I'm interested in this click training. My big question is this:
If we click and treat always, what is the advantage of using the clicker AND the treat??
I mean could we not the get same effect by just giving the treats and praise??
Or...not knowing much about this...do you eventually ONLY click?
hmmm
Thanks!
Mark

It's my understanding that you do eventually only click and they will associate the click with the treat or praise. It is probably best to reinforce the desired action with a treat, but verbal praise should work just as well once they associate the click with doing the action you're trying to train.

I have not tried clicker training (I keep meaning to, but just haven't yet), but I have done some positive reinforcement training through treats and praise - I've found that timing is absolutely everything. AS SOON as they perform the desired action you need to be fast with their reward (or the clicker if you're clicker training) so that they know exactly what they are being rewarded for. And repetition is the other key - it may sometimes take MANY, MANY but be persistent. But short training sessions are also a good thing - too much and the bird gets burnt out, they refuse to do what you're trying to ask, then you get frustrated and it's just not productive.

Here is the way I see it. Many times throughout the day I say "good girl!" or "yay!", or several other praise words to Ollie. I rarely follow it with a treat. If I were to simply use a word rather than a click when training, I think she would start to then expect one whenever I said that word during the day. If she consistently didn't get one then she may not work as hard when we're actually training. By using a clicker, I can be sure that she knows we're training. She sees the clicker, knows that nuts are to eventually follow, and will work extra hard.

Also, throughout the training session I will say "good girl!" many times to let her know that what she just did was good. However, I only click and treat when she's done several things in a row. Ultimately, I hope to only need to click and treat at the very end of a training session.

Thanks..as I now have Baby, I have begun training her. I will make a post of her progress. She is doing great, but she there is suspect that she was abused and she is used to sort of "rough" play. I don't play rough, even though she wants to. Zon's can be very deceiving and leave scars as I have one now from Cecil. Nip at me and I just leave the room. Good head scratch and you get a 1/2 carrot and BIIIIG praise.. Go in the cage and you get the grape. She is responding to this very positively. She is not ready to handle yet with the nipping and lunging. She is not perch trained either, so there is no way she's stepping on my hand until I get her better conditioned. I need her perch trained and that will be one of the first things to do with her. She is scared of a stick in any form. I leave the perches laying on the cagetop and when she steps on them I give her praise....she has gotten to where she lingers there; having the lettuce laying on the perch helps.
She'll get there.....slowly, LOL, but she will. No hurries. She's VERY smart and a good talker.
Thanks!
Mark

The clicker identifies the precise moment that the bird did the thing that earned the treat. It takes us at least a second or two to deliver the treat, with the risk that the bird will do something else in the interim and possibly be unsure about exactly what you're rewarding. Imagine that you have a camera and are taking a picture of the bird doing the desired behavior. The moment that you would press the button on the camera is the moment that you should click the clicker.