Do yall have any other pets besides birds?

Hello everyone i have a couple of questions for yall!
I currently have a red headed amazon and a husky. My husky spends most of his time outside (small backyard) and my bird flies free in my room all day (besides his bed time). My dog has no access to him, he is very sweet but very big and playful and ive always been scared to have them interact. When my dog goes inside the house he is only in the living room, occasionally he will walk around the house but never into my room. I currently live with my parents (21 years old) but will eventually move out and will be taking both pets with me. I would like to have my dog be mostly an inside dog and would also like my parrot to be other places besides my room (when nobody is home and the dog is outside my bird goes around the house with me and everyday he goes in the shower with me so he can have a distraction other than my room) as well as he goes outside 2-4 times a week (depending on my schedule) to get sunlight and just a different view.

- Do yall have any other pets besides birds? If so, how do they go about the day with one another?

- Is it possible to live stress free (to a certain extent) having other pets and birds in the same house?? I ask this because i am a VERY stressful person and im over protective of my animals and think every bad situation possible so i avoid many things. My dog and bird have been in the same room and nothing bad happend (my bird being in his cage or his traveling cage but my dog was not loose when the cage was in the living room he was on a leash) my biggest thing is when he flies THAT catches my dogs attention).

- I have seen people built/buy those wood wire in home aviaries, would that be a good idea to have in the future to where my dog can be free in the house and my bird could be in the aviary and have enough room to fly/play to where i dont feel bad if i dont get to have him outside his cage all day like i do now? (Would still take him out but not as long as i do right now (8-10 hrs outside of his cage like he is in my room)

- How about cats? I am NOT a cat person, dont hate them i think they’re cute and all i just wouldn’t have a cat of my own (i ask this because my boyfriend is a cat person and i know he would love a cat (i would not nor would my dog)). Is it selfish of me to ask him to not have a cat? (ive had this conversation with him before) Is it selfish being that i only do it for the sake of my sanity and the safety of my pets? He likes dogs too but cats more. (I do understand that many cats are nice and dont bother but i just feel like no matter how nice and sweet a cat is, it is much more unpredictable than a dog would ever be or any other animal.)

Sorry for it being long and all over the place but i would really love to hear from yall!!

I would be VERY cautious about mixing those two (not because they cannot temporarily be good...but because one misstep could be fatal for the bird.)

A "wire" enclosure is often toxic to birds---wire is not safe for parrots (stainless steel is really the only safe metal). Those areas are often quite deadly (when home-made) in the long-term --due to zinc, plywood etc.

My bird LOVES dogs, and they are okay if they have been taught to ignore her, BUTTTTT, you cannot trust either.

Both cats and dogs (but especially cats) contain bacteria in their mouths and under their nails that can kill a bird from just a minor scratch. A cat is potentially worse than a dog, but both are not to be trusted, and both can kill your bird.

I am not saying a dog that is raised around the bird (or very old) can't be in the same room...but never forget that you cannot trust them fully (bird or dog). A dog that is good at Frisbee/catching etc (and any cat) is going to be especially hazardous (in theory).

Many, if not most of us, have dogs or other animals. I have a teacup yorkie and my eclectus.

But on top of that, we are dog sitters on Rover, having on rare occasions up to 6 dogs in the house at a time.

With our yorkie, she avoids Parker at all costs. Plus she’s a senior lady with few teeth and sleeping all day. We have nothing to worry about with her.

For the rover borders, it CAN be stressful. But if you plan ahead and keep safeguards up at all times (barriers, never out in the same room at the same time, never have even potential to come in contact) the stress on you is minimized. You have rules for safety and you know that as long as you follow them everything will be ok.

There are occasional times when the dog situation is such that Parker doesn’t get out of cage time. He can be in his living room cage with the dogs around - most dogs tend to ignore him in cage - but for his safety we can’t pull him out to sit with us.

So it’s possible so long as you are on your guard.

chris-md said:

Many, if not most of us, have dogs or other animals. I have a teacup yorkie and my eclectus.

But on top of that, we are dog sitters on Rover, having on rare occasions up to 6 dogs in the house at a time.

With our yorkie, she avoids Parker at all costs. Plus she’s a senior lady with few teeth and sleeping all day. We have nothing to worry about with her.

For the rover borders, it CAN be stressful. But if you plan ahead and keep safeguards up at all times (barriers, never out in the same room at the same time, never have even potential to come in contact) the stress on you is minimized. You have rules for safety and you know that as long as you follow them everything will be ok.

There are occasional times when the dog situation is such that Parker doesn’t get out of cage time. He can be in his living room cage with the dogs around - most dogs tend to ignore him in cage - but for his safety we can’t pull him out to sit with us.

So it’s possible so long as you are on your guard.

Click to expand...

Noodles has never hung out with a dog under 50 lbs --excluding puppies (and she has been around quite a few dogs under VERY VERY close supervision---but even that could go wrong--seriously, so I guess I should have clarified. The smallest dog she has been around is my neighbor's spaniel, and she loves him too. Either way, a dog or cat can kill a bird...But "on your guard" can change quickly (hence, do not trust them)-- I am a dog person too. The issue is she has NO fear of them. It's not just the dog that you need to fear---the bird can do things to upset the dog (and a friendly "warning" nip can be deadly to a parrot)...Not to mention the whole "squeaky toy" similarity. Noodles has *knock on wood* never been harmed, but it's not a place you want to get comfortable... Too many horror stories...

I have known a lot of huskies and they are VERY SMART and VERY QUICK.. lots of energy, great at catching things mid-air... I would be very very very careful. One scary moment could send your bird flying in the air over your dog's head, at which point the "catch" instinct could kick in...
Our dogs are VERY good, but they are still dogs...and parrots are still parrots...

A teacup yorkie looks smaller than Noodles lol! I'm sure she's have a hay-day with that, but even then...

I think you and I are saying the same thing here. Except whereas you’re concerned specifically about the potential of huskies, I’m saying it’s not just them.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years with hundreds of individuals across dozens of breeds/mixes, the safety protocols are the same regardless if you have a husky, goldendoodle, overweight puggle or a bichon frise. They can all snatch a slow flying parrot out of the air, or catch him on the ground. We even have two weimaraners coming tomorrow that will pose a unique threat to Parker given the chance. But we have our rules and protocols in place so I’m not worried.

One moments distraction...we all know. it’s just the risk we accept. What matters is the risk management you engage in.

Here’s a photo for size reference between our dog sasha and Parker, taken a few years ago.

Though the perspective is a bit off, Parker is bigger than this photo suggests, and Sasha is a touch smaller than the photo suggests.

If he stands up straight, Parker is just about as tall as Parker is when she sits down.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

noodles123 said:

I would be VERY cautious about mixing those two (not because they cannot temporarily be good...but because one misstep could be fatal for the bird.)

A "wire" enclosure is often toxic to birds---wire is not safe for parrots (stainless steel is really the only safe metal). Those areas are often quite deadly (when home-made) in the long-term --due to zinc, plywood etc.

My bird LOVES dogs, and they are okay if they have been taught to ignore her, BUTTTTT, you cannot trust either.

Both cats and dogs (but especially cats) contain bacteria in their mouths and under their nails that can kill a bird from just a minor scratch. A cat is potentially worse than a dog, but both are not to be trusted, and both can kill your bird.

I am not saying a dog that is raised around the bird (or very old) can't be in the same room...but never forget that you cannot trust them fully (bird or dog). A dog that is good at Frisbee/catching etc (and any cat) is going to be especially hazardous (in theory).

Click to expand...

I’ve read stainless steel as being the best “metal” for birds! And I was surprised when I read a while ago that both dog an cat saliva is harmful to birds! Would you think the bird being in his cage/aviary and the dog inside (surpervised) would be safe and something a person can work on in regards of making your dog not even care about the bird anymore ?

chris-md said:

Many, if not most of us, have dogs or other animals. I have a teacup yorkie and my eclectus.

But on top of that, we are dog sitters on Rover, having on rare occasions up to 6 dogs in the house at a time.

With our yorkie, she avoids Parker at all costs. Plus she’s a senior lady with few teeth and sleeping all day. We have nothing to worry about with her.

For the rover borders, it CAN be stressful. But if you plan ahead and keep safeguards up at all times (barriers, never out in the same room at the same time, never have even potential to come in contact) the stress on you is minimized. You have rules for safety and you know that as long as you follow them everything will be ok.

There are occasional times when the dog situation is such that Parker doesn’t get out of cage time. He can be in his living room cage with the dogs around - most dogs tend to ignore him in cage - but for his safety we can’t pull him out to sit with us.

So it’s possible so long as you are on your guard.

Click to expand...

6 dogs in the house!??? My stress level would be high �� I’ve watched videos, read articles and even seen it with my own eyes, parrots and dogs/cats together and i stress just looking at them being that they’re not mine because i dont think my stress is capable of letting different type of animals unsupervised with each other!

noodles123 said:

chris-md said:

Many, if not most of us, have dogs or other animals. I have a teacup yorkie and my eclectus.

But on top of that, we are dog sitters on Rover, having on rare occasions up to 6 dogs in the house at a time.

With our yorkie, she avoids Parker at all costs. Plus she’s a senior lady with few teeth and sleeping all day. We have nothing to worry about with her.

For the rover borders, it CAN be stressful. But if you plan ahead and keep safeguards up at all times (barriers, never out in the same room at the same time, never have even potential to come in contact) the stress on you is minimized. You have rules for safety and you know that as long as you follow them everything will be ok.

There are occasional times when the dog situation is such that Parker doesn’t get out of cage time. He can be in his living room cage with the dogs around - most dogs tend to ignore him in cage - but for his safety we can’t pull him out to sit with us.

So it’s possible so long as you are on your guard.

Click to expand...

Noodles has never hung out with a dog under 50 lbs --excluding puppies (and she has been around quite a few dogs under VERY VERY close supervision---but even that could go wrong--seriously, so I guess I should have clarified. The smallest dog she has been around is my neighbor's spaniel, and she loves him too. Either way, a dog or cat can kill a bird...But "on your guard" can change quickly (hence, do not trust them)-- I am a dog person too. The issue is she has NO fear of them. It's not just the dog that you need to fear---the bird can do things to upset the dog (and a friendly "warning" nip can be deadly to a parrot)...Not to mention the whole "squeaky toy" similarity. Noodles has *knock on wood* never been harmed, but it's not a place you want to get comfortable... Too many horror stories...

I have known a lot of huskies and they are VERY SMART and VERY QUICK.. lots of energy, great at catching things mid-air... I would be very very very careful. One scary moment could send your bird flying in the air over your dog's head, at which point the "catch" instinct could kick in...
Our dogs are VERY good, but they are still dogs...and parrots are still parrots...

A teacup yorkie looks smaller than Noodles lol! I'm sure she's have a hay-day with that, but even then...

Click to expand...

You’re right about the Husky behavior! Rocky (thats his name) is a very sweet and smart boy but i know at the end of the day he is JUST a dog and he is intrigued by ANYTHING that moves especially animals and his intentions are not bad BUT he does not know the harm his big paws are capable of doing.

Sure if they are supervised and the bird is in the aviary. You can buy stainless steel wire mesh called stainless steel hardware cloth. Its expensive but, its out there. We bought ours on amazon. We are in the process of building right now.

chris-md said:

Here’s a photo for size reference between our dog sasha and Parker, taken a few years ago.

Though the perspective is a bit off, Parker is bigger than this photo suggests, and Sasha is a touch smaller than the photo suggests.

If he stands up straight, Parker is just about as tall as Parker is when she sits down.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Sasha and Parker are beautiful!!!

Cycletim said:

Sure if they are supervised and the bird is in the aviary. You can buy stainless steel wire mesh called stainless steel hardware cloth. Its expensive but, its out there. We bought ours on amazon. We are in the process of building right now.

Click to expand...

How would one do it while they’re at work? Put him in a cage in the room where the dog(s) have no access to it ?? Vise versa. And I unfortunately have no room for an aviary right now but its a priority when i move out!

JGarza57 said:

chris-md said:

Many, if not most of us, have dogs or other animals. I have a teacup yorkie and my eclectus.

But on top of that, we are dog sitters on Rover, having on rare occasions up to 6 dogs in the house at a time.

With our yorkie, she avoids Parker at all costs. Plus she’s a senior lady with few teeth and sleeping all day. We have nothing to worry about with her.

For the rover borders, it CAN be stressful. But if you plan ahead and keep safeguards up at all times (barriers, never out in the same room at the same time, never have even potential to come in contact) the stress on you is minimized. You have rules for safety and you know that as long as you follow them everything will be ok.

There are occasional times when the dog situation is such that Parker doesn’t get out of cage time. He can be in his living room cage with the dogs around - most dogs tend to ignore him in cage - but for his safety we can’t pull him out to sit with us.

So it’s possible so long as you are on your guard.

Click to expand...

6 dogs in the house!??? My stress level would be high �� I’ve watched videos, read articles and even seen it with my own eyes, parrots and dogs/cats together and i stress just looking at them being that they’re not mine because i dont think my stress is capable of letting different type of animals unsupervised with each other!

Click to expand...

6 at once (and that doesn’t count sasha) IS a lot.

Thankfully that’s rare, we don’t want a reputation of hoarding clients: many have had a problem with that on Rover, including one stay our dog was involved in. It’s more typically 1-3 at a time. We would only do it if we know the dogs involved, often most are fairly relaxed, just wanting to cuddle. That’s how we usually cope, by careful curation - we have turned clients away when we know their dog wouldn’t jive with other dogs concurrently booked.

Also, there are times we have to split the house into two parts with baby gates to keep groups of dogs apart to prevent conflicts. There are two of us so it’s easy: I take three downstairs in the sunroom area, my partner takes 3 upstairs int wh living room/kitchen area.

Every situation is different. Our dogs ( well now dog ) never bothered the birds or looked twice at them while in cage. Our 2 cats could care less. However, We have do not flat top cages so our cats don’t get any ideas. We have a bird room we put our grey in while we are home on his tree. He loves it. When no one is home, both birds go in cages in our living room. With our dog and cats out and about. We have never had problems with it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Most people don't have problems with it until they do. I *knock on wood* haven't either, but so many have...There is one story in particular that I will never ever forget...Traumatized me...

We have 3 lab mixes along with our eclectus and two cockatiels. Just like what everyone else is saying, it’s mostly ok. The dogs are aware they exist and will sniff at cages. The cages are in our family room. Charlie has been known to feed the dogs by dropping food to the ground for them (the dogs all come running). Only one of our dogs ever gets that look in her eyes of “let’s play!” Usually any interest shown from the dogs is benign. Charlie loves the dog bed and will climb up on it when he’s out of his cage. The dogs either go back to sleep until he starts preening them or walk away. The dogs hate it when he screams and will usually move to another room of the house.

We had one scare when, arriving home from work after a long day, Charlie wasn’t in his cage. He had opened the water bowl door. He has been out all day from the looks of all the poop everywhere. We were sure the dogs ate him and we’d find a puff of feathers all over the place... turns out Charlie had made himself comfortable in our bedroom on a dog bed. I would never endorse leaving your bird alone with dogs but it thankfully worked out for us this one time.

With parrot cages being so big and usually starting low to the ground, dogs are bound to figure out what’s going on in there. When we have the family over for Christmas there’s 6 dogs in the house. All about knowing your dog(s) and supervision. Just because nothing bad has happened yet, doesn’t mean it won’t next time.

Cycletim said:

Every situation is different. Our dogs ( well now dog ) never bothered the birds or looked twice at them while in cage. Our 2 cats could care less. However, We have do not flat top cages so our cats don’t get any ideas. We have a bird room we put our grey in while we are home on his tree. He loves it. When no one is home, both birds go in cages in our living room. With our dog and cats out and about. We have never had problems with it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

So sorry for your loss and thats so good to hear that they all go about their day and not bother each other. Must be nice and not so much stressful!

noodles123 said:

Most people don't have problems with it until they do. I *knock on wood* haven't either, but so many have...There is one story in particular that I will never ever forget...Traumatized me...

Click to expand...

Care to share ?

Ekkietiel said:

We have 3 lab mixes along with our eclectus and two cockatiels. Just like what everyone else is saying, it’s mostly ok. The dogs are aware they exist and will sniff at cages. The cages are in our family room. Charlie has been known to feed the dogs by dropping food to the ground for them (the dogs all come running). Only one of our dogs ever gets that look in her eyes of “let’s play!” Usually any interest shown from the dogs is benign. Charlie loves the dog bed and will climb up on it when he’s out of his cage. The dogs either go back to sleep until he starts preening them or walk away. The dogs hate it when he screams and will usually move to another room of the house.

We had one scare when, arriving home from work after a long day, Charlie wasn’t in his cage. He had opened the water bowl door. He has been out all day from the looks of all the poop everywhere. We were sure the dogs ate him and we’d find a puff of feathers all over the place... turns out Charlie had made himself comfortable in our bedroom on a dog bed. I would never endorse leaving your bird alone with dogs but it thankfully worked out for us this one time.

With parrot cages being so big and usually starting low to the ground, dogs are bound to figure out what’s going on in there. When we have the family over for Christmas there’s 6 dogs in the house. All about knowing your dog(s) and supervision. Just because nothing bad has happened yet, doesn’t mean it won’t next time.

Click to expand...

Im glad nothing bad happened to Charlie! And even when he was in the dog bed, the dog didnt become territorial of his space. And i agree, always good to be safe just in case.

We, likely a result of the very special set of Amazon Parrots that own our home, have limited them to only one at a time and not had any other Pets. Over the years, our Amazons, have been older, commonly ill and near always abused. As a result, medical expense for our Avians are higher than most as is one-on-one time.

Regardless of type of Pet, medical care has only gone-up and now near matches Human costs. Add regulations on specific shots for Cats and Dogs and appropriate medical check-ups, the more Pets one has, the greater one's yearly budget for Vet care. For those who never take their Pets to a Vet, the shock of its costs are commonly, beyond their abilities.