Birds and Dogs

[rosieonfire]

Hi all! I am a dog owner who has always wanted birds. I would love to get a cockatiel or a couple of budgies but I am worried about integrating them into my home. I know to never allow unsupervised interaction but my concern is more basic than that. One of my 2 dogs is a toy poodle who I love dearly but barks ALOT, and pretty much at anything that moves. Does anyone have any advice or experience bringing birds into a home with yappy dogs? TIA!

 

[Terry57]

When we first started taking in birds, I had 3 dogs. They weren't allowed in the room with any of the birds, but in the areas of the house where they could be they barked.
I had a Pekingese, Chihuahua and Min Pin and they barked at nothing. A lot.
It scared my finches for a couple of days but then they were fine with it.
I did have my CAG learn how to bark like my Chi, but no one was bothered by the barking.

 

[HeatherG]

I think it’s better not to have hunting dogs (bird dogs) or terriers around pet birds as a moment of instinct can be disastrous. But I don’t think poodles have ever been used to point at or retrieve birds. I would be very careful for a long time as of course a poodle will be bigger than most birds.

I’m guessing your birds will learn to bark if you have parrots, and maybe call the dog or otherwise mess with its head.

 

[rosieonfire]

When we first started taking in birds, I had 3 dogs. They weren't allowed in the room with any of the birds, but in the areas of the house where they could be they barked.
I had a Pekingese, Chihuahua and Min Pin and they barked at nothing. A lot.
It scared my finches for a couple of days but then they were fine with it.
I did have my CAG learn how to bark like my Chi, but no one was bothered by the barking.

LOL it would really delight me if my birds learned to bark at my dog, he would deserve it. This really give me hope. Did you do anything to acclimate the birds and the dogs or did the birds just sort of get used to it on their own? I have tried to find information on how to train your dog to be chill around your bird but haven't found anything. I think it would be hard if I couldn't have my bird out in shared space without my dog freaking out at it constantly.

 

[Cottonoid]

My current dog is a terrier breed (min pin) and she's scared of my African Ringneck's sounds and ignores him or leaves the room On the other hand, she tries *really* hard to convince us that she wants to be friends with my son/gf's cockatiel but she 100% would eat him.

My bird cage is in the living room and if the door is open my dog is behind a baby gate in the rest of the house. Mostly because my bird is new and stares at her whenever she's walking around, but also to establish that habit so that if he ever does fly she knows she can't be in the room at the same time.

She gets fancy tiny bully stick curls so she's liking this arrangement so far

 

[ravvlet]

Both of my parrots came from homes with dogs & I have dogs (who aren’t allowed in the bird room if the parrots are out, and aren’t allowed in here unsupervised), and now I have two barking Amazons, lol.

Cockatiels will probably not learn to bark, but they may learn the *pattern* of your dog’s barking, and respond in kind. Ours didn’t, but he did learn to say “hello” and whistle like my partner, which was cute.

 

[HeatherG]

My current dog is a terrier breed (min pin) and she's scared of my African Ringneck's sounds and ignores him or leaves the room On the other hand, she tries *really* hard to convince us that she wants to be friends with my son/gf's cockatiel but she 100% would eat him.

My bird cage is in the living room and if the door is open my dog is behind a baby gate in the rest of the house. Mostly because my bird is new and stares at her whenever she's walking around, but also to establish that habit so that if he ever does fly she knows she can't be in the room at the same time.

She gets fancy tiny bully stick curls so she's liking this arrangement so far

Is a min pin really a terrier type dog? I thought terriers were ratters. I have seen a terrier chase a wing clipped scurrying parrot like nobody’s business. But I lived with a min pin who was smart enough to know that the parrots were part of the family and not to be eaten. The terriers on the other hand were sorely tempted.

Wikipedia says min pins may have been derived from pinscher and dachshund and greyhound crosses. Is a miniature pinscher actually a hunting dog or is it just a pet/ toy dog?

I am asking mostly because my idea is that if a dog breed is a working dog originally bred to hunt animals then it will be more likely to go after your birds. Dachshunds and greyhounds were hunting dogs, I think (badger dogs and rabbit dogs?) but Doberman pinschers are guard or war dogs. Maybe Doberman pinschers would be more protective of your birds once realizing that they’re part of the family?

This is all theory, anyhow. I am sure that there have been bird dogs who would not go after the household pet parrot and herding dogs who would happily eat the parrot.

(When I stayed with my ex-in-laws, my Quaker got locked in the bedroom with the one cat that was terrified of her. Lucy was pissed after a day with that cat in the same room, but the cat was, well, catatonic? Beyond freaked out, anyhow. Which shows that predatory ancestry doesn’t guarantee behavior anyhow.)

 

[Cottonoid]

Is a min pin really a terrier type dog?

In the sense they were created as a breed for hunting rodents, yep! "Pinscher" refers to breed used for hunting small game or guarding. They were part of the terrier group when they first were part of the AKC.

My former dog was purebred (with no chihuahua in his bloodline) and it was crazy to watch him in groundhog fields. The min pins seem to be a little more of a problem solver and create traps for vermin rather than just flushing them out and chasing. We didn't let him actually catch anything but he sure did know exactly how to collapse tunnels and leave only one exit point!

Doberman Pinschers were created later, also from the German Pinscher, but I think most historians believe they were mixed with Rottweiler and Black/Tan Terrier to get the same coloring as the Min Pin. They were created as a guard type dog.

I had NO clue about any of that when I was given my first min pin, but worked for a vet that had some really cool textbooks about breed history and health issues. It explained why my dog was always hiding things in holes and the couch and under pillows and in clothes in the closet and then hunting and "killing" them later

 

[Terry57]

LOL it would really delight me if my birds learned to bark at my dog, he would deserve it. This really give me hope. Did you do anything to acclimate the birds and the dogs or did the birds just sort of get used to it on their own? I have tried to find information on how to train your dog to be chill around your bird but haven't found anything. I think it would be hard if I couldn't have my bird out in shared space without my dog freaking out at it constantly.

We didn't have to do anything to acclimate them because they were in different rooms. The birds quickly got used to the dogs barking, and within a couple of weeks the dogs were completely ignoring any sounds they heard from the birds.
Accidents can happen so quickly, and I would never have forgiven myself if one of the dogs got to one of my birds so I kept them completely separate.

 

[Terry57]

In the sense they were created as a breed for hunting rodents, yep! "Pinscher" refers to breed used for hunting small game or guarding. They were part of the terrier group when they first were part of the AKC.

My former dog was purebred (with no chihuahua in his bloodline) and it was crazy to watch him in groundhog fields. The min pins seem to be a little more of a problem solver and create traps for vermin rather than just flushing them out and chasing. We didn't let him actually catch anything but he sure did know exactly how to collapse tunnels and leave only one exit point!

Doberman Pinschers were created later, also from the German Pinscher, but I think most historians believe they were mixed with Rottweiler and Black/Tan Terrier to get the same coloring as the Min Pin. They were created as a guard type dog.

I had NO clue about any of that when I was given my first min pin, but worked for a vet that had some really cool textbooks about breed history and health issues. It explained why my dog was always hiding things in holes and the couch and under pillows and in clothes in the closet and then hunting and "killing" them later

One of my dogs was a Min Pin as well, and he was so scared of everything. I believe he had been abused when he was very young and he never recovered mentally.

This is very interesting info, btw, thank you. I didn't know much of that, either