Dog hates new parrot

[MrsMuddlePluck]

Long story short - we have a new conure [small parrot] and are currently training our dog [8 yr old fox terrier] to tolerate it. The bird is never out of the cage without the dog being 'locked' in the utility room [which is where he sleeps at night so he's used to it] and we only let the bird out for an hour or so in the evening when we can supervise.

However, when we are around in the kitchen during the day and the bird is caged, the dog spends his time fussing at the foot of the cage, trying to get at the conure. The conure is very bold and sits just the other side of the bars, looking out at the poor dog.

The cage came with perspex shields around the bottom 4" so the dog can't actually get his teeth caught in any bars, but will he eventually settle down? If he doesn't, is it OK to just let him fuss around as long as the bird doesn't seem stressed? At the moment, we put the dog's lead on when he's in the kitchen and we use that to calm him down and stop him from jumping up at the cage.

Any advice [before I tell DH that rehoming the bird might be the best alternative??]. A friend has recently adopted 2 budgies and gets round it by having the birds on top of a cupboard, out of reach of the dog.

I should add that if we aren't in the kitchen, the dog is in the utility room if we are going out for a while, or the bird is shut in the kitchen and the dog comes with us if we are elsewhere in the house.

A very difficult if not impossible combination, a high prey drive terrier with fast reflexes specifically breed to kill small animals and a small animal living together.

Your terrier will always want to kill your parrot and they will always need to be kept separate, personally I wouldn’t want the pressure of keeping both animals stress free and safe.

I had a friend with a dog (was t even a terrier) and a gecko who thought she’d cracked it and they lived separately in the same house. One slip up and the dog instantly reacted naturally and the gecko is now no more.

We had a jrt, and if he thought there was a small creature about he was obsessive. I am talking here of rats, mice etc outside. He would sit or dig for ages until he had either killed it or it disappeared. He frequently killed young birds and would have liked to kill chickens and swans given a chance. You have a terrier. They are generally persistent and determined until they get their prey. I m sorry, I don't think this combination will work for you.

I can’t see them ever living harmoniously, we have a 7yo patterdale x and cannot have any other animals in the house , he has caught and killed a pigeon in the garden and is a menace around wild birds so cannot be off lead near ponds / ducks / geese .

Difficult. I have a parrot. I got a new dog a year ago - a staffie cross with quite a strong prey instinct (chases birds on the ground/squirrels, rabbits/cats/foxes, etc.) Being a very obliging, eager-to-please dog she has learned to behave around the parrot and they do seem to like each other. My parrot is happy to sit on the top of her cage and rarely takes off - just does about one circuit of the room and back on the cage a few times a week and never leaves that area. However, anytime he does go for a little flight, the dog is HUGELY excited and rushes to follow him - occasionally the bird crash lands and the dog will rush up to him but not touch him. They also wind each other up (parrot will hang upside down near dog's head and dog will become unnerved and bark briefly at him and rush out of the room). When I'm out of the house and the dog is worried (as when plumber came), she will go in to sit with the parrot for comfort and they do look for each other and want to see each other. I do think, though, that a fox terrier would be difficult to stop following its prey instinct, especially as the bird was introduced to your home after the dog had been resident for some years (so was not a recognisable pack member already, unlike my bird). Not sure how long you have had the bird? Maybe give the situation some more time but make sure that you are handing out equal attention to dog and bird when they are in the same room as each other, so no-one's feeling left out. As long as the conure isn't distressed by your dog jumping up at the bottom of his cage, it should be OK (they are very tough, fearless birds usually, conures). I would think that the more time your dog can spend with the parrot (under supervision), the more likely he is to get used to him and accept him as a family member. If he does upset the parrot, he is likely to get a very nasty bite.
HOWEVER, it sounds as though you are keeping your conure in your kitchen - I am afraid this is not a good place for any parrot. They can be easily killed by cooking fumes, burnt saucepan fumes (and you must never, ever have any non-stick cookware as the fumes given off by the non-stick surface, once hot, can kill birds in minutes - fumes also travel to other rooms though we may not be able to smell them, the bird will still be in danger). You may know this, so sorry if repeating things, but there is a whole list of things to be avoided if you have a bird - never use an aerosol or nail varnish/remover etc in the same room as them, no plug-in air fresheners, candles, don't do your ironing in the same room as them (irons and ironing board covers give off toxic fumes). Don't give it chocolate, mushrooms, grape pips, onion, (there is a long list of toxic foods - have a look online on parrot forums if you don't know what these are). That said, parrots are great fun and terrific pets. Good luck and let us know how things progress.

Sorry, that was far too long!

A bit of a tangent to your question, but is the conure (and are your friend's budgies) kept in the kitchen? This isn't a good idea as there are fumes produced when cooking (from pots, pans, ovens etc.) which are toxic to birds.

All the kitchen comments are a bit worrying.

He is in the kitchen as it's the busiest place in the house for him to socialise. The rest of the house is open plan.

It is also the only place downstairs that we can close off to allow him some flight time without the dog getting to him. It's a big kitchen / dining room about 27 feet long, so he's quite a way from the cooker. We don't cook when he's flying, as we plan to let him out for an hour or so in the evenings after we've eaten. He won't be out all day as we are constantly in and out so would risk losing him altogether if we left him out all day. The back door is between the kitchen area and dining area so provides a draft every so often when the dog goes out.

I cooked Christmas dinner and a New Years Eve dinner without any problem, but maybe I was lucky?

The cage is on wheels though so we can certainly move him elsewhere, but he might not get out of his cage very often.

All I can tell you is that non-stick surfaces, when hot, give off fumes that are undetected by us (unless actually burning) but can kill a bird within a few minutes. Ordinary non-non-stick pans may also give toxic fumes off when actually burned. Also, oven-cleaning substances, bleach and other such things give off fumes that will kill birds. Just having a draught through the area won't help. Sometimes I accidentally burn a saucepan and have to rush to shut the door of the room my bird is in (the kitchen has no door) and open all the windows to clear my flat of the fumes - I even put a rolled up towel at the base of his door to prevent the fumes going under it. I have a rescue parrot, who is the 4th parrot I've had. I got this one from Birdline (parrot rescue organisation in UK, who have loads of birds that need new homes) - www.birdline.org.uk . They home check you and interview you if you are shortlisted for one of their birds. They ask you about cookware and talk to you about safety of birds with regard to fumes/aerosols/not being in the kitchen. If you have a look on their site - they are also on Facebook though I am not - you can read/get advice about these things (particularly on Facebook which seems to be the most used aspect of Birdline for advice etc). I had to get rid of my non-stick cookware. Also, smoking can seriously damage birds' health. My parrot lived with chain-smokers for 3 or 4 years before I got him. They loved him dearly but they had given him a terrible an itchy skin condition which made him twitch and pull bits of his feathers out constantly, and he just had drab slimy brown feathers (tarry). I had no idea what his real colour(s) were. A year later he turned out to be a glorious green/grey/orange/yellow-coloured bird; he is now happy and seemingly very healthy. Anyway, you will probably get away with the kitchen thing as long as you are absolutely certain that neither you nor any member of your family will ever burn/overheat a saucepan/piece of cookware or use any cleaning substances that may give off toxic fumes, use air fresheners/aerosols, etc. (also your cleaner, if you have one, and any visitors staying with you who might use your kitchen when you aren't there) - in my experience it is hard to avoid this completely (I've burned 4 saucepans, not non-stick, but still fumes would probably kill my bird if they got to him - he is 2 rooms away so I've so far managed to shut him off before this happens!). My previous parrot stayed with my sister while I was on holiday once and she became aware the parrot was panting and in distress and later realised she'd been using nail varnish remover in the same room - fortunately, the parrot recovered (she knew about aerosols, etc but hadn't considered the toxic fumes of her nail varnish remover).

Looking more like we may have to rehome him. It was DHs idea, though I went along with it, but the more we find out, the more I feel he'd be safer elsewhere and the poor dog would be more relaxed.

When we first started getting small and furries (gerbils/hamsters) my terrier very quickly learnt that if she didn’t behave and settle in the same room as they were, she got put out of the room. I would leave her out for a few minutes and then try again but any more jumping up at the cage or generally being daft and she was out again. She was only allowed to stay and watch them if she sat nice and quietly

She caught on very quickly and nowadays she takes no notice whatsoever while the hamster runs around on the carpet in front of her.

🐶🐹❤️

I do think birds would be harder though - my dog wouldn’t like it if a bird was flying above her.

OK - here goes. Whilst I like our lovely conure, we have just had to spend nearly an hour trying to get him to go to bed, just so I could go for a pee and go to bed myself. Whilst we kept very calm, DS20 became very upset towards the end of the process and the dog was in bits on the other side of the door. We roped in DS15 as well, to try to persuade a very tired bird to go back into his cage so we could all go to bed.

DS18 then comes home saying he didn't want the bird anyway and DH is oblivious as he's currently working abroad and thinks the bird is just the best!

I've had enough and so has the poor dog, so now, how to rehome...and how to tell 'spoilt child DH' that this was just another stupid idea.

MuttsNutts: our dog killed a previous hamster and has form for harassing our rabbit, who was rehomed and then killed by our friend's visiting dog, so we [DH] have form for doing these stupid things. The poor bird doesn't deserve this.

Don't knock me down - just being pragmatic and feeling very stupid for going along with this idea initially.

At least you've tried @MrsMuddlePluck up to you but maybe don't give up just yet, these things take time. We have a patterdale terrier that is one of the best ratting dogs I've known but won't even look at the ferret, cat or chickens.

If you do rehome your bird, please make sure the new owners are aware they've got him/her for years to come, need to plan for what they do with him on holidays and also that they understand about the safety issues for the bird and the need for him to be out of his cage every day for quite a while.

About getting him back in his cage. Sometimes you have to wait until they are tired enough and they just go back in themselves. We have a "going to bed/being tucked up ritual" with mine (and with the last one), involving stock phrases (makes you feel a bit of an idiot) such as "Off to bed now, get on your swing and pop your head under your wing" - said in gentle, firm, loving tone. The bird LOVES this as he feels very special and is getting loads of attention. Within a few minutes of starting this, he usually does that and then gets shut in, covered with blanket, etc while I say goodnight to him, etc. If you get stressed, as you have found, your bird quickly detects this and won't relax and go to bed - gentle persuasion is all that works. Sometimes I have to go off and do other things and then come back later when he is more tired and more likely to give in. Good luck!

Phoned the aviary owner who gave me some lovely advice.

We now have the conure in the living room, where he can chat all day to his birdie friends outside and the dog & I spend most of our time together in the rest of the house. Since it was DHs idea, he can do the bird thing & I'll stick with the dog thanks very much.

Poor bird won't become very hand tame, but he's very bold when he is out and comes to sit next to us on the sofa.

Sounds like an excellent development. Mine loves looking out of the window at the birds/passers by. If he's on his own for any length of time, he might like the radio left on too (mine likes Classic FM and sometimes sings along).
Well done.