Re: [Freeflight] zilla /Kim's response--poll/recall

[Nate Waddoups <thoughts@...>]

On Mon, 2 May 2005, Mandy Andrea wrote:

> B. For those who do recall training, did you have a bird that responded 
> the first time you trained, and continued to respond every time you set 
> up a training session? (and everyone else gets to judge whether it was 
> your skill or the bird's nature to begin with.)

Phoebe came to me with no recall training at all, but she followed me
every time I left the room. She wouldn't come on cue, and she hardly ever
flew unless there was an emergency (like me leaving the room). It took a
while to get the first flights to me, but then things picked up pretty
quickly and she now has good recall at home and reasonably good recall at
the fly building (especially if I start small and work up).

Darwin came to me with no recall training (and basically no training at
all for 10 years or so), and while he preferred to be in the same room
with me, he didn't care to be on me. He caught on to the come-on-cue-and
get-a-treat idea very quickly and was soon doing far better than Phoebe. 
He was just more energetic... training was an outlet for all of his
energy. Phoebe would rather just hang out - training cuts into her
relaxation time.

I think they both understand recall equally well, but Darwin was more
motivated to do it. 

-- 

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA
http://www.natew.com/
http://www.featherforum.com/ <== free photo albums for birds