Nihon ken with parrots?

Araks

well, hopefully in the next 5-7 years, we'll be adding a nihon ken member to our family, probably a shiba or shikoku. I was just curious as to how they do with parrots? We have Vazgen, a macaw who is 20 years old, and I'm pretty sure we'll still have him by then. Now, our macaw is VERY dog friendly, he grew up in a house with about 6 dogs before we rescued him about 5 years ago. I've heard if you socialize nihon ken from puppies with them they are fine, and considering he is VERY large for a bird ( he's 3 1/2 feet long and his head is about the size of my fist).

Just curious if anyone has experience with this.

here's a pic of the big guy

KFontaine04

WOW, he is GORGEOUS! I always wanted a Macaw. I grew up with a Grand Eclectus (sp?) that my dad had, he was a mean bird though :P Didn't like us kids much.

Im sure if your parrot is okay with the pup, you could socialize the pup to be okay with the bird. I would however, never leave them alone together.

shimaurashibalover92

I agree with Kristin. I'm sure they could all get along, I'd just worry if the play got too rough. For the dog and the bird. That beak is serious bussiness.
I think birds are awesome, but Dawn is deathly afraid of them.

ljowen123

Beautiful bird - I think, with proper socialization, they'll do fine together.

Calia

I think that socializing a dog to a parrot wouldn't be any different than getting them social to a cat or other non dog animal.

They say that shibas and huskies are cat killers and that you shouldn't have this breed if you have a cat. Tikaani's breeder (I know your not looking for a husky, but the same applies I think) told us that once we get a husky, he'll be friendly to any household members he grows up with but that he'll kill any new cats we may bring in. Both my guys love the cats, and even try to doggy play with them. We have the new kitten now and even though they are still a bit mouthy with him (Tikaani's whole mouth wrapped around that kitten's body) they are learning to be more gentle towards him.

I agree with what everyone else says, so long as you get a puppy to grow up with Vazgen and are consistent with maintaining acceptable interactions, the pup should be just fine with your bird.

CreamyShibaMom

I"m with Dawn on this one, Arak's, your bird is gorgeous, but would freak me the F out if it was in the house....that said, our pup is fine with the family cat at my parent's house who she sees only on occasion, but HATES the cat by our apt, his days are numbered if Shao New had her way. I truly think animals can differentiate btwn what's their family and what's not, if that makes sense.

Araks

thanks everyone. we think he's pretty good lookin too

Thats what I had thought too, and he's never out of his cage unless he's with me, so he's never left unsupervised outside of his cage. Plus we never leave his cage door open unless someone is in the same room, I'm actually more worried of him attacking Sevook that Sevook attacking him, although I've never seen any aggression between the two, and they are always together when I'm there.

PLwarped59

I do know about parrots but I have a small tortoise that none of my dogs would ever attack or even try to play with. Sachi is even protective over the little guy. When we adopted Akira she wouldnt let him go near the tortoise. The tortoise came after Sachi, too. They all have free roam of the house together.

tobyshiba

I think you should be fine with a large parrot and a Nihon Ken.
Though, make sure you never get a cat. Cat's have a certain bacteria in their saliva that can kill birds.

The only thing to worry about is if a puppy roughhouses with the bird and breaks a major blood feather. Because birds can bleed to death that way. Either way, make sure to have both a normal emergency vet and an avian emergency vet # on hand at all times.

I wouldn't worry too much because the Greenwing Macaw is the 2nd largest Macaw in the world, and I don't think a dog would mess with it if the dog got bitten. xD

Your bird is very beautiful, by the way! What a cutie!
I'm actually planning on getting a Toucan or an Amazon once I am done college, so I will have to learn how to socialize dogs with it as well.

Araks

Steph: haha, we don't even plan on getting a cat, we're all dog people, although I do enjoy playing with the neighborhood cats from time to time. Plus, I would never let the puppy roughhouse with our bird because he had gotten a blood feather broken when he was at his previous home because of one of the family's dogs, but he's still very dog friendly, he'll even sit there in his cage and start talking to our dog for hours. Funny part is Sevook is just scared to approach him from infront, I've noticed he always goes behind him when he wants to check him out.

Oh and for when you do get out of college, I would suggest a toucan over an amazon. Amazons, from my prior experience tend to be more unpredictable with other animals, but toucans are very docile most of the time. Both are great birds though. I've had birds my whole life, Sevook is our first dog.

tobyshiba

I think the only issue with Toucans is that they cost thousands of dollars more and have a more specialized diet. xD
But, I have had tons of experience hand feeding Amazon babies. And I really want one because I bonded really well to one and then it got sold and it broke my heart ...

grandemu

We have parrots and a shikoku - while she has been trained to leave the bird (African Grey) alone, and we never have the bird out when the dogs are loose, I would worry about instinct. As well trained as a dog may be, all it takes is that 1 moment for the dog to view the bird as prey - and nihon ken have super high prey drive...I think there is a difference in birds and cats in terms of how much I would risk with a dog - even though the macaw seems a large bird - comparable in size to some cats - they are sooo much more fragile. 1 hard bite from a dog can be so serious. We learned this lesson the hard way (before we kept the dogs away when the bird was out). We had dogs that were trained to leave the bird (conure, so smaller than a macaw) alone, and we never figured the bird would care to interact with the dogs, but one day the bird crawled down the cage towards the dogs ear - the dog reacted like he would have if one of the other dogs had been about to bite his ear - he saw something out of the corner of his eye going for his ear, turned his head and snapped at it. Broke the bird's back. One single time.
Conversely, my parents have an amazon and schnauzers (while technically hunting dogs - well rats anyway I think...instinct is not as close to the surface as with the nihon ken) and the schnauzers pretty much live in fear of the bird...they totally stay away from it. IMO...for what it's worth...if one plans to have a bird and a dog in the same room - whether there is a person there or not - training for absolutely no interaction would be essential. The dog should not come anywhere near the bird, and if the bird approaches, should move.
I am so cautious with this...maybe more than I need to be - but it is worth it to me to be more safe, then sorry - b/c it's esp hard when one of your loves kills another one.

amesylph

Ki lived with Gandalf the Grey Parrot for 4 years. At first, I was extremely careful (paranoid) about them being out at the same time. I would work on training Ki whilst Gand was on his stand so he would get used to having to ignore him. The "Leave It!" command (which thankfully Ki knows very well) was used whenever Ki would get a bit too excited about the bird.

There was one incident where Gand flung himself off his perch (if any of you have had Grey's you know this move) and as soon as he hit the floor Ki was on him. He didn't go for him with his mouth at all...he did the (very shiba) double-paw-squish move. Feathers went flying everywhere. I told Ki "Leave It!" and he backed off. Gand was a bit shaken but not at all hurt (thank goodness).

After that, Gand (have I mentioned how smart/evil Grey's are?) decided he needed to teach Ki the rules. He climbed to the lowest perch on his stand and dropped a pellet of bird food to lure Ki over....which, of course, worked perfectly. When Ki lowered his head to eat the bird food, Gand gave him a quick nip on the ear before climbing back up out of reach.

This happened a couple more times before it got to the point where Ki wouldn't approach the bird if he was on his stand or even on the floor. He would look at me and give the warning whine as if to say, "Put him back!" ...And even though Grey's are small, I put time into rewarding Gand for staying away from the dog so that Ki wouldn't get injured (parrots can do real damage). It helps your bird to have a place where they know the dog(s) can't reach. Remember that height above something = security but also power so make sure your parrot has a very reliable step-up command/response before you put them somewhere above your height/eyeline.

Gand also learned to say, "Ki, LEAVE IT!" quite quickly.

That being said, they were never allowed out in the same room without supervision. I would always remind Ki to 'leave it' if he took an active interest in the bird...and Gand would continue trying to punish the dog by throwing wasabi peas down from the top perch for Ki to eat...finding his displeasure quite hilarious.

It is very possible to have a bird and a dog, but a lot of training, time, and vigilance is required.

Good luck!

~Rainy

WrylyBrindle

Good story! I was just *waiting* for this part...

" Gand also learned to say, "Ki, LEAVE IT!" quite quickly"

LOL

Araks

Rainy: Thanks for the tips Last month we adopted Coco, a timneh african grey. He's alittle more difficult than our macaw in that he's actually tried to bite Sevuk before. Now they are supervised all the time even when they are in the same room, whether Coco is out of the cage or not (he tried to get at Sevuk through the bars).

Cool story too!

lindsayt

Wow, beautiful bird.

I had to bring one of my Quail hens inside the house for some "hospital" time. A rat bit her toe from underneath her cage and she's limping so she was caged on top of the dryer (not on) to recover. The dogs went bananas when they realized what was in front of them (their food/natural prey item!). I had to put up baby gates and do the "leave it" refresher course. If I wasn't there and the gates weren't up, though, those two would have been all up inside that cage trying to eat her. The training goes a long way, but baby gates go further

amesylph

I second lindsayt's baby gate recommendation. I have one in the hallway so that I can limit Ki's access to the living room/front door when necessary and it's pressure mounted so I can take it down and put it elsewhere as needed (including bringing it with me to peoples' houses if Ki will be staying awhile so they can create boundaries when they need to). It's a great training opportunity (Ki has to sit away from the gate before I open it...no jumping hehe) and I try to make sure it's always positive when he gets separated from the rest of us (since that can cause some stress) by giving him a rawhide with some soft salmon treats squished in the seams.

(btw, lindsayt - love your blog)

Araks

hmm, the baby gates sound pretty good. I'm just really glad Sevuk doesn't even come close to the cages now. When he walks its like he keeps a radius around the cages, never getting close.