You are coming from a peaceful place with a tremendous amount of love and respect for all living things. I also try to live in this place, but I am forced to live in reality. Not sure of your experience, but I have been a doctor for almost 10 years. In this span I have seen many noses removed, eyes lost, entire lips lost, ears gouged by dogs that were deemed to be harmless. I have even seen foot eaten by a small dog off a person who was sleeping, the person had no sensation in that foot. Point being, all animals are unpredictable. People, especially dog owners, tend to exercise poor control over their animals around others. This is why there are so many dog bites. If a strange dog approaches you and changes it's mind about their intentions then you will not have enough time to respond and protect yourself and your pet. Those are just the facts. If you are willing to take the risk, then that is definitely your choice and I am not judging it. My choice is to protect my animals. Also as an aside, I worked with security dogs (love dogs and all animals) but right dog with wrong intentions can do irreparable damage. A stun will not make any friends but it may save you a trip to ER, or worse case scenario, the pet cemetery. I have be aggressively approached by three dogs on two walks and only one was on a leash. Seems like a matter of time and I keep changing where we walk trying to avoid the pups.

Jottlebot has a point. Reality is if it’s dangerous enough that you have to carry weaponry to protect the bird, it’s really not a safe practice to take the bird out in the first place.

This is being way overthought; id take a step back and reevaluate if I were you.

I actively dog sit (some of whom have desperately wanted to get to my bird), I walk my bird in areas dogs are walked. I’ve never had to carry any sort of hardware.

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I disagree for many reasons. With all due respect, I don't think the logic holds. I adore dogs, but they can become easily provoked and attack. I have sewn many lacerations in the ED that started with the story, "I have never seem him/her act like that." Of course I look for trails with no dogs, avoid dogs, and I am in no way looking for dogs to confront. My birds really seem to enjoy getting out of the house and walking around with their harness. I see absolutely no problem with being safe in case something were to happen. I do think you are entitled to take risks you deem reasonable. I understand you have never had to carry any hardware, but it only takes one time (heaven forbid) and you may regret not being prepared. I do not see the downside to carrying a canine stun, if I never use it then all the better.

I’m not sure how “if it’s very dangerous, don’t take the bird out” somehow fails a logic test.

It’s your bird, buddy, and you’re call. But driving down a city street in a tank becuase you’re afraid a fender bender is not what I would call reasonable.

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Not what I was referring to. I was referring to your anecdotal experience of "never having to carry hardware". Comparing me carrying a stun gun made for dogs for the reason of prevalent dog bites to driving down the street in a tank is false equivalency. No disrespect and I appreciate your opinion. I agree with looking for safe areas, but prefer to be prepared. If the occasion never arises than all the better. My wife used to travel and carried pepper spray, she never used it. I think of it kind of like that. Thank you for sharing your experiences.

There are IMO several things in the above post from Jottlebot that are wrong.

Firstly, children, even unruly one don't have teeth and a desire to chase/attack prey.

Secondly, no dog should run up barking at anyone! Even without a bird, I'd be totally in my right to defend myself if I was afraid. Where is the thought that a bad dog is due to a bad owner?

Now I do understand accidents can happen even to the best of owners. But they should be few and far between.

Many dogs have been mauled by other dogs running up at them. What chance does a parrot on my hand have? A leaping, excited dog is going to grab at my bird, and if he succeeded, he'd be dead or badly injured.

So yes, my defense is IMO again, 100% allowed.

If my GSD ran up barking at someone off lead, their fear and striking out would only be my own fault.

I also think most of could read the dog's body language and gauge our reaction for it.

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It sounds like you’ve answered your own original question. Good luck to you.

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I thought I would post an update to anyone who might wander across this post. Initially after reviewing the comments to this post I thought maybe it was overkill to getting a doggie stun stick when walking with my bird, so I decided to just keep them in the back yard for exercise. Fast forward and the actually the very first time today I walked into my front yard with my Scarlet, the first time ever. My next door neighbors black lab retriever runs straight for me and I barely got across the driveway to jump on the hood on my car. The dog circled the car a couple times before the owner was able to call the dog off. In the interim I barely caught my bird before she flew off! Long story short, I will be purchasing that stun stick. It seems unreasonable that I should not even be able to walk in the front yard with my bird in her harness, my animals also deserve to get some air.

And, the neighbor should be reported!

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..David..

I find that the collar itches my neck when I go out for a walk.

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