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I am awaiting my first bird, a little boy WBC. I am so nervous that I'm not going to do all of the things I need to do to train my bird to be a normal, non-psycho, happy, lovable caique. I want to potty train him (my boyfriend is a huge neat freak) and give him as much attention as he needs. I read the posts on potty training and it helped my quite a bit. I did wonder though, those of you who have potty trained your birds, when they are out of the cage, do they go to their designated potty area? Or do you let them potty on their playstand and only use another area if you are holding them or what have you?

I am also concerned about how my other pets are going to react to him. I have a 3 year old, 100 lb. Weimaraner and a 5 year old cat (the dog requires a lot of attention and inside time). I just want to be able to provide them all with as much attention as possible so they are all happy.

I'm sorry to have rambled on, and I'm sorry if this are stupid questions. Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Michelle

With a 5 year old cat in the house, potty training should be the least of your worries: viewtopic.php?t=16053&start=0 Please be VERY careful to protect the baby bird.

Paca

thank you so much! this really opened my eyes

And a Weimaraner!!! I dont want to scare you, but please, please, please, dont let the dog anywhere near the bird!!! I had a terrible experience...well we used to live with my in-laws 2 years ago (before I had my caique), at that time I had 2 parakeets in a smaller cage...one day my little brother in law left my bedroom door open...their Weimaraner (who was 3 at the time) came into the room, broke the cage open, I guess he jumped on it....and...oh,oh,oh.... ate my birds!!!! I was devastated and traumatized when I had to clean a mountain of feathers from the floor. I had to wait till we got our own house to get another bird. I got my caique and made sure his cage is very good (in case we do get a dog one day). Please be careful.
As for potty training, it did take us some time. Now I know that he goes every 20-30 min so I try to take him to "his spot" (our kitchen floor) and he does it there. My husband is a neat freak also:) and occasionally he still steps in birdies’ poop! I laugh and he gets mad...oh well he still likes Skittles. Dont worry you should be ok with potty training, but please be careful around the animals.
Good luck with your baby!

I potty trained my cockatoo to go to her tree (in the living room) to go potty. The tree is next to my loveseat and the couch (where my husband sits) is across the room, which is not far but when she's over playing with him or eating dinner with him he doesn't watch her 'signs' and she'll poop on his couch! She KNOWS he's not watching her cuz she RARELY poops on me.

i would have to laugh if my boyfriend stepped in poop too, but lords knows, if i did it, it wouldn't be funny! well, maybe after the fact...

I agree with Paca, worrying about making sure your bird poops when YOU want it to, is the least of your concerns.
Don't even think for one minute the dog and the cat aren't going to want to eat that bird! Once you learn your bird's pooping habits, you'll see how much time you have to spend with him (on your clothes or holding him, etc) before he poops again. Beaker is good for 20 minutes before he poops again. They make all kinds of things to clean poop up so you might want to invest in some of that. Birds poop and that's a fact. There is no way you're going to avoid the bird pooping on something so you and your boyfriend might want to get used to that.

I definately have to agree with Skittles and everybody on the dog issue- Weimaraners are bird dogs, trained to hunt game birds. Though yours may not be a trained hunter, they still have hunting instincts and please make sure you have thought about this long and hard before something happens to the baby you bring home.

brimonster wrote:... please make sure you have thought about this long and hard before something happens to the baby you bring home.

I'm wishing hard she'll realize her home isn't safe for a bird and wait a few years instead.

Paca

Yes, this situation is rather scary and I hope things work out for the best, if that means she waits for the right time to get her baby.

Watch the dog whisperer on NGC - with the dog - make sure YOU are the pack leader! Claim the bird as yours - it can be done. You have to be diligent and committed or you will have a problem.

Potty training is easy - I trained my tiel and hold her over a tissue.