Dog vs. Parakeet

[Saphira and Snuggs]

A while back, my dog Snuggles tragically tried to play with my parakeet Hedwig. Sadly, it turned out to be fatal for Hedwig. What do you think caused her to attack her? She actually was sitting in her cage w/ mate. Snuggles is an older dog, around 8 years. She's never really done anything wrong until now. Do you think there's any reason why Snuggles would do this?

[Jessika]

Don't let your dog in the room when your bird is out. If your dog will be in the room, have your bird in the cage.

[Saphira and Snuggs]

That's the problem... Ocean's been grouchy since Hedwig died. He won't let us hold him or anything, and doesn't go in often, only for eating/getting water. And when we come in he flies away. Normally he flies to fast for Snuggles but then again, so was Hedwig. And also, I'm worried about why Snuggles would take Hedwig. She's not a puppy wanting to chew on something or anything, she's actually very old.

[Jessika]

Wait, you don't have him in a cage??? If you can't catch him I suggest buying a net with an extended pole and catch him to put him back into his cage.

Or am I misunderstanding??

If you've already have problems with your dog playing "too roughly" with a bird in the past, you NEED to keep him in a cage or close him off in a room your dog does not have access to.

[Saphira and Snuggs]

Yes, he is now in a room to himself, but Snuggles with the help of my other dog can push the door open. This is the only room in our house where he can stay by himself without danger of sharp objects that we cannot take down.

Ocean has places to perch around the room, but we can't take them down, because they include little shelves. We feel he's safe up there but what I'm really wondering is why Snuggles would decide to attack Hedwig when she was in the cage. Is it a behavioral issue, or what?

[Jessika]

Well it is your responsibility to either put him in a cage, or keep your dogs out of the room. You are smarter than your dogs. If they know how to open the door, figure out how to LOCK it so they can't get it open.

[Saphira and Snuggs]

Well there /is/ no lock on it. But we're getting one tomorrow, and now what I'm really worried about is the dog's behavior.

[cali]

a small flapping bird will catch the attention of almost any dog, and most dogs will get over exited and accentdnly hurt the bird. I keep Happy Muzzled when my parakeet is out, Misty is trained to leave him alone(her prey drive is not as strong as Happys)

[Rockyistheone]

What a cute bird...What kind of dog you have? :)

[Saphira and Snuggs]

she's a mixed breed, we're not exactly sure but she looks like a White German Shepherd mix.

[Giselle]

It isn't a behavioral problem. It's instinct!!! Dogs are carnivores and, as such, almost all dogs have a relatively high prey drive. Because of this, almost ALL dogs will try to attack a prey animal flapping around helplessly. There is a natural urge for them to attack the lesser animal in the flock, and this is why you need to physically separate your birds and dogs.

I NEVER EVER EVER let my birds loose in a room with Giselle or Lucky. Even if they are muzzled, they can still grab the tails of the birds, knock the bird's head against the floor, and essentially kill the bird. To prevent accidental deaths, cage your birds whenever your dog is in the room. If you want to let your birds loose, lock the dogs out and be sure you are in the room to supervise the bird anyways. Birds left unsupervised in an empty room are dangers to themselves. Good Luck and I'm sorry for your loss.

[ontariogreys]

As the last poster mentioned, dog are natural born hunters, some have stronger prey drives than others, I have greyhounds who are former racers, and one has a very high prey drive they were gradually introduced to my cats which I adopted later and corrected if they tried to chase them, praised when they acted appropriately, they needed constant socialization and supervised contact with the cats to the point where they now view the cats as dogs and accepted them as part of their pack. If one of the dogs had not been able to accept the cat, I would have been forced to make a decision either to return the newly adopted cat or keep them permanently seperated, Outdoors the dogs do not view a stray cat as the same, they view it the same as any rabbit or squirrel, simply put as prey. I could never do the same with a bird as the interactions between the species are no where near the same, plus the movements are totally different. When my ferret was still alive, he was kept in his cage, only one of my dogs with a low prey drive was allowed to be near him and even then it was under strict supervision. I hope you understand that what your dog did was not out of any form of aggression but out of instinct, he is exactly the same dog as he was the day before this happened.

[Saphira and Snuggs]

There's one more thing... the bird wasn't flapping around or anything. She was just sitting in her cage.

[Jessika]

There's one more thing... the bird wasn't flapping around or anything. She was just sitting in her cage.

Then the cage should have been closed if the dog was in the room. :(