Training your Macaw

So you finally got that big, beautiful parrot we call a Macaw. She is weened, her hand-feeding is over, and just beginning to become accustomed to the cage and regular perching. Now what? Well, its time to train your love to help him or her become the best thing since sliced bread.

1)Never hit your bird. If you do so, you might as well just return the macaw back to the store and get a new one.
2) Always use positive reinforcement. If your macaw doesn't do what he or she was supposed to, simply say nothing and offer no treat.
3)Make sure all your movements are slow and deliberate. Never sneak up on your macaw. By making the movements slow, your macaw will be able to follow and learn quicker.
4) Keep sessions short. 15-20 minutes is plenty for a macaw. Feel free to do two sessions a day; just make sure you spread them out.
5)Try not to take a day off. Trick training relies on consistant training every day
6) Your reward treat should be easy to eat. If your reward treat is a huge walnut, your just wasting time by waiting for your feathery friend to break it and eat. Use something that does not have to be cracked and is easily broken into small pieces.
7)Make eye contact. Seems silly, but it works. This doesn't mean to have a staring contest, but your macaw will try harder to impress you (by doing the trick) if he or she sees your eyes.
8) Train on a perch or table in a room with no windows and, is possible, very few decorations on the wall. Basically, keep the distractions down to a minimum. Don't blast any music, turn the TV off. You can squeak by with simply rolling the shades down on the windows. A 100% focused attention on Master is a easier trained macaw.
9)Give praise for effort, and praise/treat for success.Normally training guides say to hold your tongue when the macaw doesn't do the trick. I disagree. In my experience, giving a little "atta boy!" is a well-needed pick-me-up for my macaws. Remember to really make a huge deal when your feathery friend finally does the trick; make it well known he or she did it!
10) Only work on one trick at a time. Your feathery friend is smart, but not that smart.

I'm glad you asked. The first "lesson" I teach all my parrots, including my greys, macaws, cockatoos, etc., is socialization with the "human flock," as I call it. With five people living in my house, it is important to create a well rounded, family-type bird. This is easily achieved by a little cooperation from the family. Most macaws do not have a problem stepping up, and do not need to be trained to do so. By simply having each member of the family hold your macaw for a couple minutes a day creates a family-friendly bird. Most macaws do not cling to just mommy or daddy, in my experience. Have each member of the family give the macaw a little treat when he or she steps up to encourage it. In a matter of weeks your macaw will not be afraid to step up on any one's arm.
Remember also that a macaw, or any bird for that matter, will always "test" the arm before stepping up. This involves the macaw lunging at your arm and checking it out before making its final decision. Don't panic, its not trying to bite you!
When all else fails and the bird is a little shy, do not hesitate to use the "push up" technique. simply push up on the macaw's stomach with your arm, forcing your feathery friend to step up. it is not as cruel as it sounds, and most birds won't mind.

Macaws have the ability to learn dozens of words and short phrases of their lifetime. What most people do not know about these wonderful animals is how they actually learn to speak. Macaws, and most parrots who can speak efficiently, pick up both sound and pitch when listening. Meaning, if you were to say "hello" in a high-pitched voice, the bird would associate it as such. Next day you say "hello" in a deep, rumbling tone. You haven't made much progress at all, since your macaw wants to here "hello" in a high tone.
Stick to one word at a time in the latter days of your training. Once your macaw learns one or two words, it is all downhill from there. The learning process drastically reduces down to just a week (or even less) per word.
Teaching your macaw to speak is so simple.Every time you walk by the cage or come in contact with the macaw, simply look in her eyes and say the word.At first, she will stare back at you as though you were a Medusa. Soon her pupils will become small; that's a good sign..... if you notice on a baby macaw how dilated the pupils are (which is normal). Whenever a macaw proceeds to talk, the pupils become tiny and her head will bob a bit. It is obvious on a young macaw, but an adult macaw has naturally small pupils, so it is less noticeable....
Eventually one day, you will walk by and blurt your usual 'hello' and walk away. Next thing you know, a cute little 'hello' shouts back! That's it folks, unless you proceed to word number two, everything that comes out of that little macaws beak will be 'hello'.
Two quick tips:
1)Choose words carefully. Your macaw will remember them for her entire life.
2) I wouldn't suggest a voice recorder. Have you ever seen what happens when the phone rings? My macaws get nervous and yell. This is because there is a loud, obnoxious sound that the birds cannot locate. A macaw doesn't mind any sound really so long as they know where its coming from. The general ring of a phone or doorbell spooks them. Unless your willing to place the voice recorder directly in front of your macaw's face, don't bother. I also wouldn't recommend it because teaching your macaw to speak enhances your relationship that no voice recorder could match.

Two common tricks that are fairly simplistic in their nature are the "stick 'em up" and "the wave" tricks. The "stick 'em up" is a trick where the human pretends to have a gun and says "stick 'em up" or "freeze," where as the macaw will raise its wings and hold them just as a human puts up his or her hands. Its a silly-looking trick and will offer to any observer a good chuckle. The "wave" is where the macaw puts up only one wing, mimicking a human arm waving.
So firstly, teach your macaw "stick 'em up" first, which will enable an easy "wave." Every time your macaw raises its wings to stretch out, simply put out your 'gun' and say "stick 'em up" and offer a treat. Once you have learned that,the 'wave' comes naturally. Do the "stick 'em up" trick. After, say 'wave' and put down one of its wings. Praise and treat. Its a fairly simple trick which doesn't really call for a training session or any real headaches.

This is my favorite trick! It is also very challenging and time consuming. Just as the title says, this incorporates your feathery friend putting a wiffle ball in a little basketball hoop. Here are the steps to success:
1)Gather materials: around a half-dozen whiffle balls, all the same color; A mini-basketball hoop (google it there everywhere); a training table around waist high; one of the macaw's food bowls; treats!
2) The real first step is to have your macaw become accustomed to the wiffle ball. Throw a ball or two out of your stash inside the cage. Most likely, by the next morning, the two balls will be in shreds on the bottom of the cage. That's ok, you have 6! If you have problems getting your macaw accustomed to the ball, trying sticking a treat inside of the ball.
3) The next step is to teach your macaw to play basketball with the food bowl. The food bowl is the most cherished object, in your macaw's opinion. Give your macaw a wiffle ball and put the food bowl, empty, save for a little treat, on the training table. Instincts kick in, and little Birdy trots over to the food bowl. If Birdy drops the ball, move the food bowl to the other side of the table, give her back the ball, and do not praise. After a few unsuccessful tries, give the treat to Birdy, as not to be cruel. After week or so of two-a-day training sessions, Birdy will finally put the ball inside the bowl and claim her treat the correct way. Once she does it that one time, it is engraved in her head, and the next step is necessary.
4) The next step is to put the food bowl on top of the rim of the hoop. Standard sized food bowls fit quite snugly atop the rim of the hoop. The first time Birdy sees the hoop, she will most likely run for the hills. Or, if your my macaw, charge at it and knock it over. This is perfectly normal. Just give your macaw some time. I went to the extreme and put the hoop inside Gracie's cage. After only a couple hours it became a toy! Once your macaw isn't afraid of the hoop, she will gracefully and willingly, with a little motivation, put the ball in the food bowl. This step may take anywhere from a week to two weeks.
5) The final step is to remove the food bowl and complete the process. The key to this is the treat. Lean the treat against the backboard. This is the same method as step three. Move the good bowl if she misses or drops the ball, but after a few tries give her a treat, as not to be cruel. This step could take a couple of days or a couple of weeks.
Hopefully these steps will have your macaw slam dunking!

Recall training is the trick where you teach your macaw to fly on command. This is an advanced trick and should only be attempted by experienced owners. Do not attempt outside. These steps worked for me in just three weeks:
1) Get a perch about chest to shoulder high.
2)Start small by placing your arm about a foot away from the perch. You macaw should be able to just hop on without jumping. After a few times its time to move on.
3)This time grab a treat and hold it behind your arm. Put your perch just out of range, forcing Birdy to literally jump. You might have to wait there for a few minutes, but eventually Birdy will make the daring leap. Plenty of motivation, along your command will aid Birdy along the way. This step should be done for a few days to enable confidence in your macaw.
4) After your macaw gains confidence in the little leap, begin to slowly move back a foot at a time.
Make sure you teach your macaw to fly on command. Do this by saying "come [Birdy]" and then putting up the treat. Good luck!