Advice returning macaw to the rescue

[OnyxEmberr]

Hello- Advice on rehoming big macaw age 29. Let’s start at the beginning, my pup passed and our other dog got so lonely a month later we adopted a 2 year old male micro American bully(Dec2024). The 10 year old golden retriever male and the rescue bully got along so good together playing, snuggling next to eachother etc. One month later I got my Macaw Rocko(Jan2025). After about 3 months of the bully being with us he snapped at the golden and will not back down. (Macaw is in the downstairs living room with the TV on and tall gate into the living room.) Bully also doesn’t like Rocko. The bully is on a few different medicines overall that have helped with his anxiety and snaps. Also tried a pet trainer. Tried muzzling and nothing works. So we crate and rotate them and we have for almost a year now. Rocko doesn’t come upstairs until the bully is put away, then time is spent with both my macaw and golden. Then when they switch Rocko goes back on his stand or cage and turn the TV on for him. He has toys and foraging options that he cant grasp the concept of. So pretty much I am wondering if this will be okay in the long run until the bully passes. Which would be long from now. Hehe is also a very independent bird who let’s you know when he wants his quiet time. I have a 16 year old boy and 10 year old girl and we hardly ever use the downstairs family room because rocko will scream if someone isnt interacting with him. He will also scream for a long time if he sees me go into the laundry room. Is this fair to my kids too? My son’s bedroom is down the hall downstairs from Rockos living room and he hates being yelled at everytime he leaves his room, so my son is in his room all the time. I love Rocko so much, going through my own mental health struggles, work, balancing all these pets and rotations and the cleaning and the daily feeling guilty thinking of rehomjng him. On a normal day now he will get 2 hrs of attention. If I rehomed him he would go to the rescue I got him from. (It is just over a year since adopting Rocko) we have made a bit of progress. Please let me know your questions and your comments, advice, etc. Thanks!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Why aren't you getting rid of the Bully? It's a lot harder to rehome a macaw than a dog.

 

[OnyxEmberr]

Why aren't you getting rid of the Bully? It's a lot harder to rehome a macaw than a dog.

I got the Bully first, and we love him would be my reasoning.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Its tough to mix dogs and parrots, but from what you describe, the Bully sounds dangerous to the Golden, and possibly other family members. Some individual dogs, from what I've been told by serious dog people (I'm not one), have "a chip loose" in their brain, perhaps from careless breeding, that makes them unpredictable and dangerous to other dogs and humans even with the best training. The Bully sounds like he may be a problem. A friend had a Rottie that had this problem. The Rottie was difficult to train and one day the he snapped and grabbed my friend's head in his jaws causing a lot of damage and almost killing him. He loved his dog but had to euthanize him because he just wasn't right in the head and they believe poor breeding was the root cause of his "insanity".

I looked up this breed of dog and they are not particularly known for aggression but they are known for having many health problems from poor breeding. Despite their very short stature, they are powerful dogs, and I would think that people and other dogs may not appreciate how much power they pack into such a low to the ground body, and underestimate them. Perhaps your Bully's breeding resulted in this undesirable, unpredictable aggression. None of this of course is the dog's fault.

All of this is aside from the issues your family has with Bogey that appear to make him not an ideal addition to your family, so rehoming Bogey may be a wise thing to do regardless of the issues with the Bully.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I'm meant Rocko not Bogey. He's someone else's macaw.

 

[Jcas]

As both a dog and bird lover, I can imagine this is a tough situation. Really, it depends on the bird. If Rocko seems okay with lots of alone time, then this setup might work but if he’s depressed, bored, screaming or otherwise stressed and upset by being alone so much, returning him to the rescue might be in his best interest. Also, if there is legitimate concern for the bird’s safety, it would be best to rehome him. I would also strongly encourage you to keep working with a balanced professional dog trainer for the bully if at all possible. Only because, while I’m glad rotating is working for you right now, I have seen it fail despite the best precautions being taken and things can get ugly very fast. I Sincerely hope you manage to work things out in a way that makes everyone ( human, feathered and furry family members) happy

 

[rheashard2]

I sympathize with your situation. I have a house with 3 dogs, 3 cats and one CAG. It can be a handful juggling them around. You really need to evaluate your situation with the bully. It can turn into a nightmare in a few seconds or less. I too have seen valid precautions fail. Be careful to evaluate and not make excuses. As stated keep up his training. Try to figure out Rocko and his triggers. Birds are social. Perhaps when you first got him, he was the center of attention. Now there's less and he is expressing his desire for it. My avian vet is a firm believer in distraction. TV, audio books, read or tell him nonsense, bird safe toys are just a few.

 

[OnyxEmberr]

As both a dog and bird lover, I can imagine this is a tough situation. Really, it depends on the bird. If Rocko seems okay with lots of alone time, then this setup might work but if he’s depressed, bored, screaming or otherwise stressed and upset by being alone so much, returning him to the rescue might be in his best interest. Also, if there is legitimate concern for the bird’s safety, it would be best to rehome him. I would also strongly encourage you to keep working with a balanced professional dog trainer for the bully if at all possible. Only because, while I’m glad rotating is working for you right now, I have seen it fail despite the best precautions being taken and things can get ugly very fast. I Sincerely hope you manage to work things out in a way that makes everyone ( human, feathered and furry family members) happy

Thank you so much for your reply, it means a lot. It's definitely something I am really going to have to consider.

 

[OnyxEmberr]

Its tough to mix dogs and parrots, but from what you describe, the Bully sounds dangerous to the Golden, and possibly other family members. Some individual dogs, from what I've been told by serious dog people (I'm not one), have "a chip loose" in their brain, perhaps from careless breeding, that makes them unpredictable and dangerous to other dogs and humans even with the best training. The Bully sounds like he may be a problem. A friend had a Rottie that had this problem. The Rottie was difficult to train and one day the he snapped and grabbed my friend's head in his jaws causing a lot of damage and almost killing him. He loved his dog but had to euthanize him because he just wasn't right in the head and they believe poor breeding was the root cause of his "insanity".

I looked up this breed of dog and they are not particularly known for aggression but they are known for having many health problems from poor breeding. Despite their very short stature, they are powerful dogs, and I would think that people and other dogs may not appreciate how much power they pack into such a low to the ground body, and underestimate them. Perhaps your Bully's breeding resulted in this undesirable, unpredictable aggression. None of this of course is the dog's fault.

All of this is aside from the issues your family has with Bogey that appear to make him not an ideal addition to your family, so rehoming Bogey may be a wise thing to do regardless of the issues with the Bully.

Thank you for all this info I will read throughly! Very nice of you to go searching!