12 TRICKS ANY PARROT CAN LEARN!

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1 12 TRICKS ANY PARROT CAN LEARN! TRAINING YOUR PARROT? OR PARROT TRAINING YOU? GOOD BIRD, GOOD OR BAD BIRD.BAD BIRD!

2 One fact that is universally accepted by behaviorists is that parrots are highly intelligent beings. Parrots are so intelligent that those observers have confirmed they are capable of manipulating their human hosts. Parrots have been observed using various techniques to get their owners to come to their cage, move away, offer food or water, and pretty much get their own way. Most parrot behavior is aimed at getting attention. Parrots are by nature social beings. They like or crave companionship and therefore if you leave a parrot alone in the next room guess what he might do? He might become noisy, fussy, demanding and even moody. By the way, this is normal. A parrot will be a parrot at all times. However, once a parrot learns that by squawking or screaming or whistling incessantly that you will come running, the parrot thinks, OK that worked, I ll do that again. Another words, the result of his squawking resulted in an action the parrot liked, so he will repeat that action again and again as long as you react to the situation. The secret is to understand their behavior and deal with it in a constructive way. Don t run into the room immediately and scold the parrot. Wait a few minutes and when the parrot calms down calmly approach the cage and vocalize calmly to the parrot some praise. Why? Because if you run right in and scold the parrot. Bad Bird! Bad Bird! The parrot concludes, hey that worked. To a parrot, Good Bird-Good Bird or Bad Bird-Bad Bird means the same thing. You have to realize that a parrot is not fluent in English or any other language of the human species. To him its just noise like; dkjf al sjf aldlfj oasd. But because you reacted to the parrot s squawking it concludes: Squawk, squawk, owner comes to cage and makes talking noise. Your coming to the cage to scold or praise is actually positive reinforcement for the parrot. If you react each time the parrot is noisy, you just

3 reinforce the parrots training of YOU. His behavior is the result of his learning that when he squawks loudly you come to the cage and being a social animal he concludes well that worked. The way to turn the tables on the parrot is to leave the room and don t come back until the bird is quiet. Then go back and calmly praise he bird. Always praise good behavior and ignore bad behavior. If you do that, then it s you doing the training not the parrot. There are numerous books written on the subject of parrot behavior covering squawking, biting, and feather plucking and other negative actions. Prior to formal trick training there is one command you will need to familiarize your parrot with. It is the step up command. A parrot s first step in training: THE STEP UP COMMAND Before you can start to teach your parrot any tricks you have to be able to get the bird from the cage to an area where you are going to start the trick training process. As in any training process, this simple process is critical to more complicated tricks down the road. I found that if you began this training as soon as the parrot is introduced into your home and cage, it becomes much easier to accomplish. Upon arriving your bird probably will be nervous because of the new surroundings. Don t push this skill onto the bird initially. Here is what I do. When the bird has settled down I introduce my hand into the cage and that s all I do. I leave it near the cage door and the whole purpose is to have the bird accept the hand as an integral part of their cage at first.

4 When you can introduce your hand into the cage without the bird becoming agitated, I then slowly and carefully advance my hand with my forefinger extended if it is a small bird and gently place the finger just above the legs and press gently into the breast and calmly say step up. Usually, if you perform this movement properly, the bird should step onto your finger. If he does, then praise him in a calm tone. I suggest that you should not take the bird out of its cage the first time it steps up. Once it has stepped up on your finger, I will then reverse the process and have the bird step up onto its perch inside the cage as additional reinforcement to the learning process. I repeat the skill several times upon its first completion of the skill and then leave the parrot in the cage after praising the bird generously. I usually will try to hold two training sessions a day, on this skill, to get my bird comfortable with the skill. You will need to use it to remove your bird from the cage and take it to the training area. The next step is to withdraw the parrot from the cage while it is on your finger and many times the first time the parrot is out of the cage it will fly off into the room. Don t panic. The reason why you have taught the parrot the step up command is just for this moment. Approach the bird wherever it has flown to and calmly repeat the step up command while offering you hand and finger. Even if the bird ignores the command and flies off to another area of the room, remain calm and approach slowly while repeating step up, step up and the bird should finally step up to your hand. Once it has done this praise the bird and reinforce the skill with a food treat. I have found that I get much better results when I remove my bird from the cage and do the formal training in another room. I suggest you purchase a T-stand from a pet store or online. I use one that is about waist high, as it has served me well through all the years I have been training my birds.

5 The next skill I teach my parrot is to step up from my hand to the T bar where you will be furthering its training in the future. Approach the T-bar slowly and offer the bar the same way you did when your hand was in the cage. Slightly press the T-bar perch against the lower breast of the parrot and repeat step up and the bird should eventually get the idea and step onto the perch. Be sure to praise him for his efforts. I usually repeat the step up cycle each time I bring my parrot to the T-bar. In fact, by repeating the process it will become easier and easier to get the bird to comply. Most of my parrots, once they learn this skill, will actually raise one of their feet in anticipation of me offering them a finger or hand to step up onto. I find the more and more we practice this skill the more eager my birds are to please me. The reality of the situation is they like the food treat I use to reinforce the skill. This is a good thing when it comes to training because they now connect the food treat with accomplishment of some command I give. It is the first step in conditioning the parrot to perform the skill in anticipation of some small food treat. Once you accomplish this skill you are ready to embark on more complicated skills. As in any bag of tricks I find that what I have done in the past is to write down all the tricks I want to have the parrot perform. Then I rate them from the easiest to learn to the most difficult. Once I have done that, I start with the easiest trick and work toward the tough ones. I find if you teach one trick at a time, while reviewing the tricks already learned, it goes much faster. I never give up just because the bird does not catch on quickly. All my birds have learned various skills in different time spans. One bird will pick up on a skill in just a few days while another took six weeks to become proficient. The best bird trainer is one with a great deal of patients. For the purpose of this booklet I have listed the following tricks as doable for most parrots. I then go into the training method I have used. If you do research on the internet, there

6 is a wealth of information in training, both free and for sale. Your local library is another source of free information. We are going to focus on the following dozen tricks, for the purpose of this ebook. VERY EASY FOR MOST PARROTS Talk Training EASY TO TEACH Shake Hands Command Wave Command Give Me a Kiss Command Nod Yes Command Nod No Command Take a Bow Command SLIGHTLY MORE DIFFICULT Turn Around Command Disco Dancing Command FOR THE PRO BIRD Rings on a Spindle Command Coins in Ashtray Command Ride the Bike Command

7 START WITH EASY TRICKS TRICK#1: TALK TRAINING Training your bird to talk can be formal training or casual chatting. I will share a story with you. We had a Beautiful Blue Budgie when my children were four and five respectively. My oldest was Michael and his sister Kelli was a year younger. They were both anxious to train Holly to talk. As you can really appreciate, younger kids have a short attention span. Holly had her cage in the corner of the breakfast room. She was always present for breakfast and dinner meals and Kelli spent a lot of time trying to teach her Holly want a cracker? Now, kids being kids, Kelli would sometimes, become frustrated with her brother. She would, let him know that by saying in a raised tone MICHAEL!!! The very first word that bird said was MICHAEL and it killed Kelli that it would never say her name. As hard as she tried, it never said her name. It just goes to show you that parrots and Budgies and the like are great imitators. We never spent any time trying to train Holly to talk but by the time she passed on, she could say several dozen phrases. If you want to formalize the training sessions I suggest you try a twice a day session with your bird. Make each session no more than 10 to 15 minutes. A two word phrase is best to begin with because of its rhythmic nature. Something like pretty bird or Hello Michael (Use your name not mine). Don t introduce multiple phrases because it will only confuse the bird. If you spend a week or two using this protocol you should see results. Be sure to reinforce any sound the bird makes with vocal praise or a food treat. Once your bird learns the first

8 phrase it will become easier. Our experience with our first bird reinforced that. Once Holly learned MICHAEL it was amazing how fast she learned her next word which happened to be pretty bird. TRICK#2: Shake Hands Command Make sure your parrot is familiar with the step up command prior to teaching the shake hands command. STEP #1. Remove your parrot from its cage and place on the T stand. Review any previously learned tricks prior to attempting this new trick. I usually devote about 10 to 15 minutes to each training session and whenever possible I try to schedule two sessions a day. By doing this I find that previous training session material is retained better. STEP #2. Advance your hand toward the bird and say shake hands while touching the bird foot. If the bird lifts its foot reward the bird immediately with a food treat. Repeat this several times until the bird lifts its foot each time you give the shake command. STEP #3. When this is learned the next part of the trick is to grasp the birds foot and shake it when giving the shake command. If the bird completes this successfully reward the bird with a food treat.

9 Repeat this several times and only reward the bird for completing the entire shake hands trick not just lifting its foot. Several of the next tricks are similar in nature and it is important to have a different command for each of these and use the same command each time you want to have the parrot perform. You might be able to teach your parrot this entire sequence at one session. It might take you multiple sessions to accomplish the entire sequence so be patient. If your bird appears to be loosing its attention span, end the session but try to do it on a positive note when it performs part of the sequence correctly. TRICK#3: Wave Command Make sure your parrot is familiar with the step up and shake hands command prior to teaching wave command. STEP #1. Remove your parrot from its cage and place on the T-stand. Review any previously learned tricks prior to attempting this new trick. I usually devote about 10 to 15 minutes to each training session and whenever possible I try to schedule two sessions a day. By doing this I find that previous training session material is retained better. STEP #2. Advance your hand toward the bird and say wave or bye, bye, or a similar command, while touching the bird foot. If the bird lifts its foot reward the bird immediately with a food treat.

10 Repeat this several times until the bird lifts its foot each time you give the wave command and gently touch its foot. STEP #3. When this is learned, the next part of the trick is to get the bird to open and close its claws as if waving. I find that if you touch its raised foot with your finger it will prompt the bird to close its claws. Sometimes it helps to open and close your hand while saying wave, as some birds are great imitators of their owners. If the bird completes this successfully reward the bird with a food treat. Repeat this several times and only reward the bird for completing the entire wave command not just lifting its foot. STEP #4. The next part of the trick is to back away from your parrot while giving the wave command. Reward the bird if it responds and lifts its foot and opens and closes its claw in a waving gesture. Reward for proper completion. Your reward can be praise as well as food. I find that food works well in the beginning of the training session and I use praise when the trick is performed away from me. I can give this command from across the room and my bird now will wave on command. This trick takes multiple sessions to complete, as a general rule, so be patient. If your bird appears to be loosing its attention span end the session but try to do it on a positive note when it performs part of the sequence correctly. At the next session repeat the previously learned tricks and repeat the steps above until your bird is proficient with this skill.

11 TRICK#4: Give Me a Kiss Command Make sure your parrot is familiar with the step up and shake hands and wave command prior to teaching the Give me a Kiss command. STEP #1. Remove your parrot from its cage and proceed to the training area. Place the parrot on the T-Stand. Review any previously learned tricks prior to attempting this new trick. After reviewing the prior tricks have the parrot step up onto your hand and have a seat in comfortable chair. I usually devote about 10 to 15 minutes to each training session and whenever possible I try to schedule two sessions a day. By doing this I find that previous training session material is retained better. NOTE: Be sure you know your bird when teaching this trick. If your bird is prone to biting, I would not recommend you attempt this trick until you have broken the parrot of this behavior. Keep in mind the bird will be in close proximity to your eyes and nose so don t be taken by surprise if you get a nasty bite from a bird that is prone to biting. STEP #2. Say Give me a kiss and then place a food treat between your lips and gently and slowly bring the bird towards you as you lean slightly toward the bird. Keep the parrots beak at the same level as your lips to make it more comfortable for the bird to perform the feat. If the parrot takes the food treat praise it generously. Repeat this process several times until the parrot eagerly takes the treat each time you give the command STEP #3. After the parrot has mastered step #2, repeat the process but eliminate the food treat from your lips Each time it is completed successfully, praise the bird and

12 offer it a food reward. At this stage of training I offer a treat at the end of the session when my parrot has completed several successful executions of the trick I am training. STEP #4. Repeat STEP 1-3 for at least a week or two to reinforce the skill before attempting a new trick. TRICK#5: Nod Yes Command Make sure your parrot is familiar with the step up, shake hands, wave and Give me a Kiss command prior to teaching the Yes command. STEP #1. Remove your parrot from its cage and proceed to the training area. Place the parrot on the T-Stand. Review any previously learned tricks prior to attempting this new trick. I usually devote about 10 to 15 minutes to each training session and whenever possible I try to schedule two sessions a day. By doing this I find that previous training session material is retained better. STEP #2. This is a conditioned response to a specific clue. The first response I used with my bird was Are you a handsome bird? You can come up with any questions that you want to use but it s important that it not be similar to other verbal clues you are using. Each time you say the clue hold a food treat in your hand and move it up and down in front of the bird. If the bird follows your hand as you move it up and down praise the bird and reward the parrot with a small food reward.

13 Continue to practice the skill until the bird performs the skill as soon as you give the clue and you begin to move your hand as a visual clue. STEP #3. Now give the verbal clue and over the next few prompts start to reduce your hand movement until the parrot performs the skill without the visual hand clue but just the verbal clue. Reward the parrot each time it performs the skill properly with praise and at the end of the session with food treats. STEP #4. After a week of practicing the skill I take the training to the next level and that is to teach your parrot the same skill but using different verbal prompts. My bird now will nod yes to; Are you a republican? Are you a handsome bird? Are you afraid of the dark? And my friends favorite, Are you a beer lover? It took almost a year to get him to respond to all these clues, but it was worth it. I had to mix up the step one phase where I repeated all the skills he had learned and I moved the handsome bird clue up so it was not the last skill trained. With each new phrase I had to repeat steps 1-4 until he caught on and now he performs the skill almost flawlessly. I have a friend that trained his parrot to nod yes to any command that started with Are you a.? I was never able to get mine to do that, but it s a riot as my friend goes thru a list of commands.

14 TRICK#6: Nod No Command Make sure your parrot is familiar with the step up, shake hands, wave and Give me a Kiss. And Nod No command prior to teaching the no command. STEP #1. Remove your parrot from its cage and proceed to the training area. Place the parrot on the T-Stand. Review any previously learned tricks prior to attempting this new trick. I usually devote about 10 to 15 minutes to each training session and whenever possible I try to schedule two sessions a day. By doing this I find that previous training session material is retained better. STEP #2. This is a conditioned response to a specific clue. The first response I used with my bird was Do you like the Dallas Cowboys? You can come up with any questions that you want to use, but it s important that it not be similar to other verbal clues you are using. I use the Are you a beginning for all my Nod Yes commands and the Do you like beginning for each of my Nod No commands. Each time you say the clue hold a food treat in you hand and move it from side to side in front of the bird. If the bird follows your hand as you move it from side to side praise the bird and reward the parrot with a small food reward. Continue to practice the skill until the bird performs the skill as soon as you give the clue and you begin to move your hand as a visual clue.

15 STEP #3. Now give the verbal clue and over the next few prompts start to reduce your hand movement until the parrot performs the skill without the visual hand clue but just the verbal clue. Reward the parrot each time it performs the skill properly with praise and at the end of the session with food treats. STEP #4. After a week of practicing the skill I take the training to the next level and that is to teach your parrot the same skill but using different verbal prompts. My bird now will nod No to; Do you like fried chicken? Do you like the Dallas Cowboys? Do you like Democrats? And, Do you like artichokes? When I added the Nod NO to the training, my parrot learned these set of responses in just about two months. I d like to think that he got it after the Nod Yes portion, but that remains to be seen. When I worked all of these responses into a little story I created, it always gets my buddies chuckling. All the time I spent on these skills was worth it. I had to mix up the step one phase where I repeated all the skills he had learned and I moved the Do you like the Dallas Cowboys clue up so it was not the last skill trained. With each new phrase I had to repeat steps 1-4 until he caught on and now he performs the skill almost flawlessly. I have a friend that trained his parrot to nod yes to any command that started with Are you a...? And Do you like? for nod no. That s why I use the same phrase but my parrot never caught on to the association.

16 TRICK#7: Take a Bow Command Make sure your parrot is familiar with the step up, shake hands, wav, Give me a Kiss, and Yes and No command prior to teaching the The Take a Bow command. STEP #1. Remove your parrot from its cage and proceed to the training area. Place the parrot on the T-Stand. Review any previously learned tricks prior to attempting this new trick. I usually devote about 10 to 15 minutes to each training session and whenever possible I try to schedule two sessions a day. By doing this I find that previous training session material is retained better. STEP #2. This is a conditioned response to a specific verbal clue. It s a variation of the Nod Yes and No command. Stand in front of your bird and give the Take a Bow command. As you do so, hold a food treat in front of the bird and move your hand down toward the birds feet. If the bird moves its head toward the food reward and praise the bird. I hold onto the treat for a second or two at its feet to emphasize the bow. Continue to practice the skill until the bird performs the skill as soon as you give the clue and you begin to move your hand as the visual clue. STEP #3. Now give the verbal clue and over the next few prompts start to reduce your hand movement until the parrot performs the skill without the visual hand clue but just the verbal clue. Reward the parrot each time it performs

17 the skill properly with praise and at the end of the session with food treats. SLIGHTLY MORE DIFFICULT TRICK#8: Turn Around Command By now you know to run thru the parrots bag of Tricks prior to teaching any new trick. I will do this religiously. I have found that if my parrot has a bad day, so to speak, I go back to the basics and don t force a new skill on him till he is able to perform the past lessons without fail. I found that if I did not do this, he would forget some of the training. This reinforcement will ingrain the skill into his repertoire. If you force the new skill on your parrot prior to the past skills being second nature, it only serves to frustrate the bird and the trainer. STEP #1. Remove your parrot from its cage and proceed to the training area. Place the parrot on the T-Stand. Review any previously learned tricks prior to attempting this new trick. I usually devote about 10 to 15 minutes to each training session and whenever possible I try to schedule two sessions a day. By doing this I find that previous training session material is retained better. STEP #2. This is best if taught in segments. Most birds will perform the trick half way at first but if you break up the training into four segments you, will be more successful in the long run. The first part of the trick is to get the parrot to turn to the right (your left) by saying the command Turn Around and showing the bird a food treat.

18 In the same motion, start moving the treat initially in a quarter circle to get the bird to turn partway to his right as he follows the treat. If he does follow the food treat praise him and offer him the food reward if he turns toward the treat. STEP #3. Repeat the STEP TWO portion of the training until the bird starts to turn to his right as soon as you say Turn Around. TRICK#9: Disco Dancing Command Make sure your parrot is familiar with the previous commands before you attempt this new trick. New studies conducted by Harvard University conclude that parrots have the ability to literally dance to a musical beat. They actually can move to a beat of a musical tune. I find that this trick is best performed using music as a backdrop from the first session. STEP #1. Remove your parrot from its cage and proceed to the training area. Place the parrot on the T-Stand. Review any previously learned tricks prior to attempting this new trick. I usually devote about 10 to 15 minutes to each training session and whenever possible I try to schedule two sessions a day. By doing this I find that previous training session material is retained better. STEP #2. This trick is similar to the nod Yes and it is a combination of that trick and the shake hands command. I start with music playing in the background and approach my bird and give the command Disco Dance and I move to the music as I give this command. If the bird

19 responds by imitating you movement reward the bird at once. Continue to give the command and move to the music. Some birds get it right away and will imitate your movements without further training. STEP #3. If your bird just sits there and watches you make a fool of yourself, you will need to use hand commands in conjunction with a food reward. I move my hand up and down in front of my bird while moving it from one side to the other. Visualize the letter W and move your hand to the beat of the music while moving the food reward in that pattern. If the bird follows your hand praise and reward the bird. Continue to practice the skill until the bird performs the skill as soon as you give the clue and you begin to move your hand as a visual clue. STEP #4. After a week of practicing the skill to reinforce the dancing movements I start to lesson the use of the hand signals and just start the movement while I am dancing to the music. I exaggerated the up and down movement to the music. If the bird responds I praise and reward each time I give the command and the bird complies. STEP #5. Once I have reduced the hand commands and food prompts, the next step is to give the command. If the bird starts dancing reward at once. My bird even started a slight bouncing to the beat once I turn on the music and when I give the command he really gets into it. Parrots seem to have a built in rhythm that is not present in other animals and I found this trick very easy to teach. It did take a few months to get him to understand the whole sequence but it was worth it.

20 FOR THE PRO BIRD TRICK#10: Rings on a Spindle Command Make sure your parrot is familiar with the previous commands before you attempt this new trick. I always do a through review of previous tricks as a way to set the tone of the training sessions. STEP #1. Remove your parrot from its cage and proceed to the training area. This trick is best learned and performed on a flat surface like a desk or table top. I usually devote about 10 to 15 minutes to each training session and whenever possible I try to schedule two sessions a day. By doing this I find that previous training session material is retained better. STEP #2. This is a more complicated trick than all of the previous skills. It takes a lot of patience on your part to teach this trick. You will need a spindle with different sized rings. I found my set on the Internet and they work just fine. My set is multi colored. I never tried to teach the parrot the concept of color, just size. We will get to this later in the trick. Start by demonstrating the trick for your parrot. This is a key element in the training. That is, say the command, put the ring on the spindle and then pick up one of the rings (preferably the largest one) and place the ring on the spindle. Say the command again and place the second ring on the spindle and continue to do this until all four of the rings are on the spindle. As I say each command, I watch the parrot

21 to see if he is paying attention and if he is, I reward him with a small treat. I repeat this process twice again. Make sure the bird does not loose its attention span. If he is alert and paying attention I reward and praise him several times. STEP #3. Now give the verbal clue and slowly offer the largest ring to the parrot. If the parrot accepts the ring and holds it in its mouth I praise the bird and slowly move the spindle in the birds direction. I found my bird would hold the ring and I actually used the spindle to help the bird place it in the hole and when he did this I praised and rewarded him for his effort. Once we accomplished this, I did the same thing for each of the other three rings. I repeated this multiple times to reinforce this part of the skill. STEP #4. After a week of practicing the skill I try to have the parrot actually take the ring to the spindle and place the ring on it. If he moves toward the spindle and drops the ring I offer him the ring again and command him to place the ring on the spindle. If he accomplished this I praise and reward him. When you are at this stage, only praise and reward your bird for taking the ring and placing it on the spindle. The final step of this trick is to offer all four rings and have the bird place the rings on the spindle unassisted. My set has an extra large hole making it easier for him to place the rings on the spindle. STEP #5. After a week of practicing the skill, you can quit here or take it to the next step which is to put the ring in front of the bird and give the command. If he picks up the ring, moves toward the spindle and places it on the spindle, generously praise the bird and reward. Repeat and reward as the bird takes each of the rings and places them on the spindle. I was able to get my bird to place them on the spindle by repeating step 4 multiple times and he got the idea that the largest one was the first one to go on the

22 spindle. Some trainers will not reward the bird unless he places the right sized ring on in the right order. Whatever method works for you is fine. TRICK#11: Coins in Ashtray Command This trick is a variation of the rings on a spindle trick. It requires your bird to pick up a coin and drop it into an ashtray on the table. It is easier than the spindle trick in that the bird does not have to maneuver the ring onto a spindle. Another cautionary note. Coins are by their nature dirty. I make sure I completely wash and disinfect the coins to make sure there are no germs on them that might harm the bird. STEP #1. Remove your parrot from its cage and proceed to the training area. This trick is best learned and performed on a flat surface like a desk or table top. I usually devote about 10 to 15 minutes to each training session and whenever possible I try to schedule two sessions a day. By doing this I find that previous training session material is retained better. STEP #2. This is a conditioned response to a specific clue. NOTE: I use no more than four coins for this trick. Any more than that and my bird gets bored. Start by demonstrating the trick for your parrot. This is a key element in the training. That is, say the command Put the coins into the ashtray and then pick up one of the coins and place it in the ashtray. Say the command again and place the second coin in the ashtray and continue to do this until all four of the coins are in the ashtray. As I say each command I watch the parrot tp see if he is paying attention. I he is I

23 reward him with a small treat at the end of the trick I have demonstrated. I repeat this process twice again. Make sure bird does not loose its attention span. If he is alert and paying attention I reward and praise him several times. STEP #3. Now give the verbal clue and hand the parrot the coin. If he accepts it and holds it praise him and slowly move the ashtray toward the bird and if he drops the coin into the ashtray praise and reward him. Reward the parrot each time it performs the skill properly with praise and at the end of the session with food treats. STEP #4. After a week of practicing the skill I try to get the parrot to take the coin on its own toward the ashtray and drop it in. I hand him the coin and tell him to drop it in the ashtray and if he does all of the elements correctly I praise and reward him. I repeat this process over and over until he has it down pat. STEP #5. After a week of practicing the skill I try to get the parrot to pick up the coin on its own and move toward the ashtray and drop it in. If he does not pick it up, I demonstrate for him as I say the command and pick up the coin and place it in the ashtray. I repeat the command and if he does all of the elements correctly I praise and reward him. I repeat this process over and over until he has it down pat. I taught my bird this trick on my home office desk and I casually place the bird on the desk where I have laid out the coins and tell him to put the coins in the ashtray and he eagerly performs the trick much to the delight of my friends.

24 TRICK#12: Ride the Bike Command This trick requires that you purchase a prop, a bike actually that is parrot sized. I obtained mine from an internet supplier in Francey. The bike was made to run along a wire while the bird balances on the bike. The prop is balanced so well that it will stay upright because of the outriggers that balance the bike on the wire. STEP #1. Remove your parrot from its cage and proceed to the training area. I have the wire strung between two points and it is perfectly level so the bike does not roll in any direction once the parrot perches on the bike. If you do this right the bird will not be frightened by the movement of the bike. I hold the bike steady and place the parrot on the perch that is built onto the bike prop. If he stays on the perch I praise him and reward him.

25 I usually devote about 10 to 15 minutes to each training session and whenever possible I try to schedule two sessions a day. By doing this I find that previous training session material is retained better. STEP #2. Once the bird has settled down I say the command ride the bike. As soon as I say the command I start moving the bike with my hand keeping it pretty steady so as not to alarm him. I move the bike all the way across the wire and when I get to the end I praise and reward the bird. I have the bird step up onto my offered finger and move the bike back to the beginning of the wire and repeat the trick several times until the parrot is very comfortable with the situation. Continue to practice the skill until the bird performs the skill as soon as you give the clue and you begin to move the bike across the wire. I calmly tell him he is a good bird and assure him that everything is normal. STEP #3. Once the bird is very comfortable with this part of the trick, I attach a string onto the bike and pull the bike forward with the string rather than my hand while assuring the bird everything is OK. As the bird becomes comfortable with the speed of the movement, I gradually increase the speed of travel over the wire. If your bird performs the trick without trying to fly away reward him and give him generous praise. STEP #4. After a week of success with STEP #3 it is time to create a new twist to the trick. I set up the wire with the end of the wire lower than the beginning. I attach a string to the back of the bike rather then the front and I use the string to slowly let the bike roll down the wire. If your bird has accomplished STEP #3, it will not be a big leap for him to stay on the bike as it is rolling down the wire. If the bird performs the trick properly I reward and praise the bird. I gradually increase the speed of the decent and my bird stays on the bike all the way to the end. This trick is a real

26 crowd pleaser. At the end I ask my bird was that fun and he nods Yes! These twelve tricks are by no means all the skills your bird can learn. Parrots have demonstrated the ability to choose a color from a pile of objects. They are amazing creatures and you can find more skills and tricks for your parrot on the internet. Just Google Parrot tricks and there will be a large selection to choose from. It just takes patients and persistence. I am sure you will find it rewarding to spend the time with your parrot on these skills. GOOD TRAINING! JAMES JUNIOR A Fellow Parrot Lover.