Parrot and a greater Swiss mountain dog

We had dogs and a bird growing up, my parents still have the same parrot and a dog now, and my sister has a parrot and a dog.

My opinion is although they make cute social media posts together, I would never trust a dog (or cat) in close proximity. Some dogs have prey drives you will never totally get rid of. Some dogs are just playful and just one playful swipe of a big paw will kill a bird. They are just so fragile. They could be total friends for months, years, etc but it only takes one snap, one blip, and you risk losing the bird. Every time I see photos of birds sleeping on a dog's head or whatever makes me nervous.

Now, yes you can totally work on teaching a dog to ignore a bird cage, ignore the noises, etc. Although birds scream a lot and that can be an irritant so make sure they both have areas they can hang out without each other. Especially if the bird was there first. My parents current dog has only ever known that there's a bird cage in the living room and she's not allowed to jump on it or bother the bird. It may have been harder if she was an adult and the bird showed up one day new.

/r/SwissMountainDogs Thread