As someone who has lived with a variety of different species for many years, I can tell you that introductions and living with different types of animals can be challenging. How you go about introducing the animals and making sure that the safety of the animals is always a priority goes a long way in ensuring success in the long term.
Dogs are predators. This doesn’t mean that they can never interact with other species or are a danger to other animals; however, it does mean that they can be. My Chinese Crested is a sweet, social, loving dog that is great with people and other dogs, but he is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to birds. Therefore, he is never, ever present when any of my birds are loose; in fact, none of my dogs is. It is a risk that I am not willing to take. A medium sized dog could seriously injure a medium-sized parrot with just a strong paw at the bird. With some species and some dogs, it is simply better to be safe than sorry.
When introducing dogs to animals that will be living loose together in the home, such as dogs and cats, it is a good idea to start out with some separation or restraint, such as having the dog on leash. One thing that I try to avoid is having the dog practice chasing the cat. If a dog chases a cat and enjoys doing so, that means that the behavior has been reinforced and will likely happen again. So, I try to set it up so that the dog never has an opportunity to do that. I will have the dog on leash and use food to reinforce the dog for remaining calm and for offering other behaviors such as looking at me, sitting, or lying down, instead of attempting to chase the cat. I also recommend teaching a very solid response to the dog’s name and a good recall. That way, if he notices the cat and thinks about it, you are able to quickly call him back. It is beneficial and kind to the cat to make sure that the cat has a safe escape route, such as a baby gate to jump over or something to jump up on that the dog cannot access. As the dog becomes reliable, you can let the leash drag and begin to phase out the lead. For dogs that have seriously injured or killed a cat, I do not recommend attempting to have them safely off leash with a cat present. You could possibly train the dog, but the risk, in my opinion, is too great.
Animals that spend a majority of their time in cages also need to be appropriately introduced and supervised. As I mentioned before, I do not ever have my dogs in the same room when I have my birds out of their cages. All my birds are fully flighted, so they have the ability to fly away, but this is no defense to some dogs. I do know people who have their birds and dogs out together; I just strongly encourage you to make sure that every animal is kept safe. Many animals, like birds, make a mess and throw food out of their cages, so that alone can attract dogs to the cage and the area around the cage. Be sure to clean up often, use cage seed guards to help keep mess down, and consider using something like an exercise pen around the cage area to keep the dogs away. It is important to understand that some dogs can jump on, knock over, or get a cage open if they get excited about the quick movement of a bird inside. If you have a dog that may bother the bird during the night when you are asleep, consider using a sleep cage in another room for your bird.
Dogs can also get excited, predatory, or just over zealous about rodents such as rats or hamsters. Keep their cages up high off the ground. Use exercise pens to keep a safe distance, or simply keep them in a room where the dog doesn’t go.
When introducing a dog to caged animals, I recommend the same protocol that I described above for cats of reinforcing calm and appropriate behavior. Start off with the dog on leash in the room with the cage a distance away, and work on have the dog looking at you, lying down, chewing on a bone, and simply ignoring the cage. If the dog looks calmly at the cage and then back at you, reinforce that. I do not recommend punishing the dog for looking at the animals, so no squirting them with water or yelling at them: This is not only unkind to the dog, but it usually doesn’t continue to be effective when the owner is not present.
Finally, it is important make sure that the prey animals in the home feel safe and free of stress. Even being stared at by a seemingly harmless dog may be frightening to many animals.
Vicki Ronchette is a certified professional dog trainer (CPDT) who has attained competency assessment level 2 (CAP2) proficiency. She is the author of Positive Training for Show Dogs and the owner of Braveheart Dog Training in San Leandro and offers dog and bird training.
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