(gentle guitar music)
- [Trainer] So Dominic, go out and come back in, calm.
- [Woman] Dominic.
- [Trainer] And with a treat, if needed.
And just slowly, with a treat, if you need it.
See if you can get him to step up, without biting.
Let me give you just a series of different things here,
that you can work with,
and everybody here is just gonna be super-calm and chill,
and see if you guys feel or notice the difference.
(bird squawking) - [Dom] Step up.
Step up.
Come on.
Step up.
Come on.
Step up.
Step up. (Eric the macaw clicking)
- Okay, so going back up.
- [Dom] Okay.
- So we didn't get it yet.
This is what you experience as a bird owner, right?
The bird's not stepping up on him
because he loves him, right?
(Eric's foot tapping) So and what I would say is
there's reinforcement from this behavior
that's happening, (Eric the macaw clicking)
and there's a heightened state that's getting reinforced
through all of us having fun with it.
So there's a lot things that are setting Dom up for failure
and so there's a lot of different ways
to get out of this situation.
So the next step that I'm going to attempt is,
we mentioned training in a neutral space.
This bird seems to
(feathers rustling) really like attention.
Okay?
So I'm going to try to add a little bit
of what we refer to as pressure, okay?
Something he doesn't want means, technically,
plus punishment, right?
Of adding something to decrease behavior
(bird squawking softly)
So by me pushing the perch a little out of the situation,
he's going to be a little uncomfortable on the perch,
and he's going to be more comfortable on Dom, right?
So this may or may not work, (Eric squawks)
but this is where training is really fluid,
and we wanna work through this without getting bit.
So I'm gonna try to go ahead
and just push this out of the way a little bit more,
and into a different environment.
(perch base scraping softly)
And if at any point you feel like he's gonna step up,
just go for it, but it's, if you don't, then no.
- [Dom] Step up.
Step up.
(birds chirping)
Step up.
(bird screeching)
Step up.
(bird screeching)
- [Woman] He's getting the hang.
- [Trainer] Okay, so I would back off.
- [Woman] Go ahead. - [Dom] Ooh, okay.
- [Trainer] So there's no...
- [Woman] Does he step up for anybody else?
- [Dom] No, I've never tried with anyone else.
- [Woman] Oh. - [Dom] I live alone.
- [Trainer] So? - [Woman] Perfect, this is...
(trainer laughing)
You can see if he'll come to you,
'cause he is way calmer with you.
- [Trainer] What do I have here?
He doesn't, he doesn't really have enough food motivation.
Do you have an almond or any, or a walnut?
Okay.
Hey, buddy. (bird squawking)
- [Woman] Why don't you move him back to the center,
to get a little attention?
- [Trainer] Will you step back?
No?
(budgie chirps)
(perch base scraping softly)
(budgies chattering)
(Eric's foot tapping)
So there's an interesting thing.
You noticed, the first time, I approached from behind?
Gives me more time, with a new bird, to not get nailed.
It's longer for him to reach back,
and there's more body movement for me to be able to see,
(feathers rustling)
and they're fully capable of stepping back.
When I approach from the front,
(snaps fingers)
it's instant, they can just nail you.
We do it with our own birds.
We'll reach from the back, to have them step back.
I haven't really talked about it a whole lot before,
but it's a great, you know, I've got the perch in the way.
You wanna come? (Eric clicking)
No.
You see how much more time I have to get out of the way?
- Mm-hmm. - Yeah.
- [Audience Member] Yeah.
- So in stubborn situations, that's a way
you can start to try to troubleshoot through it.
I'm going to go and just put the perch in that back room.
Just so he's not getting
constant reinforcement. - [Woman] Ooh.
- [Trainer] It's all right.
(audience laughing)
(Eric squawking)
(woman laughing) - That is the best thing.
You'd think that you would be
so used to seeing (indistinct).
- [Woman] Not like that.
I mean. (laughs)
- [Trainer] Do you wanna shake hands, anybody, anyone?
(audience laughing)
(gentle music)
(uplifting music)