I've been looking up training tutorials to try and train my 'tiel Lucy, once she trusts me more, so I can give her some good mental stimulation. I noticed that parrot training seems pretty similar in dog training in some ways, with the use of voice or visual commands, as well as the clicker. However, I've only seen this kind of training on parrots, and no other kinds of birds were really used for demonstrations.

So I'm just wondering... Has anyone tried training non-parrot species using parrot training techniques? If so, how did it go over? And if you haven't tried, do you think it's possible for other birds to learn with parrot training techniques? I think it might with time and patience, but I'd like to hear some opinions.

Positive reinforcement techniques will work on basically any animal that is aware of what's going on and responds well to food rewards. I've heard that it doesn't work on reptiles like snakes because of their feeding habits, but it should work on most birds. There's a famous trainer (Bob Bailey) who holds chicken training workshops (called Chicken Camp) to help people improve their training techniques, which they're mostly planning to use with dogs or other animals.

Cockatiels are members of the parrot family, and it definitely works with them.

I agree with what tielfan says.

Although I'm not going to test it out on my Canaries

I do notice that the birds I handled as chicks are less afraid of me than the ones I bought from the store / most breeders. But they don't step up. Some budgies do land on top of my head when I go in to sit down for a bit after I clean the cage or brought food. - But then again I suppose you'd count budgies as being members of the parrot family...

Trust goes a long way is all I'm trying to say.

Cockatiels are parrots

I know cockatiels are parrots. When I said "non-parrots", I meant something along the lines of crows, doves, etc.

I think the only video I've seen where parrot training techniques were used on a non-parrot, was a training session with a toucan. That is until I looked up the chicken camp thing on youtube that tielfan talked about.

And indeed, trust does go a long way. I know finches and canaries aren't really the tameable kind, since you leave them alone for a few days, and they act wild again (based from my mom's experience, because she bred them). I have seen canaries and finches step up onto fingers before. I'm sure it took a lot of work for those owners to get birds that small to trust them enough though. Maybe it is possible.

The brain power of the animal will have an effect on how much it can learn and how long the training will stick without being repeated and reinforced. Parrots are pretty smart, but canaries and finches... maybe not so much. I don't know enough about them to really know. Chickens probably aren't the brightest bird in the world either lol.

For something like stepping up on a finger, a canary might retain it better if they get a food reward every time they do it. I don't think they're usually as social toward humans as parrots are. Parrots like a lot of the interaction and activity that they get when they step up, so they're likely to keep on doing it for the social reward without having to be constantly bribed with food.

I know someone (the president of the local bird club actually) who had a handfed Gouldian finch who was tame, but they handled him a lot so he didn't have time to revert to being wild.

I think its possible to tame even wild birds it would just take alot longer maybe even years longer.