# Pigeons and Dogs



## dovegirl (Apr 15, 2006)

Hi all,

Lately I have been having trouble with local cats coming over and loitering around the loft. 

I have been thinking of buying a small dog for 2 reasons. One is because I like small dogs and also to scare away the cats.

Do dogs and pigeons get on well? Specifically, will the dog annoy my pigeons?

Regards
Peter


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## Victor (Dec 18, 2004)

Hi Peter,

We have 4 small dogs in our two family combined household. Three of them actually belong to us, and the small ones are the ones that tend to be fast and make the most noise too! They know the command,"Get the cat!!" no offense cat owners, as we have one too

We keep our pigeons outdoors in the coop, thought they did spend much of the winter in the laundry sun room. Our dogs are pretty much use to the pigeons .

I recall your home has an outdoor enclosure as well, so you should be in good shape. I would never allow the dogs to be in the same room when they were indoors though. Better safe than sorry.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Hi Peter,

I've always had good experience with the dog/bird combo. In 2004 my lovely Lhasa Apso died and I decided to remain dogless for a while. In the spring of 2006 I was given a young Pomeranian. It didn't take long to figure out that if I kept him there would be a tradgedy. Now I have a Lowchen and he's working out . We have been through obidence classes still, I would never trust him alone with any of the birds.


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## BrianNAmy (Nov 2, 2003)

Never underestimate natural instinct. Even a friendly dog might play to rough for any type of bird. Keep them separate.

We have 3 dogs and 3 pigeons. The dogs are never allowed in the bird room unsupervised and even under our supervision they rarely spend more than a minute or two in there. I’ve already had to yell at them for sniffing through the bars out of curiosity.


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## Hillybean (Oct 30, 2005)

Hhhmmm.... I know my pigeon, Beautiful, gets freaked out by our small dogs.
Even more so when the dogs hear a noise and bark. 

Most dogs CAN"T be around birds alone. They get curious, and then want to check the bird or pigeon out. Checking it out sometimes, if not many, involves the dogs mouth.

Do you know if the cats are owned or cared for by anyone?

I have had a problem this years with a cat attacking my flock of wild house sparrows. 

If the cats are cared for by someone, you could try to talk to them  . 
You could try contacting your local animal shelter.
You could start feeding the cats, cat food.

I bet there are tons of other ideas.

-Hilly


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## Victor (Dec 18, 2004)

Hillybean said:


> .
> 
> If the cats are cared for by someone, you could try to talk to them  .
> You could try contacting your local animal shelter.
> ...


Sorry HB, But I have to add my two cents worth here. 

If you try to approach your neighbors about their cats, you are liable to open up a can of worms not only on this suggestion but all of them. If I were to confront my neighbors to the west of me that have litters of cats and seems to just let them bred, and tell them to keep their cats in their yard, they would tell me a thing or two about me keeping pigeons and how nasty they are. Not to mention that there is no lease law for cats in my state anyway.I can hear them saying, "mind your own business!"

OK, I could perhaps contact my animal shelter, but then again, I could be opening up new unwanted problems if the A.C. wish to question my pigeon keeping and investigate the structure. Not that I have anything to hide. My pigeon quarters are clean and ready daily for viewing if they wish to see it or my birds. But again a problem I would not want.

Feeding the problem cats? No I don't think so. Our last cat named Lil Kitty died of liver failure and was on a special diet. We found out our next door neighbor had been feeding it table scraps for who knows how long and when we confronted her, she denied it...after I saw her doing this!!!!!

I would not feed another cat for that reason alone. Many pet cats are on special diets and I would not want to contribute to their demise. Nor, would I want to support strays and give them a reason to keep coming back.

Most cats have a hunting instinct about them. We have always fed our cats till you can see their belly practically dragging, and they still would try and go after squirrels and wild birds.


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hi,

I have two dogs, the terrier is responsible for chasing cats out of the garden, but in the way of cats they climb out of reach (often the top of the aviary) and sneer at her.

I don't ever have a dog in the same room as loose pigeon although the terrier has picked up a baby wood pigeon in the woods and brought it to me unharmed except for a graze on its leg caused when it struggled. But there is always that unpredictability about animals. 

Sometimes she will bark at the pigeons, often because she can see a cat on the other side of the aviary, other times because she spots a pigeon that looks as if it is oin trouble) because it is flapping. The oigeons aren't really bothered because they know the hardware cloth protects them, but I know that they would really panic if I took her into the aviary.

Cynthia


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Victor, that was a very wise post. 

Cynthia


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## PigeonQueen (Aug 13, 2006)

Yes, I think Victor is spot on.


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## pigeon poop (May 21, 2007)

hey, hey
i think that it might be a bad idea to put a small dog with a pigeon unless the dog is trained not to kill the bird. You see i have ringneck doves and a pigeon (mookee) and my older sister owns a small dog-miniture pomeranian- well i let my doves and pigeons inside to fly about some times (one at a time) and well lets just say that if Cheeko (the dog) was allowed near them, she would eat them. Sure she's a good dog and all but when she looks at my doves when they're inside, she's got a look in her eye that says 'mmmmm chicken yummy'. I've had a few run in's with her and my doves, first time the dove was lucky. it was waddling about on the floor and sure enough my mum lets cheeko inside (even when i tell her not to she still does) and the dog comes charging up the stairs. Yeah i know scary hey? well i was like  AHHHHHHHH!!! as when she saw my dove she went for it. good thing Gracy (my dove) was had fast reactions otherwise he would of been dead meat or dog meat for that matter. 

Although she's different when she's outside with them. she hangs around the avary watching the quails with a evil glimmer in her eye but dosen't seem to care about the doves. Back in the day when i didn't have the quails she and i would go what we call 'Ratting'. Yeah i know kinda gross but hey you gotta get rid of those vermin some how. well i used to let her into the avary (at night though) and there we would flush the mice out and she'd kill 'em. Sorry for all those mice lovers out there-these are ferral mice by the way-. well anyway, now with the quails around she dosen't go for my doves. As for Mookee (my pigeon) she dosen't touch him. sure she thinks about it, probably wants to taste him but she dosen't. well with scaring the cats away, she's good for that. Excellent watch dog! she'll try to kill the cats too, especially the ones that eat her food! so yeah i guess you can say small dogs are ok to have around the birds, just be careful.


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## Becca199212 (May 10, 2007)

Our dog gets on well with our birds. They don't even bother to fly away when he comes near now. But we also do not leave him alone with them as occasionally he tries to 'play' with them. Pawing at them and it could hurt the birds so we keep watch. He is great thought for keeping the ctas and foxes away.


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

*Dogs with birds*

Victor, 

I liked your post. Worth more than "two cents" in my opinion.

Dovegirl,

One of my brothers in Texas has two Quaker or Monk parrots with clipped wings, and a bunch of dogs who live both inside and outside the house. (Also cats, a ferret or two at one time, and squirrels one of his dogs, Buster, a Dachshund (now deceased) kept treed whenever possible).

Dogs vary some in personality and temperament, but are not necessarily predictable in all their actions until AFTER the owner or caretaker has been around them for a very long time, in different situations. 

Once my brother's Dachshund Buster had the parrot Paloma (which means "pigeon") in his jaws, ready to demolish it, when he tasted my brother's smell on the bird and realized the bird belonged to Jimmy. Jimmy had the bird on his shoulder much of the time. But the bird's presence at my brother's house for a long time wasn't enough to qualify the bird's safety, only my brother's smell which established ownership and protection. 

Dogs are hunters, have bigger jaws than pigeons. From pigeon's point of view: enemy or happenstance protector? If I were a pigeon, I would say, give me my wings and the freedom to fly, and to heck with cats and dogs. Let them chase their tails! 

Larry


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## abisai (Jan 30, 2007)

Yup . . .the dogs will scare the cats away. And also the dogs will try to play with the birds. So what are you gonna do? 

I keep a dog who keeps the cats at bay. Now when ever I toss the birds, I keep the dog in a seperate part of the yard to keep him from frightening the birds who may still be learning how to use the landing board.

AC


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## Hillybean (Oct 30, 2005)

Victor, 
No need to be sorry. Your post pointed out a few things I didn't even think of.

With my sparrow problem, confrontation with some of the cat owners in the area didn't go well. With some of the others it DID, made a huge improvement.

There were that had things to say about my wild house sparrows being pests. Others really enjoy watching them.

I meantioned feeding the cats, because that is what I have started with one I'm having problems with. Its a ok cat food (at least its believed to be), if it kills the this cat or others, then I'll lose my two cats, and the PET Starlings. As I feed them the same stuff. 

Anyways with feeding this (maggled, horrible looking ferral cat) it was stopped the nest attacking. I haven't had a problem since I started feeding it. I would take it ( the cat) to the vet for a check up, but can't get a hold of it to do so  .

I also know that most of the time feeding the cats wont make a difference...I guess it depends on the cat.

I didn't even think about the unwanted attention that the animals shelter, or neighbors would give to the pigeons and a loft.

-Hilly  .


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

I spray Boundary around my aviary and it discourages cats very well (this is after I come out and have the cats sitting on the aviary in the sun  ). VERY IMPORTANT......if you do this, make sure to completely cover the aviary before spraying. The spray is not good to inhale (for animals or people) when it is still wet. After it dries ( a few minutes) it is fine. I use it about twice a week and just spray around the edges of the aviary (after making sure it's completely covered) and it deters the cats. Also, heavily spread red pepper makes a great deterrence as well but must be reapplied pretty often.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Peter, we have neither dogs or cats and, knock on wood, little problem with neighbor's animals either but your question made me remember this.

About 25-30 years ago, we had a little dog, a miniature pinscher, who was a true member of our family and lived to be 17 years old. During this time we picked up an Evening Grosbeak bird from our back yard with a badly damaged wing. He was non releasable and we got permission from the government to keep him. Starsky, the grosbeak, stayed in a cage on our chest freezer in the kitchen and Missy, the min-pin any where she wanted to be. Apparently Starsky learned to pick his lock and one day when we came home from work saw the cage empty. Panic set in until we looked around and Starsky was pecking around on the floor and Missy was laying on one of the dinette chairs. No telling how long Starsky had been out but he was totally unharmed. I figured Missy was afraid of him and skedaddled to the chair to get away from him.


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## columbids (Jun 23, 2007)

LOL! Our resident cocker spaniel took one sniff of Chelona and ran to the other side of the room. I guess it's good that he's afraid of her, but I cringe at the poor breeding it took to get a cocker afraid of a bird!


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## warriec (Feb 2, 2007)

a small dog would be good. remember the dog should come as a puppy and be conditioned to the birds even if it means controlling his behavior for a few month by tying him and holding him on a leash while u are there to make sure that he dont play.

dont get a high strung breed but a calm breed such as a cocker.

pigeons get conditioned to the dogs barking eventually


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

columbids said:


> LOL! Our resident cocker spaniel took one sniff of Chelona and ran to the other side of the room. I guess it's good that he's afraid of her, but I cringe at the poor breeding it took to get a cocker afraid of a bird!


Then again, your cocker may know something you don't...you may have a VERY SPECIAL BIRD!

Besides, perhaps, in time....

My pij lives with 3 cats...one is terrified of Squeaks. One wants to be his "mother" (to no avail, at least according to Squeaks!) and the other loves to tease him to chase her and is known as his Physical Trainer... 

Shi


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## KO Loft (Jul 1, 2007)

*re Pigeons and dogs*

When we used to have our loft my grandfather always had a dog. He would walk the yard and watch out for cats and other predators. One of our dogs Rex scared a possum that was looking at the flight cage. The best though was a dog named alf that we viewed as cat chaser. Most dogs could be harmed by a cat but this dog was well just hated cats. He was raised as a pup with the pigeons around so he just well kind of ignored them, but cats were a different story. He wanted them to stay out of his yard pigeons ok but cats never.

What makes this post interesting is the hawk that hit the flight cage looking to get a quick meal. He bounced after hitting the flight cage and well was stunned and shook his head. Before we could do anyting Alf well he started to growl and this bird tried to look scary. I guess he didnt realize that Alfs favorite place to sleep was under the coop. In nature predator and prey is relative. Alf became predator and got some hawk feathers from the tail as a gentle reminder that this was his yard and the birds were off limits. The haw returned just once and landed on the neighbors garage. Alf came out and he never returned. The hawk it seems viewed the dog as a potential predator not to the pigeons but him. My grandfather said he never lost a bird to a hawk when the dog was out. Six months after my grandfather passed away and EKG showed that Alf developed a brain tumor that spidered out. Was a sad day. 

A dog can be trained. Do not trust them with the birds alone in a fight cage. But outside the predators will realize that maybe the tide will change and maybe, just maybe they will be the ones sacrificing feathers and lucky they got away

joe


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## warriec (Feb 2, 2007)

If you have problems with your dog chasing your birds you have a few alternatives.

1) Tire your dog by walking or running him and then introduce him to your birds

2) Puppy should grow up with the birds

3) controlled supervision until the pup or dog has learned to stay away from the birds

4) electric collars which wont allow the dog to go next to your loft.


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## dovegirl (Apr 15, 2006)

warriec said:


> dont get a high strung breed but a calm breed such as a cocker.


What about a small poodle?

Regards
Peter


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## warriec (Feb 2, 2007)

yes, poodle is ok, make sure its a toy poodle. Standard poodles are tall. Do u have the time to look after the poodles coat. You will need to give extensive care for the coat. I would also suggest westie's.


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