How to Train a Parrot

Parrots can be such fun pets. A parrot can bring companionship and lots of laughter from their unique personalities to your home, and make perfect pets if you have small children or don’t have the time to devote to a dog. Once you bring your parrot home, you’ll want to start training. The better behaved your bird is, the more fun you’ll have.

Instructions

    • 1

      Create a training area. You’ll want to find a place in your house where your parrot feels safe, but one that’s not within a few feet of the parrot’s cage. Parrots often grow attached to their cage, so acclimate your bird to other parts of your house. This is important because the bird may refuse to leave its cage later on in life, thus making the parrot impossible to train further.

    • 2

      Start small. Your first training session will be teaching the bird to sit on your finger. The command that most people are taught is to say “Step up” while pressing your finger into the parrot’s breastbone (right above its feet). Unless your bird is really stubborn, this shouldn’t take long to learn, as it’s basically a natural behavior anyway. Work on getting your bird to “step up” in its cage and outside. Both are important.

    • 3

      Reward for good behavior and pay no attention to bad behavior. It’s OK to give your parrot treats for doing well in training. This will encourage the bird to continue trying new things and show your parrot that training is a fun activity. It’s also important to ignore when your parrot doesn’t perform something correctly. If your parrot bites you, feel free to scold; but nothing needs to be done when your parrot performs a trick incorrectly. You want to make sure you’re not accidentally encouraging the wrong actions by making a big deal about them.

    • 4

      Work on training a little bit every day. The key to training is practice. If you’re trying to teach your parrot to speak or sing tunes, sing or talk to them little by little every day. Eventually, your bird will pick these things up as long as you continue to do them. It's the same with other tricks--work for 15 or 30 minutes each day on the tricks. Any longer than that and your bird will lose attention (depending on the type of parrot, some may lose it before 15 minutes).

    • 5

      Once your bird has learned the basics, you can work on fun tricks. This also depends on the type of parrot, but most parrots are able to learn tons of tricks. You can teach your bird to sing your favorite song, ride on toys like mini skateboards, lay upside down in your hand or learn catch phrases from TV shows. The possibilities are endless as long as you have patience.