Training parrots

Parrots are smart, can read your body language and will immediately know when you are angry or tense. For training purposes you should learn to read your parrot’s body language as well. When the parrot appears frightened or uncomfortable it is better to leave the training for another time, as it is difficult to train a parrot in this frame of mind. Look for a time when the parrot appears relaxed and when you also have quality time available for the training.

A good way to establish the mood your parrot is in is by looking at the size of the iris of his eyes. Parrots have the ability to change the iris size when they are frightened or angry. If you pay enough attention to the iris, you will quickly establish the mood of your parrot.

When you train parrots, think about training a small kid. They simply don’t have long attention spans and it is best to keep the training session short. The two keys to proper training are consistency and repetition. If you want your parrot to say “I’m hungry” say those words every time you feed your parrot. The parrot will quickly associate those words with food and say them whenever he wants food. But don’t only say the words make them stand out. Say the words with enthusiasm and a little louder than you say other words. It is best to start off with one syllable words and keep training to one word at a time.

It is also advisable for only one person in the household to do the training. If the parrot is bombarded by many people doing the teaching, it will only confuse him.

Only move to another word once your parrot has mastered the previous word. Some people even tape the word they want the parrot to learn and play it over and over to the parrot. Repetition is the key; there really are no short cuts here.

Be careful what you say to or around a parrot. Like a small kid they will remember the wrong word exactly when you don’t want them to. This has caused a great deal of embarrassment to a lot of people, so don’t be next in line.

Training takes patience. We live in a world of instant gratification, but it does not work like that with training. You cannot repeat a word a few times and then expect your parrot to say it the next day, even if his name is Einstein. In some instances it can take months and some parrots may not speak at all.

Besides talking you should also train your parrot to avoid windows. The last thing you want is for your parrot to fly into a window and hurt himself. Take your parrot to all the windows and allow him to touch the windows with his beak.

Most parrot are very smart and can be trained. All it takes is a little bit of patience and dedication on the side of the trainer.