until he gets the idea that "click" = "treat". You will know when he is understanding the idea when you click the clicker and he actively is seeking out the bit of millet he knows will be coming. Good luck! Start a new thread so you can start documenting your progress like this one, where I'm documenting our progress. It's fun!

As for Coyote, I've been working a ton and with the holidays and other stuff going on (and husband hating the clicker and the pen clicking not really working out), our clicker training has gone down the toilet.

However, Coyote is fairly proficient at Happy and You Know It, wolf whistles, the come here whistle, some budgie sounds, "pretty bird" and a few other sounds that I haven't figured out what they're supposed to be. I will have a little more free time starting this week so I am hoping to pick up the training again.


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