We have 5 parrots my wife got a setter puppy for a birthday gift. can we train him to leave are birds alone?

Question

The birds are out of there cages from 2pm till 9pm.We are planning to make the dog a house dog.

Answer 1

I have 6 parrots and a cat. The squirting with the water bottle trick worked if the cat stalked of showed aggressive behavior toward the birds. Now, as we watch, the cat gets into one of the large cages and takes a nap on the lower grill (we leave the cages open during the day). He seems to ignore the birds, which are large and scary enough to take care of themselves, but I never leave them alone while this is going on.

Answer 2

Yes you can. Just introduce them to each other while your puppy is still small-it will make things a lot easier. Let the puppy explore near their cage(s) while you are present. Most likely he will just sniff the cages for a while and be done, if he tries to cause trouble, punish him and take him away from the birds. Keep doing this until he learns to ignore them. Then do the same thing with the birds out of their cage(s). He will learn to leave them alone.
Just DO NOT use him as a bird dog or let him get the taste of raw bird meat. If he does-your birds will be gonners if they are not able to protect themselves or he will have to become an outside dog.
Good luck!

Answer 3

I trained my cat to leave the birds alone by using a spray bottle. He would start after them and I would spray him and he seen the birds with me and he now knows they blong there and he leaves them alone. The birds can walk right in front of his face he will sometimes look at them but normally don't even pay them any atten. The Conure will try to get the cat at times and we have to keep them apart. But no troubles in a year and a half. The cat still goes outside and kills snakes and rats an brings them to the door for us to look over and admire how great of a hunter he is. I wish he would not do that but I know they are gifts so I take them in through the house and show them to my girlfreind who yealls at me and out the front to the trash.

They learn and they will still hunt. So get a couple of water pistols and have a little fun.

Answer 4

I wouldn't get two at the same time, as it really takes an impact on the dog's training progress. I'd say wait until a dog is about 5 years old before getting a new puppy. If for some reason you absolutely have to have two however, it would be better to get different genders.

Answer 5

I would not trim wings as one person suggested. In this case, being able to fly might just be what saves your bird's life if the dog comes after him! I would never leave them unattended together. Can you put up a gate or door to keep the dog and birds separated?

Answer 6

It took us four months with our West Highland White Terrier and Greek-Cheek Conure but now the dog ignores the bird and doesn't want anything to do with him. We basically supervised them together like hawks and scolded the dog if he did anything more than sniff the bird. The bird still tries to "preen" the dog, but the dog just gets up and walks away.

Answer 7

introduse the birds to the dog BUT only let the dog sniff the bird so he get used to it. Or you could spray a product called 'bitter apple' around the cages of the birds

Answer 8

You will be asking the dog to totally ignore all his instincts to hunt birds. It isn't impossible but it is highly unlikely that the pup won't try to get them. I have a friend that has a Jack Russell and it has killed two of his birds. Good luck.

Answer 9

Yes you can. Every time the dog goes near the birds squirt him with a water bottle. He'll learn that if he bugs the birds you will squirt him. It worked for my dog and my guinea pigs.

Answer 10

No that is a hunting breed so you cant do much....get your birds wings trimmed and limit their time out of the cage, they shouldent be out that long anyways and when you do have them out put your pup outside or in a different room