Tips for Training Your African Grey

Training an African Grey is not that hard to do, in fact it can be a fun and rewarding bonding experience for you and your feathered friend! Unlike any other bird, your Grey’s level of comprehension allows it to relatively absorb information very quickly and easily. In this article, you’ll learn some tips for training your African Grey!

Trust is the most important key in training your parrot. The first thing you need to do is to be able to establish a solid connection and rapport between you and your pet.

This section will provide some guidelines you can follow in getting your bird to sit still through training sessions like a five-year-old child! Are you ready? Read on!

Despite of the African Grey’s cleverness, the flip side is that they can be mischievous and they tend to get bored easily. Spend only about a maximum of 10 to 15 minutes per session and never allow yourself to go over this specific time limit; otherwise your African Grey’s attention span may begin to wane and it will get tired.

African Grey Training Tips

When you’ve gotten your African Grey out of your cage, allow the bird to warm up first. One of the first lessons you could teach is how to flap its wings because it is natural to them and therefore easier to do.

For your bird to be able to flap its wings, you need to do a maneuver called the “earthquake.” While the parrot is perched on your hand, ensure that it has a good grip on your fingers, and then suddenly lower your arm. This maneuver will cause the parrot to flap its wings to regain its balance.

The next thing you can do is practice some wordplay. Say words like “flap” so that your parrot can begin to comprehend what is expected of him when you say “flap”, and of course always give him a treat. Positive reinforcement is more effective than negative because it might confuse the parrot and also cause bad attitude.

Now, if an African Grey has already understood the difference between the words “yes” and “no,” you can use it to stop a certain behavior. Just tell him “no” very firmly, African Greys are intelligent enough to deduce the difference.

Ensure that there are no distractions during a training session, like a five-year old, their attention span is very short, so you want to keep your bird’s attention fully on you. It’s also best to keep your voice loud and clear, if ever other people are watching this will teach the African Grey on which voice he has to respond to and hopefully that is yours.