Cilla Starts Clicker Training

[ILoveSy&Cilla 0]

So my little 4 month old Cilla (pictured below) started clicker training this week! She's gone from never even taking a seed from my fingers, to now beaking a paddle pop stick All this in just 2-3 days..I'm very proud! I wrote about it all in more detail, but then my computer did something weird and I lost it all and couldn't be bothered typing it all out again!

 

[JimmyBanks 0]

So my little 4 month old Cilla (pictured below) started clicker training this week! She's gone from never even taking a seed from my fingers, to now beaking a paddle pop stick All this in just 2-3 days..I'm very proud! I wrote about it all in more detail, but then my computer did something weird and I lost it all and couldn't be bothered typing it all out again!

 

totally understand that

 

Glad to hear that she is progressing nicely. Have you read the other clicker training thread? lots of great info and ideas on how to train the bird. Look forward to hearing a more indepth analysis soon

[Chrysocome 0]

Way to go! I'm doing the same thing with Squee. If you need any help, the link I posted in my thread is an extremely valuable source of information - I highly recommend it.

Please keep us all updated on how it's going!

[ILoveSy&Cilla 0]

okay, so I'm ready to tell the story in more detail now...hopefully the comp won't delete it again!!

 

So my little Cilla has only ever lived alongside my beautiful blue bird, Sy, meaning we haven't had much chance at all to bond one-on-one. But lately I have been noticing that she seems to be really "clued in" and intelligent. So I decided I should try some stuff with her. I tried clicker training with Sy a few months ago, but it didn't work...lol..Sy is the cheeky, clumsy one of the pair, while Cilla is the calm, intelligent one. First I sat and gave her seed from my fingers, which she responded to really quickly. After just a few minutes I introduced the clicker and again she responded quickly...she understood what the click meant after 5 - 10 mins.

 

I worked on this with her for about 2 days and today decided to go on to the next step - targeting. I wanted her to learn to beak the end of a paddle pop stick. At first she was really scared of the stick and ran/flew away from it. Cilla does all her training on their little playground, so I find that it really helps to put Sy up there with her. So once she was more settled with Sy beside her, I kept moving the stick very slowly towards her, hiding most of it in my hand, with just the end sticking out. After a couple times of running away, she started just leaning back on her perch. Each time, I just slowly took the stick away and then slowly moved it back again. Once she seemed less scared of it, I touched it against her beak to let her know it wouldn't hurt her. I did that a few times and clicked and gave her seed after touching her beak. Before long she was interested in the stick, reaching forward, then leaning back in uncertainty, inspecting it at different angles, etc. I would let her stand and look at it, then pull it away and start again..then she began to reach out and beak it, quite often even giving it a nibble. She was earning treats galore!! Sometimes she is still slow to beak it, but if I move it around in front of her face, she will move her head to follow it. All this happened in about 20mins. I'm very proud of my little white baby!!

 

Feedback anyone? I've never done this before, so am I doing things wrong/right? Anything I could do differently or change or not do?? All advice welcome from those more experienced than I am!!

[Chrysocome 0]

It sounds like you are going very well At such a young age and with an inquisitive bird I'm sure you will make leaps ahead.

 

My thread over here details each step I made towards getting Squee targeting her pen. The key is baby steps - first get her to not fear it, then allow it to touch her beak, then get her to actively beak it, then beak it from different angles, then get her to take steps to get to it. Keep going! You're doing great. My only criticism - and it's one I was guilty of myself when I taught targeting - is to keep lessons nice and short - 10-15 minutes, before they get bored or full.

 

I did the same thing, by the way, with having Milly and Squee together for training. I found after a while, though, that once Squee really got into her training routine, Milly just kept distracting her/us. She would get jealous of the attention and butt in. (So Milly now goes back in her own cage with a millet spray - all of us are happy).

 

You might also perhaps consider that seed may not always motivate her if it is always readily available in her cage (not applicable if you feed mostly pellets). This is something that's easily changed, and it's obviously working now. But just be aware of it, and if she looks like she's slowing down on learning then try something else she really likes.

 

Well done and keep us posted - clicker training is my current obsession and I love reading about how others are going.

Edited January 9, 2009 by Chrysocome

[Elly 0]

well done, keep this up I love to read about the success with clicker training

[birdluv 0]

Thats great :rofl:

[mysixbabies 0]

may I ask a dumb question?

 

What is clicker training?

[JimmyBanks 0]

What is clicker training?

Clicker training uses an event marker to reward (and therefore reinforce) behaviours we like. Reinforced behaviours are more likely to be repeated. Behaviours we don’t like are ignored, and since there is nothing to reinforce such behaviours, they eventually stop occurring (they are extinguished). A behaviour can also be shaped, which means it is slowly changed by rewarding the small steps towards the desired behaviour.

 

Common event markers are the noise of a clicker device (but it doesn’t have to be – it can be praise, the click of a pen, two taps on wood, or any other noise), and reinforcers are usually food (which works well for budgies, but others include a head scritch, a favourite toy etc). Trainers use a clicker device because it is cheap, is easily manipulated while holding other props, and makes a consistently repeatable noise at the instant it is clicked. But there is nothing special about the clicker – it is just an event marker. If you can consistently make the same praise word (same tone, length, etc) at the right time, then that works just as well.

 

thats from chrysocome's thread on clicker training.. :sad: Its a great thread you should check it out