When should I teach my parrotlet step ups and no bite?

Question

Today is the second day that my parrotlet has been home, when should i start teaching him the step up command ? Also, when ever he tries to bite, i say NO BITE but how do i know he's getting it? He is almost 8 weeks.

Answer 1

I'd start as soon as possible. This is a new environment..let him live by the new rules.

Just be gentle. Trust comes before teaching him anything.

Here's a website for you to devour. Good luck!
http://www.avianweb.com/training.html

Answer 2

You first have to see what his favorite treat is so that you can reward the little steps that lead to the behavior you want. You want to teach him to take the treat from your hand. Once he is doing that consistently you can start to teach tricks. You may have to teach the tricks in small steps. Like putting one foot on your finger first for a reward. Then it takes two feet to get the reward. The biting is a little harder. Once he associates you with rewards you try to extinguish the behavior by leaving when he bites. If he is on your finger and bites you can move your finger up and down gently- create a little "earthquake"- so that he has to adjust his balance and he will let go of your finger. You can also tell him gentle when you are rubbing the top of his head in a soft voice and ask him to be gentle when he starts biting. If he doesn't respond then put him back in his cage and walk away.

Answer 3

He should have started learning step up even before you brought him home. Start now, when he puts one foot on your finger slowly raise him up as you say "STEP UP" his other foot will naturally lift to grab hold of your finger. Also, for "NO BITE" if he's on your finger, quickly lower than lift him as you say it "known as a quake". He will come to understand "cause and effect".

Answer 4

I began training my baby Grey when he couldn't even stand up yet. Every time I picked him up, I said, "Step Up". That way, he was familiar with the words in play every time he went into my hand, even though he couldn't do it himself.
So, start immediately.
When you cue him to step up, have a treat in the opposite hand. So, if he steps up on your right hand, have a treat in your left hand in order to "lure" him on to your hand in order to get the treat. He has to step up in order to reach it.
He will be busy looking to reach for the treat. Cue him with the verbal "step up". When he steps up for the treat, make sure he gets the treat immediately. The treat must be given at the same time he steps up in order to relate the reinforcement with the behavior of stepping up.
So it's:
1."Step up", holding the treat just barely on the far side of your finger from where you are.
2. When he steps up, treat immediately and praise lavishly..."Goood Boy!".
3. Let him stand on your finger and while he is there, give him another treat for being so good and standing on your finger.You want him to relate the standing on your finger with good things.
4. It is best to train him when he's a bit hungry. That way he will have a stronger motivation for working and training.
Once you begin relating "cues" to actions, he will understand what you want.
You can read a lot about this form of training, called "Positive Reinforcement Training" at the following websites:


http://www.wagntrain.com/OC/

http://www.birdsnways.com/

http://www.parrotparrot.com/articles/......

http://www.naturalencounters.com/definit...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/animal_trai...

http://www.parrotparrot.com/cgi-bin/ilin...

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?...

The basic ideas is: If you step up, you get a treat.
This is used every day of a working person's life. As in, "If you come to your job and work 8 hours, you will get a paycheck."
That is positive reinforcement. Check out those websites and perhaps Google: positive reinforcement training". You will find lots of information on this and your bird will be stepping onto your hand in no time, and the step up is the first thing your bird should learn.
Books you might fiond helpful:
Clicker Training for Birds: Melinda Johnson
Don't Shoot The Dog By Karen Pryor
Parrots For Dummies
Guide to Companion Parrot Behavior
These should be very helpful for you.
After this, you are truely only limited by your imagination as to what he can do.
Training is a form of communication and you will find both of you getting closer as he learns more!
I hope these have helped you out, and if I can be of assistance to you don't hesitate to ask.

Answer 5

since he his young and you just got him, this is the most important time to teach him so you should do it correctly. to get the bird to get on your finger- you should hold your finger horrizontally infront of the bird's lower abdominal (my bird prefers the right hand for some reason). and to stop your bird from biting you should teach your bird to trust you and you should show your bird that your not afraid of bites and show your bird who's boss. ~*good luck*~

Answer 6

Well what I did I told him step up so he could go up and if he didn't I would rub his belly with my finger and it to him right away!!!!!!!!!!!!!