Questions

[BareFoot]

Ok, before even really thinking about buying a Corgi (my first), I wanted to know a few things.

First off, I breed birds so I do have a flock. I have 11 Peachfaced Lovebirds, 2 Black Headed Caiques (smaller parrots) and 2 Pacific Parrotlets (smaller than the Lovebirds). These guys come first in my life. If I decide to get a Corgi, I need to know about their compatibility as far as ignoring/accepting the birds. I have/will continue to have a bird room where all my Lovebirds are housed and where the puppy/dog would not be allowed, so I am not too worried about that. But the other birds are not housed in the same room. The small parrots are the only ones that get to come out of their cage and they are very well behaved around dogs so far (no experience with them and puppies).

I know that Corgis are a herding breed, but do they tend to be hunters at all? Or is that more of an individual trait?

I eventually want to get a puppy, mailny for the fact that I want to train him to either ignore the birds, accept the birds or even (and I know this can be very rare) befriend the birds. I would never expect the puppy/dog to be friends with the birds, but that would be great.

Does anyone have this sort of scenario in their home? Birds and dogs I mean?

I have had dogs almost my entire life (very short 23 years) but since I have expanded my bird family, I have not been able to have a dog. I moved out of my parents' house 4 years ago and in the places I have lived since, I could not take my dog with me due to size issues/space issues. I will be moving soon into a larger house with no animal restrictions (I will be owning). I would have planned to take my dog with me from my parents' house, but she was diagnosed with cancer (sort of, it was a guess since they couldn't really diagnose her fully) and passed away about 3-4 weeks ago.

Does anyone have an insight as to Pembroke Corgis and other animals?

Thank you guys so much, I have a feeling I will be on this forum a lot reading all the wonderful posts!

Briana

[Jane Austen]

Welcome and congradulations on owning your own home. Yes, I think a puppy would be a good choice in your case. The pup could learn to coexist with birds. Have you ever seen that guy on TV, Mark, something or other? He has every kind of animal and bird loose in a small room, mostly on a table. None of them seem to be in danger from any other animal.

[BareFoot]

Thanks! No, I have not heard of Mark..something or other

I have been scoping out breeders in MN and have found a few that I think would be good breeders to contact when I am ready for a pup. I'm so excited! I do want to take my time though so I'm good and ready before I get one.

I wish I could adopt one, but purebred puppies are hard to find at rescues as it is, Corgis especially!

I do want to make sure I can train the pup to at least respect the birds.

[Michael Romanos]

I have never owned a Corgi who was not parrot-acceptability and even friendly and companionable. Currently Taylor my Pem is friendly with an Indian Ringneck parrot and before that he use to herd two budgies when they were at floor level. But Corgis do display jealousy when they feel that human members of their family are paying far to much attention to the parrot. There is the odd Corgi who would not hesitate to kill anything smaller than themselves that is not a dog but these are not the norm and usually have been raised in a home without other pets etc.

[MyPemCharlie]

Welcome Briana,

I don't know about birds, but Charlie does coexist peacefully with my 3 cats. One of the cats likes to play with him; the others just keep their distance, but no fights.

A few weeks ago Charlie managed to trap and corner a baby squirrel in the backyard. I do believe he would have played with it until he killed it, if I hadn't helped it escape.

I'd say with my pup, animals he's been raised with are great, wild critters are fair hunting game.

[BareFoot]

Thank you for the responses! Micheal, it is great to see that someone else has one of these great dogs and birds to boot! So I guess with any interspecies family, I will need to keep a close eye and make sure everyone gets along. I would never leave the birds out with the dog in the same room all alone.

Thankfully both of my Caiques are dog friendly so far (they have met a few and my male likes to play with dogs) so hopefully when the time comes to get a pup, we won't have any problems! (Here's to hoping for the best, but planning for the worst!)

My parents just got a new pup also, a little male Shetland Sheepdog and so far in a multi-species household, it has been alright. They have 3 birds (2 Budgies and one parrot), 2 cats, 2 kids (younger than 10- my nieces) and the pup, and so far there has not been any issues. I am hoping that a herding dog like a Corgi would have similar results in our home.

[PemCorgis]

I think a Corgi will be much easier to introduce to birds than say a terrier or a hunting dog. Other than trying to herd the birds, my hunch is if he's taught a "no touch, just look" rule he/she would be fine with birds. Good luck with it!

[Dillydoodle]

Unfortunately, I have not had good luck with a corgi and a parrot... I had a maximillion pionus parrot who was used to being out of his cage a few hours a day, minimally. I got Dillon as a puppy, and while he was fine with my cats ( likes to chase them but they were large enough to not be hurt by him - and since then he listens to me when i ask him to stop). However, the bird was a different story, he was completely obsessed with "catching" the bird... He would leap up and snap towards the bird when he was out of his cage and he was constantly trying to get at the bird , even when he was in his cage. I feared for the birds life and while I did spend 8 months working with the two of them to get them to coexist, i couldnt make it happen, and i didnt trust the corgi near the bird. I had to move the bird cage to a separate room that the dog couldnt go into , and i had the most miserable parrot, he HATED the new spot, he would pout on top of his cage for hours. I would try to go into the room as often as possible but he was no longer in the family room where we lived 80% of the time..so he was miserable.. I spent a lot of time and effort working with them... and I finally had to rehome the bird to a woman who he loved! she was a friend of mine and the only other person that my bird loved and she had no dogs, no cats, and was a bird person who could give him the kind of attention and time he wanted and needed... In the end we know we made the right decision ( nothing made that more clear than when i went to see how he was doing with his new family and he was talking away and dancing and having such a fun time, not pouting on his perch as he was doing at my house!

I think in MOST cases, it comes down to training of the dog. my biggest issue was that dillon wanted to play with him by snapping at him, and i was worried that one bite and he could have killed the bird and that was the determining factor for why we didnt keep on working on it. Dillon loves kids of all ages, he is fine with other dogs, cats, but i just wouldn't ever trust him with birds, as he has some fascination/obsession with them... he has never bitten anyone or any other animals so i dont understand where this snapping behavior came from ...

Gus ( my other corgi) on the other hand has never shown any obsessive behaviors towards cats, birds or anything else...he loves everyone and every thing - I just think different dogs have different personalities - some will be fine with birds, some might not be...

Emilie

[BareFoot]

Thank you Emilie. I'm sorry you had to give up your Maxi Pi, but thankfully he loves his new home! That is something that worries me, but the honest truth is that if the pup did not get along with the birds, it would be the first to go, as my birds come first and foremost in my life. I would hate to get a dog only to have to give him up. I guess when the time comes, I will also be seeing if there are any breeders that raise their puppies in interspecies homes.....

[Chip's Mom]

You may want to ask your breeder if you can take the pup on a trial basis just in case they didn't get along. We had a cockatiel and he would bite people if they held their hand to his cage but when Digger would stick his nose up to his cage, our cockatiel would go down to where Digger was and cluck at him and talk to him. Digger would stand their for hours and just wag his tail and listen to the bird talking to him. good luck

[Michael Romanos]

There are three kinds of dogs and their relationship to family caged birds - those that will leave them intact because it is part of their nature and those that are made to realise that the bird/s are special and not to be damaged. The third type can't be trusted. So a short trial period with a pup may not be a good idea because compatability can be a learnt thing.

[Dillydoodle]

There are a few breeders that have other animals in the home and this is a great way to know that the puppies were raised with and are tolerant of other animals... Any reputable breeder would take back a puppy in a heartbeat if it didnt work out, but honestly, i have seen more cases where it did work out than it didnt, i was just the unlucky one that it didnt work out for...which was a heartbreak for me...

Oh and i looked at your site, you have some lovely birds! I love the caiques.. sooo full of personality.. I also think that any puppy going into your home would realize quickly that the birds rule the roost there- i had one lonely bird, you have a flock...

and corgis in general ROCK so i sure hope it works out for you...
Emilie

[rme147]

Briana,
My husband and I have many pets. Before we got our Corgi (a week ago), we had, and still have, 2 potbelly pigs (who live outside, but he's met them), 2 mini daschunds (weiner dogs), 2 hamsters, a million fish and a prakeet. Levi, our Corgi, is now 7 weeks old and besides playing with our other two dogs, none of the other animals even phase him. Our weiner dogs absolutely FLIPPED (even literally) when we got our bird. Our daschunds bark at EVERYTHING... espicially birds, but with my Corgi experience so far, you should have nothing to worry about.

From what I have read and learned, Corgis are not considered "hunters", but if a small rodant (like a hamster or mouse) were to be loose in the house, they probably wouldn't last very long... so needless to say, I have to tripple check my hamster cage every night, but as far as birds, I have never heard of a Corgi being aggressive towards a bird.


~Robin