a) If your bird does something good, be sure to give her a treat. If this is in the form of food, beware not to over-feed her. A limited number for treats will help to keep your sessions short, so your bird won’t lose interest. If you finish your sessions on a high, she’ll be excited to play again soon.
b) Never punish your bird. Not only will punishment confuse her, she may just be acting up for attention and your reaction would be exactly what she is looking for. It goes without saying that you must never hit your bird, as she is incredibly fragile. If she is acting up, ignore her. This will be punishment enough, as she craves your attention.c) Pick training times carefully. Your bird should not be distracted by anything else when you are working together as this will make your sessions far less effective. Make sure she has eaten, isn’t preoccupied with preening, and there is nothing exciting going on in the vicinity.
d) Once you have mastered a trick, wean your bird off rewards. You should still be rewarding her, but don’t get her into a habit of only performing when she knows you have a treat for her. Continue to praise, and treat sparingly, she’ll soon be happy to do tricks for just your praise.
e) The most important trick to teach your tweeter is how to hop on and off your hand, her perch, the windowsill, the fridge…. It’s a nice easy trick to learn, but the benefits are spectacular. It’s also a good exercise to go back to if you want to finish your training sessions on a high note. Although your bird will soon be using this trick every day, sometimes at the end of an unproductive session it’s ok to treat her for doing the hopping trick to keep up morale.
f) If your bird is not responding well to learning a new trick, consider changing location. Sometimes being near her cage is distracting for her, and an unfamiliar environment may improve learning.
View the other posts in our training series here:
Training a new rabbit
Training a new kitten
Training a new puppy
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