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Potty training problem

Discuss the methods and techniques of clicker training, target training and bonding. These are usually the first steps in training a young parrot.

Potty training problem

Postby cstone01 » Wed Dec 16, 2020 1:27 pm

Hello, I have a question about potty training. Hephaestion is potty trained and flys to his cage or one of his stands to poop- but he has started to also use the headboard of our bed the same way recently. .. lucky for me it is usually on my husbands side (we have a few stained pillowcases already, anyone know how to get “processed” pomegranate out?) I think he is confused because he thinks it is also another stand/perch. He never poops on the bed if he is walking around on it. How do we Differentiate between the headboard of the bed and places it is appropriate to use the bathroom? Thanks for your help.
cstone01
Cockatiel
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 69
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Alexandrine, Major Mitchell
Flight: Yes

Re: Potty training problem

Postby Pajarita » Thu Dec 17, 2020 11:25 am

Oh, geez, I am sorry but I can't help you with that. I have never even considered potty training my birds (I don't agree with it) so my birds poop all over the place (it took my husband many years to stop complaining about this but, eventually, he did :lol: ). What I do is cover every surface so the tables have plastic tablecloths, the sofas have old quilts thrown over them and even the end tables, and lamps have something covering them all the time. What I do is simply take the pooped cover off, scrape the dried-up poop off with the edge of a knife, stick it in the washer machine and replace it a clean one. End of problem.

As to pomegranate stains - ay ay ay, I also cannot help you (I am sooo sorry!) because I no longer worry about things like that as I cover everything that I want to keep clean and wash all the 'covers' with hot water and bleach (I am the Queen of Bleach, according to my kids :lol: ). I suggest you use an old sheet to cover the bed whenever he is in the bedroom.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Potty training problem

Postby cstone01 » Fri Dec 18, 2020 4:40 am

I am going to start moving the pillows farther down the bed and lay an old blanket up at the top of the bed until we figure it out. He actually mostly potty trained himself, after a few months he would fly off us but was pooping on the tv so we did the whole “good potty” routine when he went to the stand or cage to poop. It’s possible his previous owners started the training, it was very little work.

I have another brief, rather unimportant question that I did not think warranted its own thread. How does he know so early when my husband is home? I always know my husband will be in the house soon when Hephaestion starts to scream (he is not a scream bird, he only does it when daddy bird is coming). I have been on the phone with my husband and Hephaestion starts screaming before he is even in our driveway... I just dont know how he could hear him pulling in from that far and our street is always busy. My husband comes home When he is done seeing patients, but he is not on a schedule at all, day to day it could be hours different. One of our good friends and neighbor has even mentioned to me that they hear the bird when Benjamin comes home (thank god no one complains). It’s not really vital that I understand how he does it, I am just very curious. Thank you for your time.
cstone01
Cockatiel
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 69
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Alexandrine, Major Mitchell
Flight: Yes

Re: Potty training problem

Postby Pajarita » Fri Dec 18, 2020 10:38 am

:lol: They do seem to have ESP, don't they? :lol: But they don't. What they do have is EXCELLENT hearing so he could very well hear the car coming down the street before it gets to your door. He could also be 'reading' you and has figured out some sort of a sequence - like he knows that when you husband calls you on the phone or when you do something different (unlock the door? come downstairs? start putting dinner on the table?), his arrival is imminent. Parrots are not only prey animals (ALWAYS aware of what is happening around them because of the danger of predators) but also highly intelligent and masters of our body and oral language because they were raised by humans so it is entirely possible that you are doing or saying something that is just a little bit different and he is picking that up.

There is a famous case of a horse that could count, knew the alphabet letters, etc and for years nobody could figure out how the horse was doing it until they realized that the horse was 'reading' the questioner's face! He would look at the person who asked the question and figured out, by the person's expression, when it was the correct number of hoof taps (that was the way he communicated his replies). And I know for a fact that my animals (dogs, cats, birds) know how to 'predict' an action by the previous actions or words even if the action is not happening at the 'right' time. They also know when it's time for everything and would often let me know it's time for whatever - getting up in the am, going out, coming out of the cages, dinner, etc. The last dog I adopted is a 15 year old pitbull mix that got way too attached to me because she was abandoned in a basement for two or three months and severely neglected for many years before that (owner was a drug adict and would disappear for a couple of days at a time) so now she can't stand to be separated from me and goes completely out of shape crying, howling, scratching the gate, etc. Now, it is true that I am incredibly systematic in my routine so every day is exactly the same but she figured out in a matter of days that, after I put the gloop in the birds' cages, I put them in and immediately after that, I go outside to feed the street birds so, as soon as she sees me filling up the bowls with gloop and I start saying to the birds my usual "Uuuuuh, look! look! look! que rica papa!" (which makes several of the birds fly to their own cages), she starts carrying on as if she was being tortured because she knows that I will be going outside and out of her sight.

Observe yourself and see if you do not follow some sort of a pattern that he is recognizing because they notice the subtlest things, things we are not even aware of doing/saying - even tones of voice that are just a teeny tiny bit different.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Potty training problem

Postby cstone01 » Fri Dec 18, 2020 11:29 am

I will be more Observant for the next couple of days, but honestly most days I am not aware he is coming home before the bird starts screaming so I don’t change much. I have just been on the phone a few times to realize that he knows before benjamin is actually in the drive. It’s possible his car sounds different? Who knows. We also have a crippled swan that lives in our house. Maybe he hears benjamin first and Hephaestion picks up on that.
cstone01
Cockatiel
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 69
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Alexandrine, Major Mitchell
Flight: Yes

Re: Potty training problem

Postby Pajarita » Fri Dec 18, 2020 12:10 pm

It might also be a combination of two or three different things that only 'coincide' when your husband comes home...
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Potty training problem

Postby cstone01 » Thu Dec 31, 2020 11:55 am

Does anyone else have a suggestion on differentiation of headboard and bird stands?
cstone01
Cockatiel
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 69
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Alexandrine, Major Mitchell
Flight: Yes

Re: Potty training problem

Postby Pajarita » Thu Dec 31, 2020 12:25 pm

You could try training for command with positive reinforcement whenever the bird perches on the stand instead of the headboard as well as putting something on the headboard that would discourage the bird from perching there. Personally, I find it much easier to just cover whatever I want to keep 'safe and clean' but I have a number of birds and, for one thing, training them all to avoid a certain spot is kind of impractical but also because I always try to restrict their activities as little as possible and give them as many personal choices as I can.

This is what I would do:
1) put a bird stand right next to the bed (make sure the perch of the stand is a higher than the top of the headboard because they always go for the higher point)
2) put something on the headboard that would discourage the bird from perching there (most birds have something that they do not like and routinely avoid -could be a corn broom, could be a large, fake snake, could be a weird looking hat, could even be a smooth piece of metal that would not give its feet traction, etc)
3) devote time and be super observant and, whenever you see the bird getting ready to fly (they always kind of crouch and lean forward right before taking flight from a perch), give a command like: "Go Stand!" and, at the same time,
4) actively prevent the bird from perching on the headboard either standing in front of it or using some sort of command (I use "Shoo! Shoo!' with my birds while waving one hand in a 'go away' motion in front of them and they know to take flight off wherever they are perching at the time).
5) have a high value item ready (carry it in your pocket) and, when the bird perches on the stand instead of the headboard, praise, praise, praise and reward.

I am not promising this would always make the bird go to the stand instead of the headboard but, if you persevere and always praise and reward, it will learn.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes


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