Training Your Pet Bird

Parrots are wonderful pets. You will quickly find that these birds extremely smart and their ability to learn is what makes them fun to train. Animals that shows signs of high intelligence can easily get bored, so it is important to work with your bird and spend the time it takes to train them. It takes time and patience to train a bird, but with the proper training, your bird will provide you with many years of companionship.

There are several ways to train your bird but all work off of socialization.  Here are some steps to help train/socialize your bird.  Whenever "school is in" for your parrot, it is always best to remove your parrot from his or her cage and train in a small quiet convined space. Your bird is more likely to remain attentive and retain information when it is in a new environment and not in his/her cage. The next thing you will want to do, eliminate all distractions in your home. If your parrot becomes distracted during training, it will not go so well.  Keep your birds attention on you. That means turn off the radio, television and any other distractions. Also, remember that birds are a lot like children. They have short attention spans, so short training sessions are recommended. 

Try to plan your training time around your birds schedule, not yours. After mealtime is always, a good time for training because your parrot will be happy and will pay attention. Your parrot will also appreciate plenty of praise. Even if you find that you were not very successful, do not let your parrot see your frustration. This makes it an unpleasant experience for your bird and you will have a harder time getting your parrot interested in learning long term. 

When you are ready to try and teach your parrot a new trick, your pet bird will respond positive to treats and praise. Remember that all animals respond better to praise than punishment. Try to avoid punishing your parrot, even if he or she is acting naughty. Ignoring this behavior is your best bet when training your pet parrot. Birds do not understand punishment or negative reinforcement. In fact, if you respond to your birds bad behavior, your pet may actually be confused and think of it as positive attention. Keep in mind that while your parrot will love food treats as rewards, try to accentuate the positive and encourage good behavior with lots of praise and play time. Otherwise, your parrot may only perform the tricks you want them to when some kind of food reward is available. 

Repetition is the key to successfully training your pet parrot. Repeating these basic steps repeatedly until your pet "gets" the trick is the best way to train your parrot to perform. This works well for basic commands and advanced tricks. If you have just gotten your pet parrot, start out with very simple tricks, such as teaching your parrot to sit on your finger on command. Find a word or short phrase for each trick and use it every time you train like "step up". Most of all, never force your parrot to train. If you find your parrot is tired or uninterested, then stop and try again another time.

As your pet bird learns more command and tricks, you can begin moving your training session closer and closer to the cage. As they get better at their skills, they will feel comfortable performing in his or her cage and in the normal activity of your household. Birds learn quickly in most cases, and sometimes just by listening they can learn more then you might think.  

Training a parrot takes a lot of time, effort, and patience.  It will not come overnight. You must love your bird and be dedicated to make this partnership worthwhile. With patient training and love, you end up with a fantastic and well-behaved pet that wild l be with you for a very long time to come.  For more extensive information and strategies on keeping your bird active and healthy here is a link to an engaging e-book that offers practical tips on parrot training, reducing unwanted behavior and building a stronger bond  Download The Parrot Playbook TODAY!