[nagdu] Dogs and Pet Birds

[Deanna Lewis]

Hi Alysha,
I personally do not have pet birds, but I completely understand how this is worrying you. About a year after getting my guide dog, I decided to get a pet rabbit, I had rabbits in the past and our pet dogs were usually pretty good with them. Pascal, liked to pester the rabbit, and the rabbit was scared of him. I rehomed the rabbit in a few days, I didn't want the bunny to be caged all the time due to Pascal trying to play with it. Pascal has always been well behaved around my cats and other small animals, it was just he liked to play rough with this particular bunny. 
One thing I would suggest that may help you, is during your training with the new dog, try to visit pet stores during training. See if there will be stores in the area where you can sit with birds and let them and your dog explore each other. This way, if your dog seems really agitated or aggressive around the bird, you can discuss options with your trainer. 
Hope this helps, best of luck!
Deanna and Pascal

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Alysha via nagdu
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 5:34 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] Dogs and Pet Birds

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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