Dogs and parrots

[astar86]

Hello
I was wondering if anyone has both dogs and parrots?
If you do how did you introduce them and how did they react?

We have 2 large dogs (chow shepherd mix) and an ekkie.
The larger one has no interest in the parrot but the smaller and younger one wants to get at it. The ekkie was raised with lots of dogs so he isnt phased but im not sure how to get the dog to accept the parrot.
any suggestions?
Thanks

 

[newtobirds]

I have 3 dogs and 3 parrots. My dogs know that they have to leave the birds alone. The dogs can munch on the spilled food, but they can't nose the cage or bother the birds. Two of my dogs can be trusted with the loose birds so long as supervision is tight. One dog must be crated when the birds are out. He would never bother a cage, but I can't be sure that I can trust him if the birds fluttered to him.

 

[baseballfanz]

I have four dogs, from small chihuahua to 2 mid size boston terriers plus a large shepard mix. Dogs doesn't seem interested in the two lovebirds at all (I've had the birds maybe a month and half). With that said I still monitored them pretty good when the birds are out.
I'm not to worry about the big or small dog, even one of the boston terrier is too old to even try anything. One of the other boston is a mischief so she's the one I watch the most.

 

[MonicaMc]

I have one akita mix. We're not sure what his father was, but most people believe he's either lab or pit, with the consensus being pit. Two breeds that are known for being aggressive/protective of family and highly prey driven.

On my house, this is how it works...

Charlie the mitred conure chases the cats. Squirt, the cat, chases/abuses/tortures the dog. Kodi, the dog, chases anything he can outside, but dares not approach a cat up close!


Ya.... we're a little backwards! lol


The birds have always been kept separate from the other animals, so there was no "formal" introduction between them, but when I had the birds, I never made a big deal about them and my dog knows "leave it". We often hold toys above a dogs head, so when we hold a small animal above a dogs head, they may also view that item as a "toy". Feathers can also be extremely fascinating when on toys, so it may not be a far leap from a feathered toy to a feathered bird.


If you can, get your dog into a calm state of mind and try introducing him to the bird. If he's hyper, this will only encourage his hyperness and may bother the bird, but if both are calm, it may go easier.

 

[astar86]

Thanks for the input.
They dont have feater toys or toys that resemble small animals for the simple reason that i knew we would get a bird and i didnt want to have to worry about them trying to kill it thinking it was one of their toys.
But they love to chase things outside so it makes me nervous.
Currently we have the bird upstairs where i home office but i want to keep him downstairs inthe main living space.
I guess i just gotta be patient and get the dogs used to the bird

 

[Mare Miller]

Is an eclectus similar in size to a Goffin's cockatoo? I know nothing of an eclectus temperament, either, but if anything like a Goffin's or umbrella 'too, you have no need to worry about your bird, I would feel more protective of my dogs or cats in their company!

My dogs run for their lives when our Sassy goffins hits the floor! We have a four dogs, 2 small chihuahua size, two large German Pointer size. When Sassy sees them coming, she hits the floor running and they scatter like a dropped bowl full of marbles!

 

[DebsFlock]

The only thing about dogs is that they tend to be very quick. I don't have a dog right now, but if I did, I'd want to make sure the basic commands were solid so I could stop the dog in its tracks if it started to dart towards a bird. "Leave it!" is a useful concept. Cats at least typically go into a stalking mode so you have a little more time to intervene.

In either case, if a bite gets landed, even if the damage isn't too bad, severe infection is quite possible... I'd worry at some level, even if the bird is a Hyacinth Macaw, and make sure to supervise closely.

 

[Doves1]

I have a 4 month old Scarlet Macaw and a 3 year old Akita cross. When I first got the Macaw he and my dog had their "getting to know each other" phase but after the bird put the dog into his place it was all good

I've also just inherited a stray cat, she looks to be around 2 years old. Again they have gone through the "getting to know each other" phase, the bird put the run on the cat and the cat went Holy S--T this bird bites back and that was that.

Yes my bird has an attitude!!

 

[Kitty]

I have a jack russell and all but one bird gets along great with her

 

[MaraWentz]

My seafront macaw, blue and gold and coffin cockatoo have shared a studio apartment with my dogs. We don't see it fair to cage one and not the other so the dogs have free roam as our birds did. We had a pit American bulldog mix, am. Eskimo, rat terrier chihuahua mix and am. Bulldog stiff mix. All got along great with my birds. Theeskimomwas around 3, pit mix around a 1.5 years, stiff mix was a puppy when legit him as well as the rat terrier mix. They pretty much had the " you let me inside your cage to eat your poop and food and I won't eat you" agreement. Lol the blue n gold never acknowledged the dogs, the coffin liked to pull their tails in between the bars and pluck their eyelashes while they slept, my first red front was my attack bird and attacked anything that got too near including the dogs and Erin my red front now likes to use them for standing on and rides. The stiff mix loved to lay next to Erin and just cover her and kisses and try to tether to chase him (a miserable but entertaining fail on his part). The Eskimo just liked to bark, the pit loved to give them rides and eat thier food and text rat terrier wanted to chase her, but just fortune not to hurt, but he kept jumping over her which I didn't like

 

[mrgoogls]

i have a black lab and a pitbull mix. i just got my bird a few days ago so this is new. my lab just smelled around the cage for the first day or 2. but otherwise he isnt intersted. my other dog doesnt want to attack it at all in the cage. they are fine. but when i give the bird ANY attention, she gets jealous and starts whining. so i just have to monitor them closly when the bird is out. otherwise they are fine!

 

[ruffledfeathers]

I have always had a mixture of dogs and birds.
My current setup is 3 chihuahuas, ages 2, 3 and approx 13 and 2 birds, a canary who is about 7 years old and my baby BCC, Gilbert, who is 3 months old.
My youngest dog is jealous of Gilbert. He was a little 'weirded out' by Georgie too, but she knew he was basically afraid of her and she enjoyed teasing him. She could also fly.
Gilbert is clipped and a baby who doesn't know better, and does not bite. My youngest dog, Pinto, would probably hurt him if i let them get too close in anything less than tight supervision. My other 2 dogs ignore the birds completely as if they were inanimate objects.

 

[triordan]

I have 2 large (110lb) german shepherds, the older female is very protective of the family and sees the bird as an intruder, the younger one couldnt care less, if the bird is out and i am in the room the dogs can be loose~ otherwise they are behind a baby gate in another room. I actually fear more for the dogs than the bird!

 

[JerseyWendy]

We have 2 large dogs (American Bulldog & AmBull Pit Mix) and 3 parrots. My male AmBull couldn't care less about the birds - nothing ever bugs him. My AmPit Mix, however, is an expert forager around the birds, and it DOES worry me because she doesn't hesitate to put her nose right up to the birds' beaks. I don't ever want her to get bit.

I don't allow them to interact, really, as an accident can happen in a blink of an eye.

Just yesterday, while happily snuggling with my Macaw on the couch, Niko tried to go for my AmBulls tail (he was on the couch sleeping next to us). I believe it was jealousy on Niko's part.

 

[Midori]

I am about to get a baby alexandrine, and i have 6 indoor cats (that have a cat door leading to a large cat enclosure) and 2 larges dogs a retriever and lab. i will be extremely over protective for awhile until the baby is older and slowly introduce all the animals in that time. but i will be having a spray water bottle close by and ready for any tempted animal! any other advice would be greatly appreciated too please. astar86 - good luck

 

[ruffledfeathers]

Well this morning it happened--Gilbert jumped out of his cage when i left the room and was running on the living room floor. I came back in the room and Pinto (the youngest dog) and Gilbert were face to face. Pinto didn't even try to hurt him. Surprising, it actually looked playful and friendly. I also now know i can't walk out of the room for even a minute with Gil's cage open because he now knows he can just jump out and explore. Even though it all went down perfectly today, i'd rather not tempt fate!

 

[cdnbirdlover]

I love my four-legged "niece" (black and tan standard dachshund) and she is always welcome to visit. But I wouldn't dream of letting Basil out of his cage when she is here. He gives her the stink eye from his top perch and makes warning peeps at her. He probably thinks she's a mongoose (they eat birds and are from Africa like lovebirds). The stakes are too high if he was out and she got at him. I would never forgive myself (and the kids would be traumatized).

 

[crackofdawn]

We have a 70 lb boxer (she's getting old, she's 8 1/2 now), and just got a small quaker parrot around 2 months ago. The boxer is interested in but mostly terrified of the parrot, and the parrot is in no way scared of the boxer at all. When Ripley (our quaker) flies down to the floor in the room our boxer is in, he will usually run straight up to her, and she will look at him first, then us, with a semi scared look on her face. Then, he'll run up and bite her knuckle, and she'll take off running away. It's pretty humorous. I wouldn't leave them in the room together alone but they seem to do OK for the most part.

 

[MacawGuy]

here are my two by each other.. neither one of them try to bother each other.