B/G Macaw scared of dogs

LadyBird

New member
Apr 17, 2012
2
0
I adopted a B/G macaw from a friend of mine just over 2 monts ago. I had never had a bird before, but Lady was is bad place. She was living in an outside "aviry" in mid winter in England and the cage was way too small and dirty. She had plucked a lot of her feathers on her wings and the rest were bent, fraided and dirty, she had been to 3 homes in the last year and I couldn't stand that she be sold on to the next person for cash so got the owner to give her to me for free.
I gave my self a crash course on macaws and so far she and i have got along great. It took about a month for her to start to trust me and of course we are still working on it but she lets groom her, we talk, she has her own room where her cage door is left open for at least 10hrs a day, a TV, youtube playlist of her favourite videos etc And I made sure I didn't fall for her intimidation routine, although she seems to take great joy in scaring any other human out of the room lol

There is just one problem, she hates cats and dogs, and i have 12 cats and 4 dogs (2 labx puppies and 2 old bichons). So I have a real hard time dividing up my time between them. Luckily I do work at home, since I run a sanctuary, which is at my home and Lady is in my office so I do spend a lot time with her. But when I leave she hates it and I feel guilty that she is left alone, and of course there are days when i have to leave the house so then my time between the animals is even thinner.

I would like her to live in teh living room, which has glass doors to teh kitchen (where the dogs live) so that i could spend time either one of them and the other could see me or when the family is home she is not is a room by herself.

Anyone know how to introduce her to the dogs? They won't be with her unsupervised or even in the same room for the most part or at all if need be, but i would like her to not scream at the site of them. I can keep the cats away as they don't go in the living room anyway.

Oh and she is apparently about 20-25 yrs old

If anyone can help that would be great xxx :blue1:
 

Safira

New member
Sep 27, 2011
641
0
Aberdeen, Md
Parrots
Safira (B&G Macaw)~~ Gracie (CAG) ~ Lucy (CAG)
It's possible she may have had a bad experiance with a dog in the past and that's why she doesn't like them. My Macaw will try to bite my dogs nose, but that's about the extent of what she does.

Can you handle her? Maybe get her a playstand so she can come out into the living room with you but keep her cage in the office? That way she can sleep in there at night?
 
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LadyBird

New member
Apr 17, 2012
2
0
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I can't pick her up and carry her around yet, she will sit on my arm but only when she can step back on to the perch. I don't think she has had much handling with humans so its a very slow process.

Yes I think she must have had a bad experience as she shreeks at even teh site of a cat or dog.

Would putting her cage near a window so she could see them outside help? She is by a frosted window right now, so she sees them go by but can't see exactly what they are.
 

MikeyTN

New member
Feb 1, 2011
13,296
17
Antioch, TN
Parrots
"Willie"&"Lola"B&G Macaw,
"Dixie"LSC2, and "Nico" Scarlet Macaw.
Have you just have her inside her cage while you allow the dogs to visit her? My dogs and Willie the macaw are best buddies. It took awhile but the dogs grew up knowing Willie. I allow Willie to nip at the nig dogs when they were young to teach them not to mess with him. Now they're all grown, Willie is like part of the pack that runs with the dogs.
 

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