hi all, i hope you can help me. i'm soon to be getting a maltese puppy and i was wandering what the likelyhood of him attacking our pet canary is. will the new dog rip my pet canary apart? i hope not. if anyone has any idea, please let me know. thankyou for your time. :)

easy dont let you dog near your bird :rolleyes:

(maybe wrong but could this be a troll )

easier said than done. anyone else got any USEFUL comments?

why is it easier said than done?

Because i cant keep 24 hour constant supervison of either pet, thats why. If my dog decides to stroll into the room that my bird is in, then how am i supposed to stop him? i cant lock all the doors. i know that its in a cats natural instincts to attack a bird, i was just wondering if a dog is the same. i know in general dogs get along with other pets, but I just wanted to hear from anyone who might own a dog and a bird..etc.. thankyou

But can't you close them?? If your canary is free in the whole house then I can see your problem - if it is in a room then I can't imagine a Maltese learning to open the door! I wouldn't trust the dog not to eat the bird given the chance though.

Janet

The only answer is to prevent such a thing happening. Keep the canary in its cage, and it'll be safe.

It certainly is a dog's nature to attack birds, especially small ones, but they can be trained out of it. My dogs used to wander freely (and safely) with my chickens. They caught and ate sparrows though.

I hung my canaries cage from the ceiling, stopped my cats getting him

My mother had 3 dogs, two cats and a cockatiel all in the same house and neither the cats nor the dogs tried to "rip the bird apart" :(
K

i had that problem with my dog but they were fine with my parrots it was wen ni moved in to my partners house   my dog killed her beloved ducks........
not a very good start at moving in

It is natural for puppies to be curious and to play predatory games, so any pet that is not robust enough to handle it's attentions is at risk.

A puppy should most certainly be somewhere safe 24/7, if not under direct supervison, then confined to a small safe area.  Giving them full run of the house is most unwise and will hinder housetraining, and encourage distructive behaviour, as you won't see when she starts on anything.

I had a pet Budgie, and unfortunately it was eaten my my then 5 month old first homebred puppy.  One of the children had released the cage bred bird, which flew at about 18 inches off the ground, and instinctively the pup jumped up and caught it.  With all the ensuing panic with child screaming the pup run areound and suffocated the bird.

This same dog as an adult oft6en brings me unharmed fledglings, and even the mice that my Dads cat has tormented half to death.  Now her mother would say wither of these as food, and none of the others have ever caught a bird, so unsure what they would do.

As another poster said the bird should be kept in it's cage/aviary out of reach of the puppy.  shouldn't be too hard as Maltese aren't very big or strong dogs.  A baby gate across the door would probably be sufficeinet to keep pup out of the room, so as it didn't frighten the bird.

Now under strict supervison the dog can be trained to leave the bird alone while you are there, but I would never take a chance leaving them alone together unsupervised and free.

hi

i have a cockatiel and a young boxer and she would deffernantly like to catch the bird she'd probably kill it even if she never intended too just with play she'd break its neck, problem is the cockiatiel is'nt afraid of her louis sticks her nose through the bars of the cage and the bird hisses and pecks it, i would never ever let the bird out in the same room as the dog.

regards
jojo

I have 5 dogs and my bird cage is hanging in my living room, my budgies are doing fine...When I let them fly around I just kennel my dogs up.

Until last year I had a cockateil who lived side by side with the dog.  The dog moved away if he came anywhere near as the bird would pluck his whiskers.

However, my last dog would've killed the bird given half the chance.  It's down to individual dogs but even though mine was friendly with the bird I NEVER left them alone.  if you care about your canaries - you won't either.

Hi I think you'll find that the dog will jump up at the bird if it flies over it's head, but unless the bird lands on the floor, which is highly unlikely for a canary they should be ok. They soon get used to each other. I have got 4 dogs with a parrot and he calls them over so he can try and peck them! which is a different problem:)

my parents dog cleo was absolutely fine when we had a canary, never used to bother with it at all. once, when she was a puppy, she found a baby robin in the garden and just walked around with it in her mouth, i caught her and took it out and it was absolutely fine - i think she was taking care of it !

thanks for your help everybody :D