While most people understand the necessity of training their dog or even their cat, few people think of training their parrot. Yet, just as an untrained dog can be a risk to itself and to others as well as disruptive to the household so too can an untrained parrot be disruptive and be a risk to itself and to others. That is why it is essential to properly train your parrot.
Learn How To Train Your Parrot
Parrot training will not only result in a better behaved and more manageable pet but will also strengthen the bond between your bird and yourself. Training a parrot is pretty much like training any other animal in that it takes patience and perseverance to accomplish your goal. Just like in training a puppy the best way to train a parrot is by rewarding those behaviors you want and ignoring bad behavior. Never ever punish a parrot as getting negative attention may well make the problem behavior worse as the parrot will see even negative attention as attention.
How To Begin Parrot Training
In order to begin training your parrot you must establish an environment conducive to holding a training session. This means that you should only pick a training time when you feel relaxed, when the parrot is attentive and find a place to train that offers few outside distraction that will help both you and your pet to concentrate on the task at hand.
Keep the training sessions short only a few minutes at most and make sure that you can incorporate several training sessions in a days time. You are going to want to have rewards on hand for your parrot accomplishes the task you have set. Rewards may be food, praise, special attention, or a favorite toy he likes reserved for a reward.
What Should I Teach My Parrot First When Parrot Training
While the idea of teaching your parrot to talk and perform tricks is appealing and these things can certainly be taught. The first thing you want to teach your parrot is to step up. By teaching your parrot to do these two things on command, you will have a way to remove him from unsafe areas of your home and return him to safer areas without the risk of injury to your pet. Also, these two commands are relatively easy for the parrot to master giving lots of opportunity for praise which will help your parrot be more interested in learning other skills.
In teaching the step up command simply place your finger, wrist or hand held perch close to your parrot at about the height where his legs meet his body. Say “up” and gently press your finger or the perch against him. This will usually cause him to automatically step on whatever is presented. Praise him and give him a reward. Repeat this a few times a day for several days and then start giving the command without pressing against the parrots body. Reward him if he steps up to the command.
Once he masters this command you can use this in reverse to return him to a stationary perch in his cage either using the same command or changing it to a “down” command.
Remember, patience is the key when parrot training and this will be enjoyable for you both.
If you would like your parrot to be well behaved and well adjusted , I recommend reading Parrot Secrets. Parrot Secrets not only covers how to fix the behavioral problems of your parrot but it also covers a lot of other issues that are important to your parrots health. It is a downloadable ebook and is well worth the read.