potty training opinions?

[mrs.pants]

howdy!

so ive definitely heard of people potty training their caiques before. i've potty trained my dog, but i figure the science is a little different and i was looking for some tips/advice.

we've been using the word "boom" for when he goes where we want. my thing is i'd really like him to associate the word with the action so that we can have him out and give him the word so he can go in a trashcan or cup periodically.

currently we try and get him to go in his cage, but from what i've read/experienced birds dont always like to mess where they sleep. he's definitely more comfortable waiting til he's out of his cage lolol.

i'm curious what you guys think about making the focus be the word association? would it be better to attach the command and give praise every time he "booms" regardless of where so that he learns the word association? or is it better to have him go in the cage - word - praise/reward and then move on when it seems he can do that with some consistency?

sometimes its a battle waiting him out. he doesn't "go" when the "sun comes up" this morning it took him like an hour to do his big morning "boom" (that or i missed his first one woops!).

 

[LordTriggs]

I would try not to have him associate a word with the pooping command as it can lead to some real issues all the way up to prolapsing.

I would try to go with associating places with pooping, the cage, travel cage or even over a tissue paper so that way if you aren't around to give a poop command they can still go without trouble.

As for the training itself it comes down to partly teaching yourself to notice when they want to go, then when you notice the average time they go to take them to where you want them to go and wait until they go, give them some praise and a treat then go back to your usual business, and keep taking them to the 'poop zone' just before they give you the warning. Just remember they will still have accidents if they're distracted or unable to get to their usual spot.

 

[ChristaNL]

Why not booth?
as in:
Use the *boom* every times he drops something - so he will leard word -action combination, but only lavish a lot of praise if the *boom* happens on a place you would like him to go.

Just do not overdo it - or you might end up with a constipated bird waiting for permission to let loose.

 

[noodles123]

With my "Too", I started saying "go poop" whenever mine was about to poop (I can tell), followed by "good poop" when I hear or see her go. She still goes on her own, but also when I tell her. As long as she's out, she won't poop in cage--she poops off side onto a mat and she never goes on me etc (UNLESS something scares the *you know what* out of her lol).

 

[charmedbyekkie]

Our goal of potty training with Cairo isn't for it to be on command.

The first couple of days we watched him closely, and whenever he went into what we call "the poop squat", we'd scoop him up and put him on his tripod stand (which is his poop perch). As he went, we'd use a cue phrase (a Chinese term). We'd make such a din every time he'd go and reward him with a treat after he used the appropriate perch.

When we keep it up, he remembers to fly to the poop perch when he needs to go (but it's something we humans need to be observant and consistent about).

When he's on our shoulders, now he knows to start yabbering away when he needs to go. He still hasn't picked up the phrase to tell us (I think it's a lack of confidence about his pronunciation), but at least he increases the frequency and volume of his vocalisations to let us know.

When we're out and about but he's feeling shy (which means quiet), then we just have to time it. Every 10-15 minutes, we stop, put him on a horizontal 'perch' (often times a railing), give him the cue to let him know, if he needs to go, that now would be a good time. Wait and see if he wants to go. If he doesn't, that's fine, he goes back to the shoulder he normally is trying to climb/fly to, and we continue on our walk. If he does, then that's fine as well, and he'll get some praise.

We're conscious of the fact that some birds try so hard to please, so we want to avoid him straining himself to hold it in or let it out. We just try to provide him structured places and opportunities, and we're hoping for an eventual verbal cue from him.

 

[mrs.pants]

woah thanks for all the advice guys! this has definitely given me some things to consider going forward :3

it seems we've accidentally gotten him to associate a spot with pooping already. when we first got him he was comfortable going in his cage (and the floor) or on this one specific perch we had when his roof was open. he seems to have associated that perch with going boom, so this morning we just put it on him straight away and put a cup under his butt and sure enough he went.

we're starting to notice the cues he gives us too, so that's been a huge help in getting him into more of a routine. we might try getting him a standing perch where we usually play with him and see if we can get him to associate that area with making booms.

we're also not like "omg he MUST learn this!" and its more of a "if he learns he learns if not he doesnt" and we don't punish him. or main priority is socialization and making sure he's happy and friendly, potty training is just sort of an added "bonus" if we do it right lol.

 

[LordTriggs]

I know the feeling, I tried potty training my conure, and personally couldn't quite get it, so I just said "live and let poop"

thankfully parrot poop is far better than most other animal mess in that it doesn't exactly smell and it's fairly small (unlike what the pigeons decide to leave on my car!)

 

[Sunnyclover]

I potty trained all 3 of my Conures within 24 hours and we rarely have an accident. I trained them to go using a phrase and also a tail tap in case I do the want people to know (in public" I'm asking my bird if they need to go and they can go if they want to or if they don't I just ask 10 mins later as birds of this size go from every 10 to 30 mins. I did teach them to go in a place 1st (sink) and eventually they associated the phrase also with the action of going along with the place. So after trained them in their sink/cage/play area which they know they're free to poop anytime. Then I would start just lightly touching their tail when I wanted them to go...they they associated that with the phrase and then then after a few days they would go if I just tapped that tail. Then I started putting them over trash cans, the toilet, just outside when we were having harness time and said "go poopy" and tapped the tail and they understood and went...then I reinforced all these actions with a tiny peice of pine nut.and even to this day I do still sometimes give treats for going potty like good little birdies especially for the big morning poop they all do in the sink and if we're out somewhere like a store or a walk. No they do not hold it until they get the command on a regular basis and have no issue or health issues because of this. However, I'm very vigilant in giving then plenty of opportunities to go potty and if I were to wait too long I'm sure they would go on me.