Does your parrot scream or bite? These are two very common and very annoying behaviors. Especially when company is over! If you are at your wits end, give clicker training a shot. Since we can not reason, or sometimes beg, with our pets, we must communicate through other means. Clicker training helps bridge the communication gap and be quite successful in ending bothersome behaviors.

You don’t have to be a professional trainer to teach your pet. Owners have successfully trained their parrots to hold their wings out for feather trimming and hold out their toes for nail cutting. Can you imagine your bird holding still while you put a harness on it in order to go outdoors? And the joy of a veterinary examination without biting! Bring on the clicker training.

Before you can teach Polly how to fly around freely and come when called, you must first teach her what the clicker is. So, what is a clicker? A clicker is a small, hand-held devise that makes a “clicking” noise when pressed. You can purchase a clicker at any pet supply store. Now, just going around clicking is not going to do anything for your bird. The next step is to teach her that the clicker is good.

When beginning, don’t make your parrot do too much to get a treat. In fact, they need not do anything at all. For the first session or two have your treats ready and hand them out freely. Good treats are nuts and seeds. For about 5-10 min just press your clicker and then give your bird a treat. The idea here is for the bird to put the sound and the treat together. “Click-Click” means “treat-treat.” Birds are smart and it won’t take long for the connection to be made.

Once the sound and treat mechanism is established, try to get an actual response from your bird before pressing your clicker and handing out a treat. Trainers use what they call a “target.” This target is some sort of object that the bird can touch and then get rewarded with the click and treat. Often, your bird will accidentally touch whatever you choose as the target. Who cares?! Click and treat. Soon your bird will figure out that to get a treat he needs to touch the target. You do need to take care when picking a target. After your bird is trained to look for the target, you can then use it to lead your bird to another target. And it’s definitely wise not to use their perch. Once you get the basics down, there are a myriad of tricks you can teach your parrot. It all depends on what your end goal is.

Training your parrot truly doesn’t take terribly long. Birds are smart and you will be quickly rewarded with the time you spend together. Remember to have fun, your bird will sense it and be even more responsive to your training!

About the Author:

By: Zevs Borealis. This article is one of many featured at Parrot Clicker Training - A website dedicated to the world of Bird Lovers. Revolutionary Speech Training Method Will Change How Bird’s Learn To Talk.

Many people purchase parrots. Some think through the purchase ahead of time. Others make impulse purchases. Potential owners should beware, however. They might be purchasing a major headache instead of a companion.

Parrot Problems

Do a quick Google search on parrot problems, and you might change your mind about taking home one of these beautiful birds. Some problems are comical. Some problems are serious. Some affect the bird and some affect the family.

* A man in Great Britain found that the family parrot learned to mimic his wife perfectly. Unfortunately, his wife is a nag, and the bird has learned every nagging phrase, complete with intonation. Now, even when his wife is not at home, the man is subjected to her nagging.

* A parrot in Mississippi regularly picked his cage latch and wandered about. On one occasion, his wandering took him out of the home and to a nearby park. Luckily for the owner and the parrot, he found a friendly shoulder at a ball game, and was taken home. A classified ad in the newspaper found his owner.

* Another family found that their parrots were too noisy for the neighbors’ liking. The noise was outside, in this case, since the parrots were kept in an enclosure in the yard. That is one problem that can require extensive training. Lacking that training, the family is being required to relocate the parrots.

* In Massachusetts, a parrot is so noisy in its apartment that the landlord may be fined $300 a day until the situation is resolved. Neighbors’ complaints to the License Commission, which handles noise ordinance violations, have brought forth that warning.

Do Your Homework First

Purchase of a parrot is like taking an exam in school. If you do your homework first, you are prepared. Take time to learn about parrots before you purchase one. Learn about the different breeds. Some breeds tend to be very noisy at sunrise and sunset. Others are quiet. Some breeds talk well, while others seldom say a word. Some demand a lot of attention. Some do not. Learn about parrots, and choose the breed that meets your needs and lifestyle.

Lifetime of Love

One important fact to face when preparing to purchase a parrot is that these birds have long lives. Some parrot breeds live to be thirty, forty, or fifty years old. You should be prepared to give the parrot a lifetime of love. This is not a temporary pet. It is a companion. Do the math. If you are thirty years old when you take a parrot into your life, you may have it until your own death. Unlike dogs and cats that live ten to fifteen years, a parrot is a “forever” pet. Be sure you want that responsibility.

Non-Transferable

If you do reach a place where you want to part ways with your parrot, you may find that it is of the “non-transferable” type. Some parrots do well when relocated to a new home. Others pine for the former owner, become ill, and die. The problem of a non-transferable parrot should be considered while you are still just a potential owner.

Alex, quite possibly the world’s “smartest” and best talking parrot, died recently (September 2007). Alex had worked with Dr. Irene Pepperberg of Brandeis University for thirty of his thirty-one years. With her training, he had accomplished feats that had never been imagined possible for a talking parrot.

The Talking Parrot’s Achievements

An African Grey parrot, Alex had developed extraordinary abilities. Among these were abilities such as:

* count to six on his own
* speak more than 100 words in proper context
* understand a zero-like concept
* identify shapes
* identify colors
* understand size relationships such as smaller and larger
* understand absence of something
* understand concept of different and the same

Talking parrots are common, but talking parrots with such abilities are rare. Training them requires, as Dr. Pepperberg admits, a great deal of patience.

Reportedly, Alex had not yet reached his potential in thinking ability. Shortly before his death, the talking parrot had completed one more study on numbers. He had also begun a project involving so-called optical illusions.

The Talking Parrot’s Final Words

The night before Alex, the talking parrot died, he ran through his usual bedtime parting phrases.

“You be good. See you tomorrow. I love you.”

They were his last words to Dr. Pepperberg. They were ritual, similar to a husband and wife closing the day with, “I love you. I love you, too.” No one knew the talking parrot would be dead the next day.

Teaching or Training

There is a difference between teaching a talking parrot and training one. Most people train a parrot to talk. The human does most of the work, with the parrot acting more or less as a tape recording. The parrot performs for the reward.

Alex participated in his learning. Like a student in a classroom, this talking parrot listened to the teaching, and learned from it. He was excited to learn. He performed for the joy of learning new skills. In this way, the African Grey differed greatly from most talking parrots.

Another Alex?

Are there plans to teach another talking bird that may someday replace Alex? Dr. Pepperberg revealed that she plans to continue work begun with her two other African Grey parrots: Griffin and Arthur.

Will Griffin or Arthur someday become a gifted talking parrot such as Alex was? Dr. Pepperberg said she believes “they have the potential, and we’ll just have to see what happens.”