Bowling!

This is a video of Dougie going bowling, then going through a tunnel, then NOT turning around on command. He decided not to turn around because I didn’t give him treats for the tunnel, or perhaps because he was used to doing it on a stand or hand. 🙂

Teaching him to do cutesy things on command is not just to impress you fine folks, it’s actually really important for gaining his trust and cooperation. Any pet can be more frustrating than enriching in your life if they distrust, avoid, and disobey you. When an animal enters your life, they have no reason to believe in your innocence, kind intentions, or that your promises are any good.

Making a reliable communication system is part of the training process, and it’s the human’s responsibility to be the consistent, predictable partner here. Negative reinforcement should never be used with animals (or humans, in my opinion). Your training sessions are basically about finding ways to communicate to your flighted friend what you would like them to do in response to cues you give, by immediately praising and giving treats for the correct answer. Any other answer should be ignored, never punished.

This bowling set was made for Doug, but it wasn’t expensive or designed just for him. The gentleman that made it made bird props all the time and sold them at his site, which has since closed. It was a wonderful site, he had a huge array of beautiful offerings of high quality props made in sizes for many birds. I don’t know of anything like it currently in existence. I like tricks with props because it seems more fun to me.