Training to poo on demand

[Cakepro]

Hey all,

I have a sweet lovie who would be a permanent fixture on me were it not for all the pooping this bird does. I swear he goes every five minutes.

Our macaw, Sprocket, poops on demand. He understands the word "poop" and often utters it when he does it. He also does not poop while we are holding him anymore, but waits until he is back on his perch to go. When we have been holding him for awhile, we hold him over newspaper or the trash can and say "poop" several times, and he goes. Then he gets lots of praise.

I don't know much about lovebirds and their ability to be trained, but has anyone successfully trained their lovebird to poop on demand like our macaw does? The problem that I see with this is that Sprocket assumes a squatting position when he's ready to go, so we were easily able to identify the behavior, run to the paper, and train him. Bunny, my lovie, doesn't give any warning.

I'd love to have Bunny on me all day, but can't take all the poo!

[Janie]

Me? I use "CaCa" capes, aka, poop capes. I have five and they work like a charm. Some people here will tell you they've had success with potty training their lovies. I have not and have never tried. It is so tiny, that poop, and not much of a big deal IMHO. My older bird tries to step off me when he poops so it usually goes on the floor or where ever I'm sitting. I'd rather he'd stay ON me and poop on the cape but he's trying to do what he thinks is right so that's OK, too. :)

[butterfly1061]

Hey all,

I have a sweet lovie who would be a permanent fixture on me were it not for all the pooping this bird does. I swear he goes every five minutes.

Our macaw, Sprocket, poops on demand. He understands the word "poop" and often utters it when he does it. He also does not poop while we are holding him anymore, but waits until he is back on his perch to go. When we have been holding him for awhile, we hold him over newspaper or the trash can and say "poop" several times, and he goes. Then he gets lots of praise.

I don't know much about lovebirds and their ability to be trained, but has anyone successfully trained their lovebird to poop on demand like our macaw does? The problem that I see with this is that Sprocket assumes a squatting position when he's ready to go, so we were easily able to identify the behavior, run to the paper, and train him. Bunny, my lovie, doesn't give any warning.

I'd love to have Bunny on me all day, but can't take all the poo!

Good Luck!! My brother has a B&G and his can poop on demand too, but lovebirds - HA!! I'd rather have a LB poop on me than a macaw anyday. You learn to put up with it after a while. Best thing I've learned is to let it dry and it just flicks off anything. That way you don't take the chance of it smearing when you try to wipe it up. Get "Poop-Off" wipes. They're great!

[Mummieeva]

I have a lovebird who goes back to her cage to potty. But I did not train her. she has done it on her own since I had her. She has a child and her child will sometimes go back to cage but she prefers to go all over the plant in the bird room.lol. I wish you great sucess in this if you can manage it.



Steph

[LauraO]

I used to have a lovebird that was potty trained, but he was totally bonded to me and at the time I didn't have many birds. Today, none of my 20+ birds are potty trained and I'm okay with that. Birds = poop. Get used to it!!!!!!

[Cakepro]

Janie, where did you get the caca capes? I was thinking about cutting a hole out of the center of a bath towel to poke my head through and wearing that around the house, and then throwing it in the wash at the end of the day. Not very fashion forward, but better than little green stains on my clothes. LOL

[Janie]

I found the add in BirdTalk Magazine. Kat's CaCa Capes. I ordered two from her and when I added two more birds, ordered three more. If you sew (I do not) it would be a very easy thing to make. It's just a cape that covers half of your back and shoulders with a snap in front. Come to think of it, here is the link:

http://www.katsbirdstuff.com/

[RicosPoppy]

I've had some moderate success in potty training Rico.

He's my only companion so I have been able to spend much time with him on this endevor. typically, and I think this is the case with many birds, they prefer not to poop in their cage. So, I have a wooded pirch hanging in front of my back yard door. I lay a piece of wax paper underneath this pirch. Every morning when I bring Rico out of his cage I get the impression he has been holding it. I immediately take him to his window perch where he poops right away. I do all the standard praise and kisses and tell him what a good boy he is.

I've done this for a few months now and the only thing I can be sure of is that as soon as Rico comes out of his cage I can take him to his perch where he will poop right away. Ocassionally, while he is out, he will venture to the poopy perch on his own and go potty. The rest of the time he goes when he has too, where he has too.

So, It's possible to get some success with potty training. But again, this was one bird that I was able to spend alot of time with training. I enjoyed the experience just for the fact that a have a good reason to lavish my boy with tons of praise and kisses. The poop I could really care less about...;)

[Wayne Thrush]

sorry to hi-jack this thread, but... would it encourage a bird to go in a certian spot if it was always praised for doing so? i mean, do you think it would understand what action caused it?

[Janie]

Wayne, :D.....I have one bird that I do believe would do anything to please me (his mate, btw) and I don't think he would have a clue about pooping on demand, no matter how much praise I showered on him. :lol I have not worked with him on that issue so, who knows, but he does try to step "off" me to poop.....the same way they step as far off the top of their cages as they can when they poop. I am sure that some could be trained, i.e. "Rico" but I've never worked hard at that. I potty trained two human boys and that was enough for me! :lol

[lovebirdlover]

Hi, i had potty trained most of my ten birds. they just learned by themselves. everytime i take them out i always put them over a cage and they go! I give them a millet treat after they go so they can learn that that's where theyr'e suppose to go the minute they come out.

[butterfly1061]

The only bird who has ANY training in pooping is Olivia. She's my Poopie-girl. That's what I call her every morning. I take Daisy & Olivia (on my finger ONLY) out to the kitchen and leave Molly & Piper in the birdroom to play. When I get to the kitchen I put Olivia on the counter and tell her to go poopie and she does. BIG POOP!!!! Then she can get on mommy :D Everybirdy else poops BEFORE they get out of the cage :rolleyes:

[sdgilley]

Of my 3 birds, Peter is the cleanest. He always backs off of me to poop (on the floor:x ) instead of on me. He never poops in my hair or in his happy hut. He's always done this on his own.

The other two poop where ever they happen to be! I haven't worried about training them where to poop, instead I keep baby blankets handy & place them under where they perch.

[Phoebe]

My congrats to all those who have poop trained birds. Phoebe jumps on her play center whenever I take her out of her cage and hangs her little behind over the side to poop on the paper there without fail. However, the longer I have her doesn't stop her pooping on me if she has to go. Mango doesn't seem to poop all that much on me so I don't know if he is holding it or he doesn't just go as much, at least they aren't seagulls or chickens!:roll: I always have "bird" clothes on before work and the moment I get home.:wink:

[p3rr4n]

Hey Wayne,

I was able to get my lovebird to poop on his gym (I have a microwave cart on wheels with a little gym on it) without a whole lot of effort. It just took some time and encouragement and praise.

When I am at the computer, he chills on my sholder and when he has to go, he jumps over and poops on his gym floor, and then comes back. I talk to my love very much like a good parent will talk to a 3 or maybe 4 year old. Very annimated voice, high pitched (lovies like high pitched sounds) with lots of enthusiasm when he does somehting good.

Every lovie is different of course, some are easier to deal with than others, but I believe that alot of them can be taught to do so with praise, patience and encouragement.

[Buy A Paper Doll]

A different perspective: Some birds use body language to let us know they are displeased; Milo uses poop. That's right. When Milo is mad at me he will purposely walk over to me, poop on me, then walk back over to hubby and continue playing with him.

One morning I was cutting up veggie treats before work. Milo looked like he needed to go, and I said, "please don't make poo on mommy's silk Ann Taylor sweater." He backed up and aimed off my sweater like a good little bird. Unfortunately he nailed the cutting board and veggies with poop. That was the end of the poop training in this house.

[Angelwing]

heheh. Cedric has almost trained himself to poop. Every fifteen minutes or so (or when I've noticed he hasn't pooped in some time while he's out) I stick him back in his cage and he immediately goes. I hadn't trained him to do this. He's such a little smartie. I do tell him he's a good boy in a high pitched voice, so I think he's really caught on to the idea. He'll still poop out of the cage at times, though.

[sdgilley]

I have realized that sometimes I just find poop on me. :rofl: :rofl: It grosses my kids out, especially when they hug me and suddenly find poop on them! :rofl: I guess it really just doesn't bother me much. Maybe it would if I was able to have my birds out for really long periods of time where they would have ample opportunity to poop.

Like Jennifer's Milo, Peter has body language poop. He steps up on his perch to be admired and poops. I usually say "POOP!" and he's pleased. He's the one that doesn't poop on me...:roll:

[Buy A Paper Doll]

I guess the fact that my husband praises the heck out of my birds whenever they poop on one of us hasn't helped much, either. Whenever somebirdy makes a particularly large poop, hubby tells them he's proud of them. :roll:

[BarbieH]

Praise is a remarkably good training tool for parrots, isn't it. I was surprised at first, just how effective it is! Much more effective than scolding bad behavior.

Sammy is poop trained, kind of. At nighttime he cuddles up my bathrobe sleeve while I watch TV; when I have to get up to go to the bathroom, I first hold him over the commode and he goes. I praise him. If he makes a mistake and goes before we get there, I also praise that (if we make it to a sink) or just ignore it.

[Ducky]

A different perspective: Some birds use body language to let us know they are displeased; Milo uses poop. That's right. When Milo is mad at me he will purposely walk over to me, poop on me, then walk back over to hubby and continue playing with him.

:rofl: Mine does the same thing! He also does it when he wants to go to somebody else! He poops on whoever he's on to show the other person that he won't go on them! I think this is due to all the "help" I have around the house. When I first got Widgie, despite what I'd tell people to do, if he went then they'd pick him up and play with him.:roll: Didn't matter if he'd just shat on somebody else to make him "safe." Positive reinforcement countering my training!:mad:

Despite this Widgie IS potty trained. It is really quite easy to do. Just put him on a perch when you think he needs to go and say poop. He eventually goes cause he has to, not cause you told him to, and you say "Good!" and maybe give him a treat. I only treat him when we're in my room though, cause that's where the millet is, and the rest of the time it's praise. I started this within the first week of getting him and he learned fairly quickly.

Now most of the time he will go on command and even hold it while I sit on the computer or whatnot. However, when he's moody he will not hold it. Also, due to the countertraining, he will go when he wants to get to somebody else. For this reason, and only for this reason, I am considering a "time out" when he does this, to show that is not what people want. However this is NOT necessary or encouraged. Pure positive reinforcement should do it 99.9% of the time.

Really, potty training a lovie is as easy as potty training any parrot. Just remember that they need to go to the bathroom more often (5-10 min). It's really easy to expand to any location necessary, once they understand the command. It also really helps your clothes, and keeps you from needing to change so much! I love it, and Widgie gets more ME time because of it!:D

[Purpose By Design]

My Sydney goes on command aswell.on paper his t stand ,over the transhcan and even over the toilet,he learned really fast and our friends thinks its crazy when we tell him to go,but i say either i tell him to poop or it'll be on me.He still has his little accidents but thats ok.i think that him going on command is amazing.