training for husbandry behaviors?

[rumorofrain]

Clickertraining.com just posted an article about training your dog for husbandry behaviors (e.g. nail clipping, vet exam, etc.

I am curious about how many of you have trained your parrots for husbandry/veterinary behaviors? If so, which behaviors? Which behaviors do you think are most important?

(x-posted to clickertraining)

Comments

[rumorofrain]

I am a big fan of training husbandry/emergency behaviors in advance so that the first/only time my animals experience something isn't the time when they HAVE to do it (e.g. getting put in a crate doesn't always mean a frightening car trip to the vet; being fed by syringe doesn't always mean disgusting-tasting medicine

[spazzy444]

Not related to training so much, but you should check and see if you have a compounding pharmacy near you. All my bird meds come from my vet in some dog or cat esque flavor (liver, tuna, etc.) however the compounding pharmacy can make it in practically any flavor - my birds favorite is bubble gum.

[rumorofrain]

That's a great idea. At the time we were in a hurry to get the laxative in her, since she hadn't eaten in a day and a half and was losing body weight fast.

That would be a good thing to look into before the next emergency strikes!

[troubleagain]

Damn, I was hoping for tips on clicker-training husbands. :D

[rumorofrain]

For that I highly recommend the book What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love, and Marriage by Amy Sutherland. :)

[troubleagain]

:D

[rumorofrain]

Here's the article version that preceded the book. :)

[angry_crab]

What I've worked on with Tara:
-Nail clipping
-Wing Clipping
-Taking liquids from a syringe (work in progress)
-Toweling
-Intramuscular Injections (can now do this without restraining her)
-Going in/out and staying inside the travel cage for a period of time (for nebulization and transport)

There is more I would like her to be trained to do, but these are the things that seemed most important for her to learn, given the circumstances.

[one4theroad]

i can trim ziggy's nails and wings without restraining her. i can restrain her easily for exams with my bare hands... no towel necessary.
however, i didn't set out to train specifically for any of these behaviors. i guess it's just sort of a natural progression when you've worked with an animal for as long as i've had her. more time = more trust.
i've had her for 13 years

[one4theroad]

oh and she goes nicely into carriers, out in public on a leg leash, will perch on anything i set her on. she steps up for me 110% of the time i ask. haven't had to towel her for any reason in many years. even with things like yucky meds, i just hold her head and squirt in her mouth... no towelling.
/brag

[rumorofrain]

It's not a natural progression for everyone, though. That's a great accomplishment! I hope my relationship with my birds 10 years from now is as good as yours with Ziggy!

[zandperl]

Kappa's really good about letting me handle her wings, without clicker training, just slowly getting her used to more and more handling. She has this interesting habit of stretching the other wing from the one that I'm spreading though, while I'm doing it. It doesn't interfere or anything, it's just interesting. If I wanted to clip her wings I'm sure she'd sit still for it, but mostly I just inspect how her flights are growing out

[rumorofrain]

Re foot touching: Can you give her treats small enough that she doesn't need to use her feet to eat them? Just rapid-fire tiny treats into her beak while you touch her feet?

Re the carrier: To get my animals used to their travel carriers, I leave them out and open and drop treats into them intermittently. I sometimes let them see me put the treats in, sometimes I just chuck them in when they're not there so they get used to hopping in there and checking for them.

Barbara Heidenreich's DVD 'Training Your Bird for the Veterinary Exam' has a great section on training birds to go into and out of their carriers on cue.