well, we are coming up on the 6-week mark of Herk being in our home, which means he will technically be out of quarantine. yay! what we won't do, however, is move him into the living room. i think that he will become really close to my amazon and attack both my husband and i (i've had this happen with another amazon that i fostered).

from what i have learned from Herk, he is VERY intelligent (heck, what bird isn't?!). I am training him to do things, stuff that he normally does, on command. for example, he LOVES ringing his bell. i give him the command "ring your bell". when he does it, i reward him with a piece of walnut (loves walnuts, doesn't like almonds). i am also training to wave (say "hi" with a raised foot) on command. and i am continuing my training with a target. he seems to learn really quickly. he knows what "bell" means. the wave thing...not sure if its just coincidence, but i think with enough repetition of using the command, him doing the motion and me giving him a treat, will help fuse the whole process together.

i may teach him to tell the difference between colors. on one playstand he has a green wiffle ball and a yellow one. that may be once i feel he has the first few tricks down. :-) Herk really offers a lot of great behaviors that you can try to put on cue. i am trying to work on each one. he has a cute stretch-wings gesture that i may be able to get with a command. he also has a weird head flip that he does some times.

i don't think he and i are on touching basis just yet. i havent even tried...well, i have touched his feet, but even then he kinda looks at me with a wish to bite me. but sometimes he just stands there and takes it. i have not asked him to step up on my hand nor do i usually offer treats to him by hand (not unless he is in his cage). when i do offer treats, i do it in a cup. once he sees the cup and hears the rattling of a piece of nut inside, he gets really excited and wants to start training. our training usually goes on for a few minutes (mainly because i don't want to give him too many nuts), twice a day. i enjoy seeing that he is excited to start. its a great step in the right direction. the power of positive reinforcement!