My bird Echo is a trip. She's pretty easy to trick train. My only obstacle there is a lack of imagination on my part. She loves her bird crack (millet) and will do anything I ask her to so long as she understands what I'm asking.

There are two types of trick training. One is to coax the bird to do what you want it to by leading it with the millet. The other is to capture a behavior they're already doing by putting a command to it while they're doing it. A clicker is used initially in both types of training.

The first trick I taught Echo to do last year when she came to live with me was "spin." Once she got a handle on that one she uses it to signal to me that she wants a treat, even outside of training time. If I rustle a plastic bag (say, with sunflower seeds in it), she'll spin in front of me because of course all snacks have to do with her, in her world.

Every trick I've taught her bar the one she learned last night involved the first type of training, with me leading her behavior by using millet as a lure. She spins, walks through my hand as a tunnel and allows me to pick her up that way, she goes through a short tunnel made from a paper towel roll. She will fly to three different perches and the doorway of her cage when asked to. She will twirl around my finger and hang from it like a bat. She rides a tiny skateboard down a toy half pipe, and will jump "hurdles" made by my son's hand weights.

She has this habit of getting into places I can't see her and then doesn't answer me when I'm calling her. I'll be worried she's trapped somewhere then I'll turn around and she's sitting somewhere staring at me like I've lost my mind.

She slipped in between the sink and the dishpan yesterday. I was right there to rescue her, but decided I needed to do something that would help me find her. A one ounce bird can hide pretty easily, even in plain sight, especially if you're half blind like I'm going from un-ripe cataracts.

Last night I taught her "speak." She was cheeping at me so I started saying "speak," waiting for her to chirp, then hit the clicker and gave her millet. She picked it up immediately. Now she doesn't "spin" when she thinks she's about to get a reward, she "speaks."

It's such a tiny cheep that I'm not sure it will help me find her. I was hoping to get her flock calling, which is much louder and piercing, but she wants to sound like a demure little baby chicken bird and I guess that's going to have to do.

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