# Billie's baby steps...



## spraymillet (Mar 2, 2010)

*Billie's baby steps... and questions about training (update)*

So I posted in Cockatiel Talk the background to this but I'll catch you all up if you didn't read it/forget...

I got a very big cage for my budgies. They moved outside, and my cockatiel is now alone with me in my room. She doesn't get along in the huge cage outside, budgies were too hectic for her (as most people advise; I tried it for a day to see if she would get along, because I know she's lonely but I can't afford another bird at the moment). I spend most of my time in my room, and am home most of the time, so I decided to keep her here instead of putting her in the family room. I've had her for 4 months, she's 6 months old, she doesn't like me or trust me at all. I've never grabbed her, always took it slow training her and have always been calm and patient around her. She had always had a shy, quiet, lonely disposition. 

OK, now for how's she's doing with me.

At first she would huddle inside her cage ALL DAY aside from eating, despite the fact that I leave the cage open for her while I'm around. She never leaves. I don't usually watch TV but one day I was watching and noticed Billie came to the door of her cage and enjoyed watching it, so I have it on a lot now. She comes to the door of the cage usually when I am in the room, now, from the moment she wakes up (and I'm still asleep) until nighttime when she goes back to her high perch. I feed her a few times a day now instead of leaving food in her cage all the time. I whistle songs a lot more, whenever she hears me she perks her head up and listens. 

Before when I would come near the cage, she would hiss terribly. Now, I hide my hands behind my back and inch up to the cage, and I don't make eye contact until I get close, and she doesn't hiss or move away from me... just watches me intently/nervously. When I get close I coo at her, praising her and telling her what a pretty silly billie she is. 

It's been two weeks since I enacted these changes to bond with her from afar.

Do you guys think these are signs of progress, like I do, or do you think she's always going to be afraid of me? I really want her to be affectionate. 

OMG! I just had a meaningful interaction with her. She opened her mouth up like she was roaring, but not making any noise. Not like she was warning me to keep my distance, it didn't look like that, but she stretched her neck out and waggled her head a bit when she did it. When I did it back at her, she did it again. I did it again, and she did it again. We carried on like this about 20 times back and forth. What does this mean when they do this???

EDIT: I looked this up on the internet, and it most sounds like she was regurgitating food. She sort of did it to the cage, but was stimulated to do it when I did the motion back... is it a compliment, like "Hey I'm starting to like you"? lol

Pic to show where she sits now, instead of hiding in the back of the cage.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

She's gorgeous and seems to be coming out of her shell more. I think it sounds like you're making progress since she isn't hissing anymore.


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## dude (Mar 29, 2010)

Persistance persistance persistance pays off !
Your making slow but steady progress. Keep it up!
Well done !


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## spraymillet (Mar 2, 2010)

Thank you guys!!

Once she is less afraid of me, do you think I should employ clicker training? A clicky pen makes the same noise so I'll use that until I can get a clicker lol. Also should I consistently feed her pellets? Because she isn't motivated by millet at all, there is millet in her seed mix... I want to try clicker training once she's not in the mindset of "MUST FLEE THE HAND!!!!" and more "Ok, this person is in my cage and I don't like it much but I know she won't hurt me." It seems like I'll get through to her once she's in a calmer state of mind.


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## spraymillet (Mar 2, 2010)

Today I had my first clicker training session with Billie (since the budgies moved outside)! It was all her decision.

She wouldn't come near me since she had millet in her seed diet, so I switched yesterday to pellets. What a difference! After a few hours today, she was ready to eat the millet that I left by her cage. Couldn't reach it by herself, I picked it up and came near her but she ran inside the cage. So I put the stem in my teeth (not getting spit on anything, I know it's harmful for them) and went to the opening of her cage. She slowly came out and started picking millet off the sprig. I slowly brought my hand up on the side and she didn't run away, so I backed off and transferred the millet to my hand. I grabbed the clicky pen next to her cage and a bamboo knitting needle. Every time she pecked at the millet in my hand I clicked the pen, which startled her, but that's good because it was loud enough for her to make a connection. Eventually she got used to it, and was attacking the millet voraciously. So I tried having her touch the needle-end. She did it, though a few times she went back in her cage because she was frightened. I waited for her to come back out and tried it again. This was about 15 minutes, so I gave her a break. 

She still wanted to go where the millet was next to her cage, so she tried to get there, but being too clumsy, she ended up flying at me instead! That's the first time ever. She flew right over my laptop. Ahahaha.

I'm very excited, but I won't rush with her because I've had one or two good clicker training sessions with her in the past and then got too excited about training and it got on her nerves and we ended up taking two steps forward, two steps back.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

But its a good start...just take it at her pace and she'll get it in no time!!!


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## spraymillet (Mar 2, 2010)

Billie was acting very cutely today! I slept in long, and she kept tweeting softly at me to wake me up. She even left her cage and came to the edge of my bureau (closest place she can come near me without leaving her comfort zone) to talk to me. I was asleep but when she tweeted at me I would whistle back in the same way. Eventually she got sick of waiting around for her millet treats and fluttered to my floor, which startled me a little and she gave me some cheeky stares! When I woke up, I waited a while before clicker training her. She did a lot better with the training but she is still unsure and scared of my hands, as well as the clicker. She did not seem to enjoy the target stick, sometimes she bites it and sometimes she doesn't want to because it means coming close to a hand with no treats in it, so I figured we just needed to work on trust building for a while without as much interaction. I sat on the edge of my bed facing the opposite wall, and held my hand up to the bureau with some millet in it for her to snack on. She liked this quite a bit. Eventually I eased her onto a large branch I keep lying around, and she snacked on millet a little closer to me. Then I put her on my chest and let her snack, and she seemed VERY comfortable because she was munching away voraciously. 

Eventually I put her back in her cage and took the cage outside so I could sit by her and read to her while I made dinner on the barbeque. She LOVED being outside, and was pretty vocal! I still think she's a girl though, because her noises sounded very soft and a little screechy. She loved it until the bugs came out because it was dusk and they were flying around her and bothering her so we went inside. 

Every day I pray that she'll like me more. That's a little silly to some, but it's really important to me!


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## AlbyPepper (Apr 3, 2010)

You obviously have the determination and patience to help your little one trust you. Good luck. Sounds like you are doing a great job!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Wow you guys are doing really good!!!  And there is nothing silly about wanting her to like you, I want mine to like me too! It just takes patience on our part!


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## spraymillet (Mar 2, 2010)

Thanks! 
She got a night fright early this morning before the sun came up and flew at me when I woke up to soothe her. Then she flew to the floor and sat on the shelf under my desk. I put some millet there for her, she seems very grumpy today.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

The fright probably made her grumpy. At least she flew to you right?


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