Leaving bird cage around dogs all day?

Hi all! I'm new on this forum, if I'm breaking any rules (or if this is a redundant thread) just let me know, oops! Thanks.

My husband and I had been talking about getting a bird for quite some time, and finally settled on the most gorgeous 2-year-old Sun Conure. We picked him/her up last week and he's been settling into a routine with us, and he seriously cracks us up.

Here's the thing- we also have four dogs. They're miniature dachshunds and apparently not interested in the bird at all, but because of them we've been keeping Kiwi's cage in an empty bedroom while we're both at work.

When Kiwi hears us get home from work he SCREAMS and SCREAMS, even though we have to spend a good 1/2 hour pottying & feeding the dogs before wheeling his cage out to the family room (we wait for him to stop screaming before going into his room). I *really* want to discourage screaming, but I also understand his frustration at hearing us moving around and not being able to see us.

He's been with us for a week now and none of the dogs have tried to mess with him, do you guys think it would be ok at this point for his cage to permanently move into the family room? This way he would be "in the middle of the action" so to speak, and not feel left out or lonely. Plus he'd have the added distraction of squawking at the dogs during the day, lol.

I was initially nervous that the dogs would be more interested than they are and I feel like they've passed the test, but I'd love feedback. Do you think our animals need more time to acclimate before spending this much time together? Or is it better to to help Kiwi's sense of routine and keep his cage where we want it to be permanently (the family room)?

Hi, we had similar situation with our jenday conure. He was about 1 year old when we got him and we had two dogs (labrador and border collie) back then. We put the cage in the main room and did not have any problems. Everybody was fine with that. Our dogs basically ignored the bird and vise versa. Our parrot seems to do better when he is in the middle of the action.
But I would definitely recommend making sure that the cage is stable, secure etc. and that it won't get knocked over while you are gone.

congratulations on your new addition. I own a dachshund as well, and I have to watch him very carefully with my birds. Occasionally I bring him into my bird room for training purposes, to ignore my birds, and not to scare the birds...not an easy task, I think he'd rather eat them personally ...but he's just being a hunting dog
You know your dogs better than anyone, I would try bringing the cage out for say 30-60 minutes and see what they do.
Kiwi should be in your family room with you, he wants to be involved and included.
It really depends on what type of cage you have as well. If you have a good sturdy, wrought iron cage or something similar, I say go for it... they won't be able to knock it over, but they might frighten the bird approaching the cage, or bark at the bird.
You'll have to play it by ear and see how it goes

I have 3 dogs and 4 cats, and all my birds are behind closed doors 24/7. I would rather be safe than sorry.
Personally I don't think it's safe for any animal to be around a bird, there may be a few other members that will disagree, but I honestly think it depends on the animal.

My dogs just want to go around the bird cages to eat the scraps off the floor. Lol
Just watch the dogs to see what they do around the cage. Your bird is more than capable of protecting itself. If you are concerned, you could get some indoor fencing about a foot high to put on the floor around the cage to keep the dogs back.

I would strongly suggest buying a $40 puppy play pen and putting that around the bird cage and leaving the bird cage in the living room. The playpen will be an added layer of safety. If, in a few months, you are more sure of your bird's safety, you can easily fold up the playpen and donate it to a shelter or sell it.

Better safe than sorry, but the playpen is a nice compromise.

There's no reason, unless you have a bird dog (which Dachshunds aren't, from my knowledge), that you can't have the cage in the main area of the home. I do think newtobirds suggestion of a barrier, such as a foldable playpen, is a fantastic idea. It will discourage the dogs from getting too close to the cage.

I have a 6yo Boston Terrier and until our recent move, she and the birds were pretty much always in the same room. I know plenty of others who have both dogs and birds and there's almost never an issue.

Also, the best scream deterrent, btw, is ignoring it. If you go rushing to the bird the moment you walk in the door to keep him from screaming, it's only going to encourage that behavior. What you're already doing, waiting until he calms down and stops screaming, is the best thing you can do. IMO there's no reason to change that part of your routine. Birds scream, they make noise and that's just how it is. Sun's are also one of the most notorious of the small conures for this behavior. The best thing you can do is reinforce the behaviors you want, and ignore what you don't.

In a morning I have to feed my other pets too - if I leave jasmine in her cage she screams so I get her out and she helps. She'll sit on my shoulder and watch me measure food then jump under the kitchen tap when I'm cleaning good bowls. She thinks I can't do it without her
I think your bird would prefer to be in the main family room but maybe a puppy pen around the cage so dogs can't jump up and scare - at least to start with and the maybe whenever you're out
Hope this helps

When you have a few days off, leave the cage in the main area, and see how they react to each other...

I used to have a great dane x, and he was always in the loungeroom with my birds (in their cages) while I was at work...

I'm sure they'll be fine..

lene1949 said:

When you have a few days off, leave the cage in the main area, and see how they react to each other...

I used to have a great dane x, and he was always in the loungeroom with my birds (in their cages) while I was at work...

I'm sure they'll be fine..

Click to expand...

Thank you! This is great advice. I think that I will try leaving his cage out in the living room when I have time off for the holidays, starting this weekend. We usually wheel it out when we're home anyway, so this won't be abnormal to him. I'll watch him carefully to see if he gets stressed out, and put him back in the room if he decides it's too much activity. As far as a barrier goes, these little dogs will plow through anything I try to set up! The cage has a large seed guard, so it should keep any curious pup from getting too close.

I really appreciate everyone taking the time to help me out with this! Does anyone have any recommendations of what to do with separation anxiety? Right now every time I walk out of his eyesight he starts screaming. Is there a way to maybe "scream" back so he knows I'm still there, just not visible? Or is that encouraging the screaming behavior? (I guess maybe I could do a thread search for that)

Jasmine panics when I leave the room so I keeping calling or whistling every few minutes - she then shouts hello or whistles back. When I go out I leave the radio on so she doesn't keep calling for me

I always have my cages secure and dogs and cats are around when we are not home. They are interested in crumbs falling from the cage. Cats cant get too close as the cages are big enough and the bird unfazed. I also leave the radio or TV on for some "company". Hope that helps

I think it will work out fine for you after you give it a try for a few days over the holidays. I also have 3 small dogs and a conure and a canary and they are all fine. I wouldn't leave the birds OUT with the dogs (as in, walking on the floor/table, etc) but the birds in cages and dogs around should be just fine. Great idea to give it a try while you are basically available to observe. and the gate/playpen idea is also good. My dogs know the gates. (there is one at my dining room all the time because there is just no reason those lil devils need to be poking around that room!)

I own 3 dogs and all of mine are fine with the birds in cages. However, my latest rescue came to me all plucked. The owners said that the plucking was caused by their doxies stressing him out and said that they didn't want to re-home him to a place with dogs. They let me take him in as a foster only. However, my dogs don't bother him in the least.

Just be mindful and err on the side of caution.

We have three dogs and a cat and our parrot cages are in well populated parts of the home. The dogs only go near them to eat stuff off of the floor and to occasionally check them out. When we first got the birds, the dogs were always looking into the cage and sleeping by the cage. The birds and dogs came nose to nose a few times, dogs got pecked through bars and that was pretty much the end of their fascination.

If your cage is secure and your dogs aren't that interested, I don't see a problem. Depends upon the dog...but if you are worried a baby gate or playpen is a good barrier. Our cat will sleep on top of the parrot cages and occasionally play with the toys on top. The birds could care less and as far as I can tell, the cat just enjoys being around the birds. She doesn't try to "get them" and I have even seen the birds preening her tail. We have always encouraged all of our animals to get along by showing them that they are all part of the family and helping them to establish their boundaries. I suggest doing that instead of keeping the bird sequestered...your dogs won't understand that the bird is now part of "the pack." Of course you can never fully trust them together and you do have to monitor their out of cage interaction, but you can help them establish mutual respect so that you can live together harmoniously. Good luck!!!