# Little butt is hard to train



## allons_ykaylee (Nov 12, 2013)

I got a Good Bird Inc. training video for Simon, just the basic behavioral training video, and I don't even know how to start it. 

When Simon sees my hands he either bites or steps up, so when I'm trying to get him to target with my hands he just bites or steps up. And he gets so incredibly distracted; he just paces back and forth on his perch. 

Are the first few days pretty rough usually? I know I have to be patient but I just want to be sure that he will eventually let me train him haha


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

With clicker training there's a big learning curve for both the bird and the human, so yes, it can be difficult at first. You might want to join the bird-training group at http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Bird-Click/info for supplemental information and a place where you can ask for individual help. Their philosophy is similar to what Barbara Heidenreich and other good trainers teach. The one bird-training outfit that I don't recommend is Birdtricks.com lol. Their main focus is on sales and their training techniques tend to be kind of sloppy.

Targeting training is usually done with a stick rather than the hands, and you want to use a stick that's too small to be used as a perch - lots of people use a chopstick or a coffee stir. Using a tool that the bird can't use for any other purpose helps prevent confusion about what you want him to do. The biggest rule of clicker training is "avoid the bite". If the bird is biting you you're reinforcing a bad habit instead of the good behavior that you want to encourage, and it's also a sign that you're pushing him too hard. I have general info on clicker training and specific info on targeting at http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/taming-clicker.html


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## allons_ykaylee (Nov 12, 2013)

tielfan said:


> With clicker training there's a big learning curve for both the bird and the human, so yes, it can be difficult at first. You might want to join the bird-training group at http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Bird-Click/info for supplemental information and a place where you can ask for individual help. Their philosophy is similar to what Barbara Heidenreich and other good trainers teach. The one bird-training outfit that I don't recommend is Birdtricks.com lol. Their main focus is on sales and their training techniques tend to be kind of sloppy.
> 
> Targeting training is usually done with a stick rather than the hands, and you want to use a stick that's too small to be used as a perch - lots of people use a chopstick or a coffee stir. Using a tool that the bird can't use for any other purpose helps prevent confusion about what you want him to do. The biggest rule of clicker training is "avoid the bite". If the bird is biting you you're reinforcing a bad habit instead of the good behavior that you want to encourage, and it's also a sign that you're pushing him too hard. I have general info on clicker training and specific info on targeting at http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/taming-clicker.html


Thank you so much! I almost fell into the BirdTricks game but I never actually bought anything haha. I'll definitely check out those sites though!


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