I have read that toilet training a Crow is impossible. But I managed to toilet train a lovebird in the past, so I cannot imagine that toilet training a Crow is going to be harder than that. But actually, I don't have as much time to work with Fig as I did with my lovebird who practically lived on my shoulder. Fig is two and a half now, and is still learning to transition into living more centrally in our house. Change happens very incrementally with her. She spends more and more time on my shoulder as I wander around the house, but she is never there for more than five minutes continuously because she will poop on me if she remains there.
There are a number of reasons for this:
1. The shoulder is not her main perch, so she is still uncertain about it.
2. The house is not her main room, so she is uncertain about being in newer places.
3. She is high, at the hight of her usual perch, so it feels natural to just go.
4. I don't scold her if she goes on me. Instead I praise her for communication, and this approach takes longer, but has much better long term results.
Now, that being said, Fig is now 100% lap trained, and lap potty trained. She never poops on my lap, and she sits to watch TV with us for an hour sometimes without saying she needs a break. On her perch she would never come close to holding a movement for anywhere near that long. And she communicates 100% effectively if she needs to go, when she is in my lap. She nestles in the palm of my hand, and when she needs to go, she simply looks up towards my face, and says, Errr. Then she very obediently waits until she is returned to her main perch to go. Usually, I give her a bathroom break every 15-20 minutes, for her health, but if I don't she can easily go an hour before she will start jumping about like a kindergartener in line for the potty.
The next step is to get her to understand that there is no difference between the lap, and the shoulder by letting her flit from lap to shoulder at will to draw an association, and connection between the two. Already I can see this happening as her shouldered behavior is getting better and better, and accidents are fewer, and fewer. It just takes practice and exposure.
Practice means that Fig must be praised loads and loads for successfully communicating her need to go. And getting her used to the house to a very high degree by walking around, asking her to go to various places to raise her comfort level, praising her for doing so, a lot, and asking if she needs to go to the bathroom. She actually will go to the bathroom on command on her perch or in the bathroom, even trying if she doesn't immediately need to go, so mainly the problem lies in helping her overcome her territorial nerves in spaces that she does not feel are really her spaces to inhabit.
I expect full toilet training to be completed within another six months. She is making very fast strides at communicating these days, and her confidence is way up. I carry her around the house with very high confidence that she won't have any accidents, and I no longer use a bucket in case of accidents because it's not necessary.
Toilet training a bird is not a one way thing. There has to be connection, and two way communication. If the bird poops on you, it is because you failed, not the bird. You did not notice, hear, or see something which you should have recognized, reacted to, and praised to encourage. Birds are not cats and dogs. They usually follow your lead, and if you don't act as a pair, they don't have a functioning partner. You can toilet train them, but you have to at least start by getting them to their preferred toileting place, at first.
There are a number of reasons for this:
1. The shoulder is not her main perch, so she is still uncertain about it.
2. The house is not her main room, so she is uncertain about being in newer places.
3. She is high, at the hight of her usual perch, so it feels natural to just go.
4. I don't scold her if she goes on me. Instead I praise her for communication, and this approach takes longer, but has much better long term results.
Now, that being said, Fig is now 100% lap trained, and lap potty trained. She never poops on my lap, and she sits to watch TV with us for an hour sometimes without saying she needs a break. On her perch she would never come close to holding a movement for anywhere near that long. And she communicates 100% effectively if she needs to go, when she is in my lap. She nestles in the palm of my hand, and when she needs to go, she simply looks up towards my face, and says, Errr. Then she very obediently waits until she is returned to her main perch to go. Usually, I give her a bathroom break every 15-20 minutes, for her health, but if I don't she can easily go an hour before she will start jumping about like a kindergartener in line for the potty.
The next step is to get her to understand that there is no difference between the lap, and the shoulder by letting her flit from lap to shoulder at will to draw an association, and connection between the two. Already I can see this happening as her shouldered behavior is getting better and better, and accidents are fewer, and fewer. It just takes practice and exposure.
Practice means that Fig must be praised loads and loads for successfully communicating her need to go. And getting her used to the house to a very high degree by walking around, asking her to go to various places to raise her comfort level, praising her for doing so, a lot, and asking if she needs to go to the bathroom. She actually will go to the bathroom on command on her perch or in the bathroom, even trying if she doesn't immediately need to go, so mainly the problem lies in helping her overcome her territorial nerves in spaces that she does not feel are really her spaces to inhabit.
I expect full toilet training to be completed within another six months. She is making very fast strides at communicating these days, and her confidence is way up. I carry her around the house with very high confidence that she won't have any accidents, and I no longer use a bucket in case of accidents because it's not necessary.
Toilet training a bird is not a one way thing. There has to be connection, and two way communication. If the bird poops on you, it is because you failed, not the bird. You did not notice, hear, or see something which you should have recognized, reacted to, and praised to encourage. Birds are not cats and dogs. They usually follow your lead, and if you don't act as a pair, they don't have a functioning partner. You can toilet train them, but you have to at least start by getting them to their preferred toileting place, at first.
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