Pet Forum / Birds / Birds / April 2004

As you already said, training is important. Never trust them alone together.
I have two springer spaniels and up until recently, an Irish wolfhound. It
can be made to work, if you are willing to work at it. JMO

--
Debbie, Dusty (CAG) and Casperella (U2)

I don't have a poodle but do have a springer spaniel.  When I have the
dog in the house my scarlet macaw usually tries to attack the dog.  They
cannot be in the house together without close supervision. Although the
dog was well trained to leave birds alone by a previous owner who kept
chickens, she would still defend herself if a bird bit her and could
easily cause the bird serious injury or death.  For the sake of both
your birds and the dogs, I'd recommend you either keep them apart or at
least under very close supervision.  I'm sure there are many cases where
dog, birds, and cats have shared long and natural lives sharing a common
room with no incidents of injury, but many have also been killed.  Why
take the chance?

hmm.funny..I've had greyhounds(sighthounds) for years with many birds and
don't have any problems.  I also know of many, many other greyhound owners
who raise birds.  Of course, I'm sure there are problems with dogs of any
breed being around birds, but please do not just make a blanket statement
about hhow certain breeds are "just a bad idea".  We also have a lab who is
excellent around the birds, even though she chases the wild birds outside.
IN fact, when we had a hawk terrorizing my outdoor aviary, she would
regularly chase it away and jump the fence to follow the hawk for blocks
before coming back pleased as punch that she chased it away.

Many of us do it, and it works fine. You do of course need to train the Dog
well. The biggest concern is the bird. Our animals will not bother the
birds, they have been well trained. The Macaw however is ALWAYS jealous of
ANYTHING that gets attention other than him. Even a well trained pet would
most likely bite back if a Parrot grabbed it. So as long as you don't let
them "play" together you should be fine. I often see pictures of birds
sitting on top of the other pets, cat or dog, to me this is WAY too much
risk.
 You should have no problem training the Dog to not go over and try to
knock over a cage and such though.

Let me start by saying that generally I wouldn't trust a dog around a
bird. After that I have to say that I used to show standard poodles. I
had 4 in the house. I also had an african grey who was never caged. I
have photographs of the dogs and the bird together. They all got on just
fine.
Poodles are highly intelligent and easily trained. Don't get a
white,cream or apricot one though as their temperament is slightly
scattier than black or blue.

Training.  If you get the poodle as a pup, you should be able to train it to
ignore your parrots.

Everyone said I was nuts to take in a cat when I had birds.  Nonsense!
Persia (the cat) initially was very curious about my (now RB) parakeets but
after a few squirts with the water bottle and a resounding "NO!" she
learned, okay, leave them alone.  Now, she just sort of chirps at the birds
on the patio and completely ignores my Nyasa lovebird.

I don't, however, let Peaches (the bird) fly around loose when Persia is in
the room.  I wait until the cat is snoozing and close that door, then out
comes the bird for play-time.

It's always a good idea to be cautious, regardless of what you *think* you
may have taught your animals.

Good luck!

Jill

As said It is Not the breed of the dog it is the training and the owner
I have happily lived with my birds and a American Pit Bull Terrier and a
lab mixed with husky and border collie and Rotti.
She chases birds when she is running in the fields to play, BUT Never shows
a bit of interest in the ones in the home even the finches which move around
a lot. When my Quaker or conure get the moving as they are out of cage most
all day she just ignores them even when they walk by her the pups well they
needed to be told a few times leave it when the birds were higher but they
never really paid that much attention and after a couple leave its they also
ignored heck I had a bird i babysat for a lady who was in the hospital The
bird would say Floor and i would put the dogs out the room he knew when they
were there he was not happy getting down Once he got used to them he never
paid them any attention and came right down.

I also have fostered several dogs Mostly American Pit Bull Terriers never
had a bit of trouble they were crated when no one was home so I knew that
they would not have any problems they were supervised and they knew the
Leave it command as soon as they were able to sit.

All in the ownership
This is the case with ANY dog in any situation they are only what we mold
and train them to be

Tara