Parrots and bird dogs

[hayduke]

My mom has an amazon who may someday be mine.

If he were mine,I would like to let him fly free in the house.

I currently have an English Setter. He is very interested in birds. His genetic job is to make them fly.We have a lot of quail around the house,and if one hits a window,he picks it up very gently and brings it to me. He is also the sweetest dog that I have ever had,including Goldens.

My guess is that the parrot would be stressed,but could easily keep out of reach.

What do you think?

 

[merlinsmom13]

My dog is in the house w/merlin. Merlin is fully flighted. I never leave them alone even for a moment. The problem is not w/the dog, but w/merlin who likes to torment the dog. You can train your dog to stay away from your bird, but because of his natural instinct, you could never trust him. Setters dont kill birds, but retrieve them, right?

 

[hayduke]

Actually Setters point and flush. Retreivers retreive. They are as specialized as dentists,eh?
Setters dont bite. And none of those dogs kill birds.

But he would be "flushing" the parrot

 

[pittiepride]

True none of the mentioned dogs like retrievers kill birds but many are not trained or bred anymore to retrieve properly and inadvertently kill birds (I know many many labs who don't have 'soft mouths').

Well, with your setter there are is a chance that you can train him but that doesn't mean you will be able to trust him. Like my dogs are very very prey driven and hunt and kill small animals any chance they get, but we happily live with 2 cats and a parrot. They have been trained that the cats are their cats and family.

the other thing is you could clip the bird and the dog would learn that the flushing doesn't work so why bother,..

You could also clicker train the dog to ignore the bird or simply reform his flushing behavior into say something he does as well, like staring, or letting you know where the bird is, basically you start clicker training and instead of promoting his flushing, you promote any other natural activity he does which may come prior to his flushing behavior. I don't know if that makes sense or not.
kara

 

[HRH Di]

The problem with a clipped bird is if the dog sees "prey" - in spite of their training - the bird can't get away from the danger and is (pardon the expression) a sitting duck. A flighted bird can (usually) get away.

We have 2 labs and 3 parrots. All parrots are flighted and have more or less free access to all areas of the house as do the dogs. However, the dogs and birds are NEVER left unattended. Our CAG is actually nippy toward the dogs and tries to nip noses when it's her turn for attention. Our RFM likes to drop things on the dogs but also walks on the floor past the dogs while they're taking a nap.

Prey animals and predators are not mutually exclusive in one household, but it takes vegilance and dedictation to everyone's actions, personality and safety.

 

[ellsiebird]

Unfortunately you can never trust a dog around a free flying bird.

Regardless of breed. That is no diffrent than saying a Rotwieller is a killer breed of dog, or that pitbull will bite you face off...because its a pitty.

My point being dont judge a dog by its breed to trust wether it will 'retrive' or 'kill'. by its breed alone.
much like you can not judge a prrot full

I have had my dog since he was aloud away from his mother. he may be a big boy but hes the softest dog yu have ever met.

He does not want to harm, but the flapping makes him jump to the bird. i can see its not him wanting to do this, but an instinct to chase after this flapping feathery crash landing thats going around him.


To be honest, i worry the bird will hurt the dog..... but at the end of the day it only takes a SPLIT of a second for damage to be done. Dont take the risk, especilly if your questioning it...

EDIT = you must also think as a retriever, These dogs are used to fetch animals that are in shock or paniced/injured state as it is, to see a bird that maybe crash landed may make the dog think the 'fetch' the bird, its not just the injury the dog could inflict but the shock and panic the bird could go into thatc ould do the final damage

 

[merlinsmom13]

Have the dog & the parrot met each other? It would probably be good for your dog to spend time w/the bird @ your moms house. The bird would be in a familar environment & in his cage, you could judge from their interactions what measures you have to take. My dog shows no real interest in merlin except she is very wary. If merlin ever bites her in the right situation, I could see Dawg snapping @ him. She is a 50 lb dog, 1 snap would be enough to serious damage or kill him.

 

[suebee]

lol introduce them, you never know, but don't leave them alone!

 

[hayduke]

I would never clip the parrot.
My setter is in another city.
My mom has had 4 german shepherds during Sam's reign, and he has trained them all to keep away by trying to bite their nose , but he is always in his cage when the dog is in the house.When Sam is out,the dog is outside.

 

[wibitywab]

With my old GCC Buddy, my dog depended on him LOL... The only reason she didn't gulp him down is because he dropped seeds on the floor, so she could eat them. So she found out if the bird is alive seeds will fall, and I can eat the seeds haha. You should introduce them, but very, very slowly! Good luck!

 

[Abzeez]

Our bull terrier, who is just over a year old, is a bit to curious about the parrots, our old english bulldog could care less. Ida landed on his back the other day and he just took her on a walk into the bedroom.

 

[antoinette]

You mentioned
He does not want to harm, but the flapping makes him jump to the bird. i can see its not him wanting to do this, but an instinct to chase after this flapping feathery crash landing thats going around him.

That word but should answer your question

We all have good and bad days, what if the dog was having a bad day, and killed the bird, would you be able to live with it, knowing your birds life ended, and it could all have been avoided.

 

[xreinx]

Accually the bullie breeds are Really gentle with humans, its how they are trained once a person gets the animal that changes their personality, before they became known as "attack" dogs, they were well known as babysetters.
The worst dogs I know to have around birds, are bird dogs, but those are one in maybe a thouand that will accually try and hurt the birds in the family setting. My dog loved watching the bird I had as a kid, (budgie, for maybe 6 months) he would get excited and bounce around and nudge the cage, but when the bird would fly about and land, all he would do was watch, he never tried to snap or get closer when it landed.
I would never leave them alone, but then again he was a border collie and he did have a soft mouth when it came to hunting and retreaving birds.

 

[Tammy]

I have an English Springer Spaniel & after the first week I had my Amazon, the dog ignores the bird completely. They both sleep in my room. (The bird gets jealous that the dog is on the bed so he has taken to sleeping on the ceiling fan to try to be closer). The bird does try to sneak up on the dog & bite his tail, ear, etc. The dog just walks away & gives him & his cage a wide berth.