Bird Training Blog

I scared my bird!

June 12th, 2011

Training is an ongoing thing. No matter how well we believe our birds are trained, no matter how hard we have worked to generalize behavior, one day in our confidence we make a mistake. That happened to me this morning …

Mijo is a yellow-naped Amazon; he is just over a year old and has lived here at Avian Ambassadors since September last year. He actually lives in the house with us and the dogs, right in the middle of everything, pretty much. He gets to go and hang out on the porch for a good time each day with a “jungle gym” built from recycled plastic tubing and other “treasures”, and in the house his cage is in the lounge. While the day can be quiet at times it also has its share of surprises; by design I want Mijo to have as many different experiences as possible and so far our strategy seems to be working. It is not unusual for one of our re-homed dogs to bark loudly while standing within a couple of feet of Mijo. Nor is it unusual for someone to suddenly appear through the hallway right next to his cage. Over time we have worked to generalize his calm behavior to anything that happens.

So, this morning I got dressed and made my way to my computer, passing Mijo on the way. Suddenly he pinned himself against the roof of his cage, wings flared, eyes pulsing rapidly. What in the world happened? I quickly stepped away from him, he calmed and returned to his favorite perch. What I believe had happened was that the t-shirt I was wearing was so different to anything I had previously had on it was scaring him. The shirt, one I have not worn in a very long time is black with several large pink logos of a sailing boat class I used to sail all over the front. Typically I wear light colored shirts.

What to do? I could go back to the closet and change the shirt, however that was really avoiding the issue and not working to fix it. So, since the back of the shirt is plain, without the logos, I turned it around. The plain black shirt appeared less scary and I was able to reinforce Mijo for calmer behavior it its presence. We worked on this for a while intermittently; I would go off about my business and come back and reinforce the calm behavior, still wearing the shirt backwards. Once he was no longer showing discomfort I turned the shirt around. At first, as expected, there was a regression towards discomfort, nowhere near as severe as the first instance but none the less still there. Gradually over the next 30 minutes I worked to reinforce his calmer behavior in the presence of the “killer” shirt. Right now I would say his behavior in the presence of the shirt is calm, he will perform cued behaviors and willing approach me, no matter how close I am to the cage.

In working with Mijo to overcome this fear I feel the most important aspect of the training was that he always had choice; he could approach me or not. Choice is a powerful thing; it imbues the subject with a degree of control and that raises their confidence. Mijo was in total control of when he chose to approach or leave the scary situation. He was never coerced into “getting over it”. I have seen removal of choice as a training strategy being promoted many times by those “internet gurus.” In fact I have a couple of other articles brewing that will focus on some of these later … for now all is calm in the world of Mijo. I just need to find some brightly colored shirts to wear so that we can continue to generalize calm behavior!

Happy training,

Sid.

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The Language We Use

June 12th, 2011

The words we use as trainers to describe our actions and desires are wonderful indicators of our real training philosophy. This was brought back to me while reading an article in a popular bird magazine recently. I will paraphrase the actual text here:

“[These birds] need someone who is not afraid to make them step up.”

This one sentence embodies everything that is the antithesis of what I believe is the best training philosophy and it is an approach that is prevalent in our society. As I have mentioned before, the use of force and coercion is a “go to” tool for so very many people because it is how they themselves learned valuable lessons as a child. Force and Coercion work and therefore the person applying them is reinforced for their use. It is therefore not surprising that it continues to be widely used.

Much has been written about the side effects and fallout from coercion and if there is any doubt in your mind about this fallout I recommend reading
“Coercion and its Fallout” by Murray Sidman.

It is not sufficient to simply attempt to use the most positive least intrusive training methods as described by Dr Susan Friedman so elegantly in her article
“What’s wrong with this picture? Effectiveness is not enough”. In order to succeed one must think, speak, and live that way at all times. Sure, those of us attempting this fall off that track from time to time, however by making our goal a lifestyle applying this principle we can only improve our relationships with our pets, our coworkers, our friends, and everyone with whom we have contact.

Part of this lifestyle is to choose words carefully. Avoid talking about the “Step up command” and instead think and speak of the step up request. Don’t think of “making” your bird do anything, always think in terms of giving your bird choices to perform the behaviors you request. If your training and relationship with your bird are good then the request will fulfilled.

Sid.

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8th Annual Raptor Handling Class

May 18th, 2011

Avian Ambassadors is pleased to announce the dates of the 8th Annual Raptor Handling Class.The class, presented by Avian Ambassadors founder Sid Price, will be held on July 30-31, 2011 at the Marriott Hotel in Albuquerque, NM.

Running from 9 am until 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday the class is an excellent opportunity for both beginning and experienced raptor presenters to learn the most contemporary, science based approaches to handling raptors for educational programs.In addition to basic raptor biology the workshop will cover equipment usage, handling techniques, and the science of behavior change.

RobinAndProphet 150 3x2 150 Our special guest presenter for the third year will be Robin Shewokis of the Leather Elves. Robin is a renowned enrichment consultant to zoos and the companion bird community. She will present a special workshop segment about enriching the lives of captive raptors.

The cost of the two-day class is $95.00. This includes printed class materials and a light lunch on both days. Pre-registration is required and class size will be limited to ensure all students get maximum time “hands-on” with our birds – contact us (classesavianambassadors dot com?subject=8th%20Annual%20Raptor%20Handling%20Class) today for your registration form or call (505) 349 5714. We look forward to hearing from you!

Registered attendees are offered a special rate of $89.00/night by the Marriott Hotel for the weekend of the workshop.

Posted in Class, raptors, Reinforcement, RHC, Seminar, Sid Price, Training, Uncategorized, Workshop | No Comments »

A Coercion-free New Year

December 30th, 2010

First I wish a Happy and Prosperous New Year to you and your family. 2010 is almost behind us and a whole new year stretches in front of us. Traditionally this is a time for reflection so I would like to return to a subject that keeps surfacing as I travel around speaking to groups of other bird enthusiasts and also presenting our Free-flight shows. How poorly people treat … people.

As many of you know behavior science presents us with a chest full of tools and leaves the individual to choose the right tool for the job. I have written in the past about making the right ethical choice from the array of tools available to us and encouraged you to follow the principle encapsulated by Dr Susan Friedman … “Most Positive, Least Intrusive.”

The good news is that the number of people writing about and applying this principle with their animals is growing daily. I read articles across the spectrum of animal training and although their authors may not be using Dr Susan’s phrase in their writings the theme is there for all to see. This is encouraging and reinforcing to see.

However, while human-animal relationships appear to be gaining ground in the application of this principle it appears that human-human relationships make little or no progress. It never ceases to surprise me to see one of my respected professional animal training colleagues apply this principle almost seamlessly with their animal collections and then moments later coerce a co-worker. Let us make 2011 the year we all apply the same coercion-free techniques to our animals and our friends, family, colleagues, and yes … the young woman at the checkout desk with 20 people in line!

Soar into 2011 and make your life a coercion free zone.

Sid.

Posted in Articles, Coercion, Dr Susan Friedman, Ethics | No Comments »