{"id":25131,"date":"2018-10-26T00:55:26","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T05:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/?p=25131"},"modified":"2025-08-18T23:22:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T04:22:26","slug":"teach-your-bird-to-communicate-yes-and-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/teach-your-bird-to-communicate-yes-and-no\/","title":{"rendered":"Teach Your Bird To Communicate “Yes” And “No”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Photo by dansleboby\/Pixabay<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sometimes I think about the kinds of choices adults make. We choose where we work, who we marry, what and where to eat. We choose practical things like our homes and vehicles and fun things, like which books to read, what hobbies to pursue. We choose our vacations. We browse the internet for hours, or read the Sunday paper. We choose to spend time with friends we enjoy.<\/p>\n

While a little more limited, children have lots of choice in their lives, too. They can choose to play sports, like soccer, or to learn piano. They choose which books they want to read, and they remind their parents what they want for lunch. Children choose their favorite cartoons to watch, and choose the games they want to play outside.<\/p>\n

When my Goffin\u2019s cockatoo, Ellie, came home to me as a baby, I provided for her the most enriched environment I could imagine. I chose fantastic toys for her, and rotated them every day. I made foraging toys for her. I taught her tricks I thought she\u2019d like, and ensured she had four hours of out-of-cage playtime every day. I chose her playtime and her bedtime. I chose her treats.<\/p>\n

I also realized that because I chose pretty much everything in her life, her daily options were: whether to eat the chop and pellets I provided, whether to snub my toys, and which houseplant to destroy when I wasn\u2019t looking.<\/p>\n

I so deeply value my freedom, my ability to choose. I wanted that for her, too. I wanted my cockatoo, a brilliant parrot who could potentially live for 60 years, to be able to tell me YES and NO.<\/p>\n

The Power of\u00a0 “Yes”\/ “No” Communication<\/h3>\n

This desire drove me to tinker with methods to teach Ellie yes\/no communication, without much luck. For years, I bit my lip, staring at her and wondering how to break the language barrier that kept us from communicating.<\/p>\n

In August, 2016 I began to teach her phonics as an enrichment activity. Within several months she\u2019d learned all of her letter sounds, and started blending the sounds into reading words, ultimately learning words like \u201cYes\u201d and \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then, with a little training, she started communicating \u201cYes\u201d and \u201cNo\u201d easily, fluently, and a whole world of understanding opened up between us.<\/p>\n

She began choosing the music we listened to, and the activities we did during the day. She chose her toys and what she wanted me to cook for breakfast. She chose her learning activities, and even her favorite friends.<\/p>\n

Communicating with an animal so easily, so clearly, felt magical. It still feels magical. It\u2019s not magic, of course. It\u2019s just training. But it has brought indescribable joy to our lives.<\/p>\n

These days I train parrot owners through online classes how to communicate with their birds in a very simple way, using red and green objects and a few vocabulary words. The magic begins within even just a few short lessons \u2014 and below are the steps you can take to teach your parrot to communicate with you!<\/p>\n

\u201cYes\u201d and \u201cNo\u201d communication is composed of three processes:<\/p>\n

1. Target training<\/p>\n

2. “Yes\u201d\/\u201cNo\u201d training<\/p>\n

3. Simple vocabulary development<\/p>\n

Selecting “Yes”\/”No” objects<\/h3>\n

The bird is going to be taught to associate \u201cYes\u201d with a touch to one object, and \u201cNo\u201d with a touch to a different object. For parrots I am training, I often use a green object to indicate \u201cYes\u201d and a red one for \u201cNo.\u201d I recommend objects such as index cards or wood. Green and red are easy colors for parrots to discriminate, and they are also easily remembered: Green means “Go” and red means “Stop.” If preferred, you could use alternative communication objects, such as two different shapes.<\/p>\n

Select Two Vocabulary Objects<\/h3>\n

After selecting the yes\/no objects, you will need two more objects: something your bird wants, and something (non-aversive) that your bird does not want, like a bowl of cold water. I often teach \u201ctreat\u201d as the first vocabulary object and \u201cwater\u201d as the second.<\/p>\n

Most birds will want a treat, and (if they aren\u2019t thirsty) probably won\u2019t have much interest in the water. We call these \u201cneutral no\u2019s.\u201d They are things the bird doesn\u2019t particularly want, but items that are not at all aversive. Some other ideas include broccoli, a spoon, or something similar.<\/p>\n

Training materials needed:<\/p>\n