# can you poddy train your pigeon?



## kayla_jo_92 (Jan 22, 2006)

i was wondering if you could teach your pigeon to "go" in a certain place?


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Kayla,

We've only really had one member here who was smart enough to manage to do that. He doesn't log onto the forum very often but I'll email him and see if can come on and answer your questions about that.

Pidgey


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## Victor (Dec 18, 2004)

Hi Kayla, and welcome to pigeon talk...Til Pidgey contacts the expert on potty training, I will add my 2 cents worth. 

When I let mine out in a room to free fly, they usually find a favorite spot or two to hang out, so I will put a newspaper down below the area they roost while they are out, so that helps when they go back in their cages. I have also noticed that even when they are secured, they seems to find a favorite spot to perch, and most of their deposites are contained in a paricular spot. I have read that as a rule they usually hold it when they are flying, unless they have an illness.I have also noticed that my 5 do hold it while in flight. It might be a pigeon thing, because I was watching starlings in my back yard today, and they were dropping bombs while in flight.


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

Well, if can't potty train, you can always get a Flight Suit (pigeon "diapers"). You can see one on my pigeon. He has a nice red one...works great...


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## rallow (Dec 23, 2005)

*Poopie Poopie Poopie!*

Dear kayla_jo_92,
Though I cannot say if it is possible to paper train all pigeons, this is what I did with mine. It is not I who is so smart as to figure out how to do it, as another member said, It was my exceptionally smart bird who figured out what I wanted from her.

The first thing you have to do is find a treat that your bird really loves! In My bird Lucy Liu's case that treat is dried out pieces of a slice of white American cheese. (Believe it or not she totally rejects other kinds of cheese, even yellow America.) Since Lucy likes to land on the top of the stereo speaker that sits on the top of our entertainment center, and then hang her rear end over and poop, I of course put newspaper on the floor below. Later I noticed that every time she pooped she looked down as if to see what had happened when her droppings hit the newspaper producing a popping sound. What I started doing then was praising her and clapping my hands right after that noise. I would then call her saying "Good girl come and get your cheese!", as if I was rewarding her for pooping and making that sound. Pretty soon she started to relate her action, and perhaps the noise to the reward, and began flying to the top of the speaker to poop almost every time. To reinforce this when I let her out of her cage in the morning and she flies to the top of the speaker as she always dose, I'd encourage her by saying “poopie poopie poopie” which though it sounds silly, seem to work, producing a poop on paper almost every time ( Say anything, as long as it gets your birds attention.) When ever she messed up, say in another room, I would look at her and say "No Cheese!", then take her and put her on top of the speaker. Though to be honest she still messes up once in a great while, her mistakes are extreamly infrequent. At this point even when she's in my office sitting on my shoulder as I use my computer, as she so much loves to do, she will fly suddenly into the living room, after which if I listen closely I can here the sound of her droppings hitting the paper. I don't give her cheese every time now, I only give it to her if I'm there when she does it and we make eye contact. I do however make it a point to praise her for her good hygiene at every opportunity.

I don't really know if Lucy is an exceptionally smart pigeon, however she does seem to have a strong desire to please me, and obviously enjoys the praise she gets in return. We have a second pigeon now (The Dinkster) who also seems very bright. Though people in general think of pigeons as dumb, I have often wondered what other kind of bird or animal there is that can understand words and phrases spoken by a human being when it is only 6 weeks old as The Dinkster did at that age.

If you would like to see pictures and videos of Lucy Liu and The Dinkster, you can visit their website at: http://cbargains.com/dw/d-index.htm

I hope this has been of some help to you.

Regards, Bob Sohl (AKA Rallow)


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