potty training questions

Mister Duke (10 year old eclectus) was potty trained by his previous owner, so he's mostly going while on the cage or a perch stand. I didn't even know birds could be potty trained until recently, so his being mostly trained was a nice surprise.

There was a bit of adjustment at first, like he would sit on a railing upstairs and let go, but since we put his perch up there he goes to the perch. The main 'problem spot' is on the curtain rod in our kitchen. We eat in there, and he's getting it on our chairs. (There was also a funny incident where he hit one of the dogs :18: ) Often he does this when I've attempted to initiate training activities, sometimes when we won't share our food, sometimes it seems like he just doesn't feel like flying to the cage.

Every time he squats and gives the 'poo' body language in the 'wrong' place, I say "Don't poop there! No!" in a loud voice. I get him down from the curtain rod, if he's willing, but either way I clean it up while being very obviously grossed out.

So . . . am I reacting well? Should I stick with it? Or am I encouraging revenge-poop in the kitchen by being so over-the-top grossed out?

Sorry, that's a bit funny...It's the way you tell it!

I'm not sure your human grossed out response would do much for Duke other than give him something entertaining to watch for a while, so maybe stop that.

I have heard Ekkies are so easy to potty train because they are so clever. I think often they don't need to be properly trained because the first time they poop on their human the human goes "Ewww, gross, get off me you horrible bird!" and gets the bird off them and is unlikely to welcome it back straight away. Ekkies are clever enough to work out that if they want to be able to be on their human whenever they want they need to poop somewhere else.

If he likes the curtain rail could you make him get off if he poops on there (like, close or open the curtains or something so that he to move quickly) and don't let him back on for a bit? He might realise that if he poops somewhere else he can choose to sit on the curtain rail whenever he likes.

If you start to reinforce pooping in the right places he should choose these over unrewarded places. Don't use food as a reward though, it can apparently cause them to force themselves to go, which is not good.

Edit: Just realised that this is assuming he's flighted, otherwise suddenly drawing the curtains would = more than a plop of Duke poop on the floor. Please don't start flinging curtains around so non-flighted birdies start dropping off things all over the place! If he isn't flighted, erm...stop putting him on the curtain rail!!

No worries, I think it's funny too. He's fully flighted, so I will try closing the curtains for sure. Thanks!

May I tell the Rb's story? It's therapeutic for me to share it!!!!!!!!

This is the sad story of how the Rickeybird was toilet-trained for about an hour, back around 1990. I think he was maybe 6. I was reading Bird Talk Magazine by then, and decided that I would try out some of the techniques. So I began taking the Rbird over a paper every 10 minutes or so and holding him there until he pooped, at which time I said "Boo-boo!" in a happy voice. Soon, I could take him to the paper say Boo-boo and he'd poop. As hoped for, as the day wore on, HE began to say Boo-boo and then poop when I held him over the target. He and I were both delighted, and we practiced and practiced. Sadly, it wasn't even an hour before he began saying Boo-boo every 30 seconds and then flying away when I headed for the paper. I accepted defeat graciously. To this day, he will sometimes yell Boo-boo ten or fifteen times within a minute or so, usually pooping wherever he happens to be. *sigh*

Bwahahaha oh my! Oh Rickeybird! That's great. Not really, but I like your style GG. (I loved reading his story in your thread.) He knew what you wanted, clearly, but did not care.

I've got the kids in on praising Duke for going at the cage or perch, and i found a nice big splat next to the power button on the laptop . . .so I guess we'll just . . . keep trying? :lmao:

GaleriaGila said:

May I tell the Rb's story? It's therapeutic for me to share it!!!!!!!!

This is the sad story of how the Rickeybird was toilet-trained for about an hour, back around 1990. I think he was maybe 6. I was reading Bird Talk Magazine by then, and decided that I would try out some of the techniques. So I began taking the Rbird over a paper every 10 minutes or so and holding him there until he pooped, at which time I said "Boo-boo!" in a happy voice. Soon, I could take him to the paper say Boo-boo and he'd poop. As hoped for, as the day wore on, HE began to say Boo-boo and then poop when I held him over the target. He and I were both delighted, and we practiced and practiced. Sadly, it wasn't even an hour before he began saying Boo-boo every 30 seconds and then flying away when I headed for the paper. I accepted defeat graciously. To this day, he will sometimes yell Boo-boo ten or fifteen times within a minute or so, usually pooping wherever he happens to be. *sigh*

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HAHAHA that's brilliant!

Goes to show it's easier to accept the poo than to train it out of them