[nagdu] Dogs and Pet Birds

[Danielle Antoine]

Hmm. I'll be interested in responses to this thread as well.

On 7/30/14, Alysha via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> OK, so I have a question that may be a little unusual. After I'd had Hammer
> for about 5 years, I decided to get a pet parrot. I knew that Hammer is
> pretty much the most calm, gentle dog on Earth. He has never been
> distracted
> by small animals of any kind and has no prey drive to speak of. I took him
> with me to the breeder to regularly visit my baby African grey before she
> came home, and the only interest he showed to anything there was the
> occasional piece of bird food on the floor. A year after I brought home
> Ellie, my grey, I adopted a second bird named Rocky (a green cheek conure).
> The birds live in my living/dining room area where I spend the majority of
> my time at home. They spend most of their time on their cages, their
> hanging
> bird gyms, or on me, but they will occasionally fly to the couch or other
> places in the room. Hammer has been perfect with the birds and even knows
> he
> can safely ignore Ellie when she clicks her tongue and yells "Hammer, come
> here!" Both birds are flighted (their wings are not clipped) and they are
> allowed out-of-cage time pretty much whenever I am home.
>
>
>
> Now that my completely trustworthy boy is retiring at the end of this year,
> I'll be bringing a new, unknown pup home. One of my biggest fears about
> this
> is that the new dog will not be safe to have loose when the birds are out.
> I
> wouldn't leave the dog and birds out together unattended, but the worst
> could happen in a split second even if I was sitting right there. And if
> they can't all manage to peacefully coexist, it will mean that all of them
> will have lots of serious restrictions (less out-of-cage time for the birds
> and more time on a leash, in a crate, or in another room for the dog).
>
>
>
> My plan (as far as it goes) is to keep the new dog on leash pretty much
> constantly for a couple of weeks as recommended by the school and see how
> he
> reacts to the birds. I can offer praise and treats if he seems to ignore it
> when a bird takes flight. The birds will be caged or in another room when
> the dog and I are playing. Does anyone have any more suggestions? Have any
> of you dealt with this before? It's scary because birds are so fragile,
> much
> more so than cats, and can be seriously hurt or killed by a dog, even if
> the
> dog is just playing! It's definitely something I've already brought up with
> the school and will continue to discuss with them, but I'd also love to
> hear
> any experiences or words of wisdom you guys might be able to offer.
>
>
>
> Alysha
>
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