How do we train a reliable step up? One that takes place pretty much every time we ask?
If a consequence/outcome to a behaviour (the step up) is reinforcing, the parrot will most likely repeat the behaviour in the future. So let’s choose a good reinforcer for our individual parrot:
For some birds, reinforcement might be the chance to interact with their carer. Others may work better for a treat, a head scratch, access to a toy or even the reinforcement of being brought out of the cage.
Ollie works best for a piece of cashew…
Our aim is to set our parrot up for success. To ask when we have his full attention, not when he’s in the middle of preening, killing a toy or eating. If he’s not ready, we can return in a minute or two.
Not a good time...
Good time – alert and eager to interact…
The step up onto a hand held perch is a useful behaviour to teach as it can save your hands being bitten in an emergency, or perhaps removing the parrot from an inaccessible place. Choosing something that the parrot is already familiar with makes the process easier to teach. It doesn’t have to be a stick, it could be a folded rope perch or even a basket handle.
Kobe on a folded rope perch…
When I first taught Ollie I decided on a forked perch he already knew. Now I am teaching him to step up onto a different, but similarly coloured single perch. He’s not 100% at ease with it yet but I want to set him up for success so the time he’s on the perch is brief.
https://youtu.be/hmaq6_SdOag
I am slowly increasing the time he stays on the perch/stick and also the distance I move it away from the safety of his cage, always returning him to his cage perch before I see obvious signs of discomfort in his body language. A little discomfort is ok as that’s how he learns, but if I pushed him too hard he would find the process punishing and would be less likely to step up again in the future.
When training we are constantly assessing the learner’s body language.
The presence of the stick is the cue for the step up (he would step up on that visual cue without me verbally asking). I am not forcing (by pushing the stick into his chest), or commanding him to step up, I’m asking. The stick is held a little way from him so that he can choose to walk towards it.
Sometimes a bird might need a prompt especially when initially learning the step up. Briefly showing them the treat, if that’s what you are using, might help to kick start the behaviour. However showing the treat before the behaviour (the step up) is a bribe or lure. It should be faded out as quickly as possible or else the parrot will just follow the treat and won’t properly learn the behaviour.
Trouble shooting
My bird knows how to step up, but won’t…
We may want to rethink the reinforcer.
We might want to give a quick glimpse of the reinforcer as a prompt.
If the reinforcer is food, he may no longer be hungry, which is why breaking the treat into tiny prices will allow more repetition.
Try changing up the reinforcer so the bird doesn’t know what he’s going to get next. A treat, a head scratch, access to a toy, etc.
Check that he’s not busy doing other things to bother about the cue.
We could use behavioural momentum… asking for a few easy behaviours that he knows how to do first, and then without pausing ask for the more difficult behaviour… and of course richly reinforce it! Ollie likes turning a circle on cue so sometimes I ask for the circle a few times and then the step up.
My bird doesn’t know how to step up in the first place…
Then we need to start from the beginning and shape the behaviour. Shaping is reinforcing tiny steps or approximations towards the final goal behaviour (the step up). This is explained in detail in a separate thread:
https://theparrotclub.co.uk/community/index.php?threads/shaping-the-step-up-back-to-basics.21349/
The cue becomes meaningless…
If we stand with our perch or hand in front of the bird, repeating, “Step up, step up, step up…” over and over, the verbal cue becomes meaningless – just noise – and we become annoying. The visual cue can start to get lost too.
If the bird doesn’t step up within a certain time frame after being cued then walk away. The opportunity for him to earn reinforcement has been lost.
https://youtu.be/7ArSLseCSoo
Try again a minute or two later when he’s more receptive.
But I have to rush to work…
If we ask a parrot to step up and he does, then we immediately put him into his cage and walk away, is that parrot likely to step up more… or less… in the future?
Of course it depends on the individual bird, but my guess for the majority is less.
Therefore it’s important to teach our parrot that step up doesn’t necessarily mean going straight back into the cage. Even if we are rushing out, there is still lots of reinforcement we can provide en route. For example, we can ask for a step up and reinforce the behaviour with a treat, skritch, or opportunity to be with us. Then we could take him over to the window for a minute to ooooh and ahhh at what’s going on outside (certainly reinforcing for some individuals), then we carry him to his cage. But reinforcement doesn’t end there… look what’s waiting - breakfast, or a new toy or foraging opportunity!
Our parrot will most likely step up in the future even if we are rushing to go to work.
If a consequence/outcome to a behaviour (the step up) is reinforcing, the parrot will most likely repeat the behaviour in the future. So let’s choose a good reinforcer for our individual parrot:
For some birds, reinforcement might be the chance to interact with their carer. Others may work better for a treat, a head scratch, access to a toy or even the reinforcement of being brought out of the cage.
Ollie works best for a piece of cashew…
Our aim is to set our parrot up for success. To ask when we have his full attention, not when he’s in the middle of preening, killing a toy or eating. If he’s not ready, we can return in a minute or two.
Not a good time...
Good time – alert and eager to interact…
The step up onto a hand held perch is a useful behaviour to teach as it can save your hands being bitten in an emergency, or perhaps removing the parrot from an inaccessible place. Choosing something that the parrot is already familiar with makes the process easier to teach. It doesn’t have to be a stick, it could be a folded rope perch or even a basket handle.
Kobe on a folded rope perch…
When I first taught Ollie I decided on a forked perch he already knew. Now I am teaching him to step up onto a different, but similarly coloured single perch. He’s not 100% at ease with it yet but I want to set him up for success so the time he’s on the perch is brief.
https://youtu.be/hmaq6_SdOag
I am slowly increasing the time he stays on the perch/stick and also the distance I move it away from the safety of his cage, always returning him to his cage perch before I see obvious signs of discomfort in his body language. A little discomfort is ok as that’s how he learns, but if I pushed him too hard he would find the process punishing and would be less likely to step up again in the future.
When training we are constantly assessing the learner’s body language.
The presence of the stick is the cue for the step up (he would step up on that visual cue without me verbally asking). I am not forcing (by pushing the stick into his chest), or commanding him to step up, I’m asking. The stick is held a little way from him so that he can choose to walk towards it.
Sometimes a bird might need a prompt especially when initially learning the step up. Briefly showing them the treat, if that’s what you are using, might help to kick start the behaviour. However showing the treat before the behaviour (the step up) is a bribe or lure. It should be faded out as quickly as possible or else the parrot will just follow the treat and won’t properly learn the behaviour.
Trouble shooting
My bird knows how to step up, but won’t…
We may want to rethink the reinforcer.
We might want to give a quick glimpse of the reinforcer as a prompt.
If the reinforcer is food, he may no longer be hungry, which is why breaking the treat into tiny prices will allow more repetition.
Try changing up the reinforcer so the bird doesn’t know what he’s going to get next. A treat, a head scratch, access to a toy, etc.
Check that he’s not busy doing other things to bother about the cue.
We could use behavioural momentum… asking for a few easy behaviours that he knows how to do first, and then without pausing ask for the more difficult behaviour… and of course richly reinforce it! Ollie likes turning a circle on cue so sometimes I ask for the circle a few times and then the step up.
My bird doesn’t know how to step up in the first place…
Then we need to start from the beginning and shape the behaviour. Shaping is reinforcing tiny steps or approximations towards the final goal behaviour (the step up). This is explained in detail in a separate thread:
https://theparrotclub.co.uk/community/index.php?threads/shaping-the-step-up-back-to-basics.21349/
The cue becomes meaningless…
If we stand with our perch or hand in front of the bird, repeating, “Step up, step up, step up…” over and over, the verbal cue becomes meaningless – just noise – and we become annoying. The visual cue can start to get lost too.
If the bird doesn’t step up within a certain time frame after being cued then walk away. The opportunity for him to earn reinforcement has been lost.
https://youtu.be/7ArSLseCSoo
Try again a minute or two later when he’s more receptive.
But I have to rush to work…
If we ask a parrot to step up and he does, then we immediately put him into his cage and walk away, is that parrot likely to step up more… or less… in the future?
Of course it depends on the individual bird, but my guess for the majority is less.
Therefore it’s important to teach our parrot that step up doesn’t necessarily mean going straight back into the cage. Even if we are rushing out, there is still lots of reinforcement we can provide en route. For example, we can ask for a step up and reinforce the behaviour with a treat, skritch, or opportunity to be with us. Then we could take him over to the window for a minute to ooooh and ahhh at what’s going on outside (certainly reinforcing for some individuals), then we carry him to his cage. But reinforcement doesn’t end there… look what’s waiting - breakfast, or a new toy or foraging opportunity!
Our parrot will most likely step up in the future even if we are rushing to go to work.
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