I'm quite conflicted as I watch this video. There's one part of me that wanted to laugh at their antics. They seem to have such affection for one another, and they genuinely enjoy playing this game together. It's a sweet and charming video, and I was quite impressed with the degree of socialization of both animals. The dog, however, in particular. His forbearance, especially toward the end, was pretty much amazing.
All that said, however, there was another, larger part of me that was actually horrified. And for anyone reading not familiar with the dangers, I figured I'd relate exactly why.
As Mark said, any interaction between a dog and a parrot, (or any two animals who are instinctively and respectively classed as predator and prey) if allowed at all, should be VERY closely monitored. And this level of interaction I personally would not even consider. It's just too dangerous on several levels.
For starters, those cute interactions are just a hair's breadth away from terrible tragedy. While the bird in question is a macaw and not an amazon, and thus not nearly as prone to "amazon overload" (to coin Mark's phrase) or whatever the macaw equivalent, any bird can play to the point of over excitement... which can lead to biting! A macaw bite in this instance would be obviously dangerous to the dog, but it would also put the macaw in peril as well for the likely lethal response it could provoke.
And, while far more domesticated than parrots, dogs do get quite worked up over a hearty game of tug-of-war. No matter how well-socialized these two, it has the very real potential of ending in tragedy one day. And it would likely happen far too swiftly and suddenly for the owner to react.
Then there's the danger of the dog's saliva! Mammalian saliva can be very dangerous to parrots, yet these two are swapping spit over that stick with alarming consistency. Now, while dog or cat saliva is not the invariably lethal venom to birds that it is often portrayed to be, it does carry the very real danger of infection. All mammals have gram negative bacteria. Birds do not, and as a result are not equipped to handle it the way we are. This can prove lethal, so why risk it?
So yes, their interaction with that stick, as well as the numerous times that sweet German Shepherd affectionately licked the macaw, made me cringe. And while a part of me did enjoy the video, I would urge all of our members not to attempt to duplicate what they've seen, there. It's just far too dangerous.
