More Bird Trick Training (with props)

Stewie got tired of the the “put the ball in the cup trick”… not sure why, but he just doesn’t want to do it anymore.

Here’s a picture of him when he was still eager to do it:

We’ve been working on “put the ring on the peg” but this one has been difficult. To tell the truth, I’ve sort of abandoned the clicker. I’m terrible with it… my timing is off, I’m inconsistent, I’m uncoordinated (I need three hands to handle the prop, the clicker and the treat at the same time). So I’ve been trying to do clicker training without the clicker. It’s slow going.

Here’s the prop:

I originally got him the small version of the toy (I can’t help it, I keep thinking of him as a small bird, not a medium-sized bird), but it was too small. This is a picture of him with the medium-sized Ring Toss prop.

He’s still not very good at it, but he’s done it a few times where I was holding the peg and helped him get the ring onto it. Today I spent a bit of time playing with the rings and peg, picking up the rings in my mouth and putting them on the peg like I want him to do (rather than doing it with my hands). And he did it a few times by himself!

He also likes to throw the rings off the side of the cage, which is cute too (but doesn’t earn him a treat).

Update:
Stewie has gotten much better at putting rings on the peg. He’s not as good at it as he is with some other tricks, but he knows exactly what he’s supposed to do.

Check out this post for a list of cool parrot trick training toys and places that sell bird training props.