Vindictive poopers?

PB is generally very good about not pooping on us and makes a real effort to lean far off us to go. However, she's a twitchy little thing. Sweet as honey one minute, a demanding little fluffer the next. :54: She tries not to poop on us though UNLESS she does not get her way. Then she will look you in the eye and purposely poop directly down the front of you. :20: The first couple times I thought could be coincidence, but I've been watching for weeks now and am convinced she absolutely only poops on us for revenge. Any other time she'll lean as far off us as possible to poop. I am 100% positive that PB is a vindictive pooper!

Since figuring out this is definitely not by accident I've been verbally correcting her and giving her a couple minute timeout when she does this, but I have no idea what the best way to handle this is. It might just be this is the correct way and in usual fashion she's being stubborn and I'm being impatient. Does anyone else have this issue? Or even better has anyone else had this issue and corrected it? It's not the end of the world if she never learns, but it sure would be nice.

Oh and we've been trying to potty train her since day 1. When we see her potty we say, "Bombs away." When possible I even interrupt her, have her step up, and hold her over newspaper or put her on a stand until she goes. Then I say, "Bombs away," as she goes and let her come back to me. In the morning we take her into the bathroom, hold her over the toilet and say, "Bombs away." Then she does her really big morning potty in the toilet. She won't do this any other time of day though no matter how long we stand there smiling liking loons, bobbing our heads up and down while crooning, "Bombs away. Come on, go potty. Bombs awaaaaaay." She just sits on our finger looking as us as if we've gone round the bend. Sometimes when I say, "Bombs away," she'll squat her butt down like she's going to go potty, but she never actually does anything.

This is like potty training my son all over again. I follow all the suggestions by experts. I try to be consistent and patient but it never actually seems to happen. I finally had to just take my sons diapers and pull ups away cold turkey. Obviously that's not going to work here. I feel like such a potty training failure!

It sounds like PB is well on her way to becoming fully potty trained, and you are most certainly not a potty training failure! The fact she is "revenge pooping" tells me she does know she is suppose to go potty on command in certain places, and is smart enough to use that as a way to "punish" you. I am assuming if she's pooping down your front, she is up on your shoulder. I may suggest if there is something she is not going to get her way on, preempt her "attack" by taking her off your shoulder and walking her back to her perch/cage to calm down. Most parrots won't poop while moving unless they REALLY have to go.

My conures were poop trained. They went on command.

My CAG got mad at me one day, and told the conures to go poop on me.

My RFM got mad at me one day, where my hands were full, and she knew I couldn't do anything about it. She grabbed a beak full of skin, pinched and twisted, then looked me in the eye pinning and said: "Owww! That hurts!"

So, yes they do. Absolutely, on purpose.

It's part of their charm, and it's also what makes us want to strangle them from time to time.

Just like children!

I'm not sure PB got the memo about not pooping while moving. She's very skilled at it. She even poops in mid flight. Sometimes I suspect she's trying to poop on the dog as well.

Birdman, when the CAG told the conures to poop on you, did the conures listen?

I would never strangle my little girl, but I will admit to threatening her with a kitchen field trip to investigate the roaster once or twice...a week...

Dustbunny said:

Birdman, when the CAG told the conures to poop on you, did the conures listen?

Click to expand...

Yes they did. All three of them. Big wet ones. And Tusk did his poofy bird dance in response, and told me "Gotta clean up the poopy mess!" [Translation, that's what you get for not taking me!]

Now, this was in response to being bombarded by "Wanna go outside... wanna go for a walk." It just wasn't my CAG's turn. And at the time I had 11 birds in the house so I kept order by keeping the same pattern.

It was actually an astounding degree of cognitive ability, and evil genius... pretty much worth having to go back and change my shirt. Fortunately, he didn't make a habit of that particular little trick.

Dustbunny said:

I would never strangle my little girl, but I will admit to threatening her with a kitchen field trip to investigate the roaster once or twice...a week...

Click to expand...

See, now that would have been my evil little dusky conure... There were times when I had to pull out the glazed conure dipping sauces, and show it to him...

My bird is potty trained as well and she will tell you when she wants to poop but she has her moments too.
Once she flew directly to my sister from her cage only to poop on her.

Dipping sauces. Hmm. I'll have to save those for when all else fails. She's such a piggy though she'd probably thank me.

My husband ticked PB off this morning before he got her to the bathroom. She dumped her morning offering right down the front of him. She's been a little less than honey sweet the last 2 days. LOL

Ha! I thought I was the only one with a purpose pooper! When Peep is displeased, he strategically poops...very strategically. Note to self: sweet little gccs have a vengeful streak. Gotta give them kudos for it.

Birdman, that is "scary smart"! ....and they say Corvids are even smarter than parrots. Frightening

Robin is trained to go poop when I say "poop" provided he has to go... However, if I forget at around the 20 minute mark and he has to go, he will just go on me. I truly don't think he does it on purpose, he just isn't one of those birds who hold it. BUT, the other day I know he was jealous of the others, and did a big one on me. It really surprised me since it wasn't 'time' for him to go yet. Who knows, maybe he had just eaten and therefore was pooping a little sooner. I can't prove it was revenge, since he's never been like that before, but who knows lol!

"Probably an accident." Uh huh. That's what I thought at first. I bet you'll watch Robin a little closer now though... LOL.

I actually do think it probably started as an accident. I think our response of, "Ugh, PB!" may have clued her in to how much we dislike when she does it. Then I bet she trialed it and has now perfected it. She's an evil genius.

LeaKP said:

Ha! I thought I was the only one with a purpose pooper! When Peep is displeased, he strategically poops...very strategically. Note to self: sweet little gccs have a vengeful streak. Gotta give them kudos for it.

Click to expand...

I wonder about GCCs! PB has this mischievous glint in her eye that sometimes leans less cute and more scary woman scorned, if you know what I mean. I see that same look in some other GCC eyes. I feel we are not nearly as afraid of these little green folks as we should be.

hahahahahahah this thread is just a crack-up! I am so laughing. Please thank all of your birds for me hahahahahahahah
(not on your life am I letting Larry see this thread)