Parakeet and Dog Together / Dog Saliva
When I was growing up we had a cockapoo - a black, curly haired dog named O'Henry. We have always had parakeets, so there were many instances when O'Henry and our parakeets were in the same room. We never had an issue with our dog showing an interest in our budgies.However, here is a cautionary tale. A friend of mine had a dog who was also very peaceful and calm, who adored kittens and all creatures large and small. My friend and his dog went to visit Joe who had a well trained parrot. They were all sitting in the living room, smiling and laughing. The dog was peacefully resting at my friend's feet.
The parrot's owner put out his arm, and called to his parrot to fly down to him. The parrot put out his wings and gracefully soared across the room towards the arm.
The dog jumped into the air, grabbed the parrot, gave it a quick shake to break his neck, and then lay down again. The entire event took maybe a second at the most.
Dogs eat birds. It is what they have been trained by nature for tens of thousands of years to do. It is not bad, or wrong, or evil of them to eat birds. It is part of being a dog. As much as you might try to train a dog not to eat a bird, there is always going to be a part of a dog's mind which says BIRD = FOOD. Even if your dog is quiet and peaceful, he still eats food! He does not think of eating a bird as a violent thing. He simply sees it as an eating task, just like he eats food out of a bowl. If the mood strikes him, he'll eat.
It's also important to keep in mind that every living creature has its temperamental moments. Let's say your dog's paw is hurting because a stone is stuck in it. So he's grumpy. The parakeet gets near him and he swats his paw, just to get the annoying little thing out of his way. The parakeet is now dead, and the dog's being yelled at, and the dog has no idea why.
The parakeet owner needs to take the responsibility to be the responsible parent. The dog should not be around the parakeet when it is out of the cage. Even when the parakeet is in the cage, the cage should be high enough that the dog can't easily get to it or knock it over. Remember, it's not that the dog is being "mean" by eating the parakeet. He is simply hungry, or curious, or both.
It's also important that the cage be away from the dog for the parakeet's sanity. Remember that little birds survive in the wild because they are deathly afraid of predators and flee at even the slightest sign that a predator is nearby. The slow parakeets are the dead parakeets. If a parakeet sees a predator's eyes watching them, it upsets them greatly. Sometimes they flap around like crazy. Sometimes they sit still hoping maybe the predator will go away. It's never good for a parakeet's health to have a predator's eyes watching it.
Dog Saliva and Parakeets
Sometimes you read on various websites that dog saliva is toxic to birds. That is not true! You also read that dog saliva is some sort of a miracle substance that helps wounds to heal. The truth is somewhere in the middle. A dog's tongue (just like a cat's tongue) can have a variety of bacteria on it. These bacteria can be harmful. There are a number of cases of a dog licking a human and getting that saliva into an open wound, like a paper cut, and causing serious harm. The issue isn't one of the dog in particular. It's more that the person would not put dirt or dust into an open wound - but they are willing to let the dog lick the wound.
With parakeets, they have tiny bodies which are sensitive to bacteria. You probably don't let your parakeet play in the dirt or crawl around on your grubby basement floor. But if you let dog saliva get onto your parakeet, that's in essence what you've done. That bacteria swarm can now affect the parakeet.
As you might imagine, the same holds true if you pet your dog - since dogs lick themselves and get their saliva on their fur - and then pet your parakeet. Your hand is now transferring that bacteria swarm from your dog onto your parakeet.
So the key is of course not to let your dog lick your parakeet, and to wash your own hands before you play with your parakeet. That way you don't become a bacteria carrier.
If your dog does happen to lick your parakeet through a dangerous accident, then I would get a fresh bathtub of water for your keet and encourage her to wash off as much as possible. That way you get the bacteria off of her. Then be sure to watch her for signs of illness. It's not as if your keet was just coated in arsenic - but you want to be as safe as possible!
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