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Caring for Pet Birds How to Take Care of a Pet Bird Safety Body Language Breeding Lories and Lorikeets A Sick Bird Finding a Good Breeder Choosing the Right Pet Bird Choosing Bird Toys Determining the Sex of a Bird...Sexing a Bird Caring for a Pet Bird...Creating The Correct Environment Feeding Grooming Handfeeding Baby Birds Identifying Sick Pet Birds Selecting a Cage How to Teach Your Pet Bird to Stop Biting Stress Can Kill Your Pet Bird How to Teach Your Pet Bird to Talk The First Month |
Teach Your Pet Bird a Few Simple Tricks Most people think of pet birds as animals that just sit in the cage or, if they've seen a few pirate movies, perch on someone's shoulder and say witty, or scandalous, things. It's little known fact that some birds can actually learn quite a few interesting and entertaining tricks.While not all birds are going to be able to perform elaborate tricks, with a little patience, you should be able to teach your bird a few simple tricks. PLAY DEAD Just like with a dong, one of the easiest tricks you can teach a young bird is to play dead. To teach this trick, you first need to accustom your pet bird to having his head and back touched. When he doesn't mind being touched anymore, it is time for the next step. Start training for playing dead by letting him perch on one hand as you cup your other hand around his back, gently cradling his head between your thumb and forefinger. Then, still very gently, tilt him over onto his back. If he struggles, and he probably will the first few times, stand him back upright immediately. Over time, gradually increase the amount of time you leave him on his back until he is willing to stay in that position for several seconds without being restrained. While most birds can learn to play dead, conures excel at it because some of them lie on their backs naturally to sleep....which brings up another trick! TUCKING IN FOR THE NIGHT Once he knows how to "play dead", teaching your bird to pretend he is tucking himself in for the night can be learned fairly quickly by most pet birds. To teach this trick, gently cover your pet bird's body with a small, light piece of cloth and say something like 'Good Night'. Some birds will figure it out and grasp the cloth immediately and tug it higher with their beaks, as if they are tucking themselves in. Sometimes, however, a bird may need a bit of encouragement. RING TOSS Another fun trick you can teach your bird is to play ring toss. Many pet birds naturally like to throw things around, so all you may need to do is reinforce this natural behavior. Encourage your pet bird just to throw the rings...without aiming at a target at first. After he becomes accustomed to tossing the rings, you can begin working with him to toss the rings onto a short dowel fastened onto a base in an upside down 'T' shape. SHOOTING HOOPS If your bird picks up the ring toss trick readily, you can probably teach him to shoot hoops with a small, light ball and a loop fastened onto a dowel to form a miniature basketball pole and hoop. Since the technique is so similar to the ring toss, most birds that have learned to toss rings pick up the basketball and start shootin' hoops in a matter of days. TALKING If your bird is a talker, you can almost certainly teach him a few clever vocal tricks. One trainer's favorite is to teach a bird to respond to people who ask if he can talk with 'I can talk. Can you fly?' Another trick that astonishes people who aren't used to the intelligence of birds is to teach your bird to request the treat he wants to eat by name. This trick can be taught by telling your bird the name of each treat as you offer it to him. Your pet bird will quickly figure out the names of his favorite treats and begin to ask for them by name. |
Teach Your Pet Bird a Few Simple Tricks - Copyright 2021 by Donovan Baldwin
Page Updated 5:51 PM Thursday, September 16, 2021
