ok jack russell keeps trying to eat my brothers pigeons, what do i do?

Question

my 1 year old jack russell loves birds and chases them all over the garden, trying to jump in the air. My brother recently got pigeons, and 1 is dead already. My dog doesn't mean harm he just plays with them is there anything i can do? before my brother kills my dog!!

we also have a bull staff who doesnt touch the pigeons

we have them seperated but the bird fell into the dogs wee patch.my dog would stand all day at their shed or whatever you call it watching them. I dont want to keep him locked up all day because of the pigeons. so its pretty much they wont mix? :-(

Answer 1

Having a dog around them all the time scaring them is very stressful to the birds. It can mess up their eating habbits, destroy what tame-ness your brother has grown with them, disturb them to the point of abandoning their nest or causing them to not want to lay eggs, AND it will lower their immune system - making them more likely to get sick and die. Stress is the number one thing you want to avoid in pigeons for these reasons. A stress-free bird will be much more healthier, and look it. It also effects racing and showing, which I don't think your brother has gotten to yet, has he?
As for what you can do, there isn't much. The easiest thing is to just keep him locked up. The main times you'll want to keep him locked up is at night for sure (disturbing them at night is the worst time), and when there are young birds outside the loft. If all the pigeons are adults and able to fly properly, you won't have to worry much about them getting eaten by him on the ground. The young birds aren't used to flying yet, so you don't want to risk them being hurt.
What kind of cage/loft does your brother keep his birds in? If it's just a simple little rabbit sized cage, make sure it is high enough off the ground so that the dog can't jump up and put his paws on the bottom of the cage. If it is a loft, make sure the walls are solid up high enough to where the dog can't jump up into clear view of the birds. When an animal, whether it be a cat, raccoon, hawk, or dog, hangs on the wire of the cage, it really scares the birds. There's also a better chance of the wire being pulled down to where something could get in and kill all the pigeons.
The final thing I can think of is just simple training. Don't let your dog hassle the pigeons, when he does, smack him. Teach him that it is unallowed. The easiest thing would be a shock collar like those that are used for hunting dogs. It may sound cruel, but the dog is just barely shocked enough for it to learn that what it did was wrong. You could also set up one of those shock fences around the pigeon loft so that when he gets to close, he gets a little shock like the collar, and will soon learn to stay clear of the pigeons.
Those dog mute things are good too if he likes to bark at them a lot. Having a collar on him that stops the barking will help with the stress on the pigeons as well. The only problem with these shock collars and whatnot is that they are normally a bit expensive. If you're willing to spend the money, the results will probably come pretty quick and last. If you can teach a dog to follow the rules, then you don't have to worry about having him chained or cooped up all the time :]

Hope that helped, and good luck!
- Becky

Answer 2

Jack russel's are working dogs, bred for catching small animals. So unfortunately, your brother was an idiot to bring pigeons into the home. Best I can figure, is keep the pigeons out of the dogs way, as I don't see training the dog as an option.

Answer 3

Hate to be doom and gloom but I had a 17 year old jack russell who started having similar symptoms at the 15 years old. At first we thought it was her heart as she had a heart murmur and was on medication. 2 years later having moved to North Wales the symptoms got worse and the vet thought it could be epilepsy but medication didn't work. Shortly afterwards we had to have the dog put down and we believe she had a brain tumour. Seriously get your dog to the vet and don't be afraid to make the decision to say goodbye. Having watched how my jack russell detiorated I wouldn't like to see another suffer so long

Answer 4

The best way to stop your dog attacking the pigeons is keep him on a leash where they are and when he goes in for the attack squirt him with a water spray check him and he will get the message after a few soakings,

Answer 5

Dogs are smart spend time with him around the birds and teach him/her not to hurt the birds. The dog is still a puppy and puppies do things like that. Work with it, its your dog and your responsibility to train it to be a good pet. Not such thing as a bad dog, just owners that won't be responsible for the dogs behavior. It takes time with the dog. Have patience.

Answer 6

Dont mixed them together. Obviously your dog is a fan of Colonel Sanders...nah..Pigeons are delicate birds & gets frighten easily,,,they can even die of heart attack. So even if your dog is just having some "harmless " fun with them they can die of fright. Ask your brother to built a coop to keep your dog for getting to them.

Answer 7

Jack Russells are bred to hunt rats. It is hardly surprising he want a go at the flying rats as well. No sensible person would have anything to do with pigeons. They carry numerorous diseseases fatal to humans and have disgusting habbits.

Answer 8

The dog is acting upon natural instinct much the same as a pigeon does when it dumps on your head!

The pigeons will just have to learn to be smarter........

Answer 9

its a terrier its in its nature, eat his pigeons lol no try to keep them seperate if you can good luck xx

Answer 10

Let the jack russell eat the pigeons. I am absolutely fed up with them crapping all over my car and all over our town centres. We have rules for people to clear up after dogs, why we have no laws to eradicate these disgusting vermin I don't know.