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Bathing Zip - What I changed
🕑 Added 2023-08-27 16:59:01 +0000 UTCSuper cool to see all your guys' thoughts on my last video regarding what I changed! I'm going to address them in written text but definitely watch the video as well to see the difference in this bird. Too cool! Amazing what a new environment will do for an animal's success and receptiveness, right?
Here are some personal notes to all of you who participated in feedback:
Becky - Back porch training and changing treats.
I did not change treats but I do keep a variety in my treat pouch. I keep everything from pine nuts to crushed pieces of walnuts, almonds and pecans as well as pumpkin and safflower seeds. The back porch could have worked but since I've done a lot of flight training out there, she could also resort to flying away in such a larger known space with more spots to truly avoid participation. However, that environment might be a great "test" to see how willing she really is about bath training eventually!
Megan - Adding sunlight and changing the time of day.
Yes! Changing the time of day based on the natural sun is a very good change to make. Well worth the added natural distractions which the treats seem to override.
Robyn - Using misters, adding sun, taking her in the shower.
The reason I haven't taken her in the shower with me is that I haven't felt that I am high enough value to her to offer enough comfort yet. But maybe with more positive bath associations, that would be a good test in the future to see how I rank to her and how she can handle a variety of water situations. Sometimes this is a great starting point for birds and sometimes it's too much too fast. Adding sun is a huge one and a major win and we did add misters to the back porch but they more-so act to cool the overall temperature vs truly get the birds wet. Still though, they do offer a type of desensitization. I'll address your other question in a separate video!
Janene - Everything I did in the video lol. You nailed it.
Robin - Sun, another bird as a good example, location.
All awesome and all things I did as well, great thoughts! Love that you thought of using another bird for observational learning. It's so powerful!
Marjorie - Waiting for natural rain.
She has been exposed to this minimally during our weather out here and I love that you made the point that it wouldn't be connected to me if she didn't like it. Great thoughts! It will be interesting to see if she ever starts giving a bathing response to natural rains.
Comments
BirdTricks
The receptiveness to training as well as success. So when Zip and Zoom were training together learning new tricks, it wasn't serving Zoom to wait on Zip (it made him feel more anxious/impatient) and it wasn't serving Zip because the environment wasn't one she was receptive to training in. But with bathing, Zoom offered comfort to Zip where she needed it and Zoom didn't feel like he was missing out on anything in the session by sharing it with Zip.
Chelsea Lang
I'm super curious -- what is it during regular training sessions that mean Zip and Zoom shouldn't be together, but during bath training it worked to your advantage?
Robin Marlin
Janene, I totally agree with having good teachers. I am so thankful for Jamie, Dave and their staff!! Jamie, I love that you used Tusa as part of your observational learning in addition to Zoom. Tusa is definitely one of your "Super Bathers".
Janene Gscuba
I've had good teachers LOL (BT)
