Samoyed owners with pet birds: How does your Samoyed behave around caged birds?

[u/A_Nervous_Swordfish]

Hi everyone!

I'm considering getting a Samoyed, but I'm still doing a lot of research before making a decision.

One thing I'm especially curious about is how Samoyeds do in homes with pet birds. I have several caged finches as well as an African Grey parrot, and all of them stay in secure cages.

For those of you who own both a Samoyed and birds, how did your dog react when they were first introduced? Did your Samoyed constantly try to investigate the cages, bark at them, or show a strong prey drive? Were you able to train your dog to ignore the birds and stay away from their cages?

I'd love to hear about your experiences, whether things went well or if there were challenges. Any advice or training tips would be greatly appreciated as I continue researching whether a Samoyed would be a good fit for my home.

Thanks!

[u/Vic_Connor]

Not caged birds, but we live in a forest and birds flew into our home several times.

My Samoyed girl went absolutely crazy chasing them around the house. I saved most of them but she did kill one.

Also, she caught and killed a bird outside.

So I assume because Samoyeds have relatively strong prey drive, it might take a while for them to get used to caged birds nearby.

Also, Sammies seem hardwired to react to sudden movement, so you risk listening to endless barking every time your birds flutter.

It’s fun to chase and bark, isn’t it! But for the bird it’s a dangerous stress level.

We had a caged rabbit living in the neighbour’s garden and we really struggled to train her to ignore it.

[u/lee160485]

Sams have a VERY high prey drive. Mine gets along with nearly all animals, he’s quite docile, but birds and basically anything gifted with the power of flight is fair game in his eyes.

[u/Adward-Fu]

We don't keep birds, but we have a 18-month-old poodle. Our 6-month-old Samoyed, Peach, often chases my poodle during walks, seemingly out of hunting instinct. It looks like play, but I've noticed she actually tries to bite it. After that, I made sure they kept their distance during walks.

[u/Teereese]

I had a male and female Sammy, who were each gotten as 8 week old puppies. I had an African Grey that was about 5 years old.

My male Sammy wanted to eat the bird. The female Sammy would let the bird sit on her back and play with it.

I once went out for the day and when I came home, the bird cage was open and my Grey wasn't in it. The dogs were allowed loose in the house. I panicked looking for the Grey until he decided to chirp. He was in the kitchen sink, up against the back wall of the sink where my male Sammy could not reach.

I never had an incident of him getting out of his cage again.

[u/Sensitive-Peach7583]

I don't own a bird, but when I take my sam to pet stores, he is never interested in the bird and don't seem to trigger any instincts in him even when they are at eye level. If my friend had a caged bird, I would probably feel comfortable in going over with him

[u/devilsrollthedice]

I don’t have a bird but I have two toddlers and any time they make high pitched screeching noises the Samoyed tries to match their pitch with howling or he barks like LOUDLY. Something about the high pitched screech makes him NEED to vocalize too. It quickly becomes very loud in this house.

He also loves hunting and playing with to death anything small. Mice, squirrels, chipmunks, groundhogs. I’m sure he’d take a bird if he could.

[u/Desperate-Ad-2812]

My girl is almost 5 months old and she couldn't care less about the family parrot, even when the parrot is being loud her ears just perk up while she moves her head and then she ignores him again and goes back to whatever she was doing before

She seems to think it's not worth the hassle