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Pyewacket goes to the dogs

Eva Sargent | May 28, 2008


I want to make clear to everyone at my local parrot rescue group that - just like I said on the application - I don't have any dogs.  It's my boyfriend Randall who has dogs, Sparky and Cholla. Sparky is a pit bull mix and Cholla is part German shorthair.  They are great dogs, but not the kind who snap to attention and unfailingly do what they are told. Before Pyewacket moved in, the dogs were at my house almost every weekend; A. P. (after Pyewacket), they had been staying home, awaiting the big day when I got up the nerve to introduce them.

In the meantime, barking dogs in my neighborhood always set Pyewacket off on a screaming binge. Granted I have no experience here, but he didn't seem upset by the barking, but like he wanted to join in.  I didn't know if he had dogs at his former home, and I was worried that he would be terribly afraid of these big furry predators. I had confidence that I could train the dogs to behave around him, but I knew I could never teach him not to be afraid.

Finally the dogs came over. Sparky came inside first, pulling at his leash to get closer to the big bright bird - nothing like the quail he chased at his house.  Pyewacket wasn't scared; he was looking on in fascination.  Sparky got to the cage and Randall held him still - I mean really still - Sparky was locked between his knees, and Randall had hold of both his leash and his collar. Pyewacket was on top of this cage, and he started to squeal and run. He was moving as fast as his feet and beak would carry him, climbing DOWN his cage toward Sparky.  I was pleading "No, don't get on the floor, please don't get on the floor."  He stopped inches from Sparky's face and leaned toward him saying "Hi, Hi, Hello" and squealing and whistling, delighted that a dog had come to visit.  I was a little jealous; after all he doesn't climb down his cage with a squeal of joy to meet me!

Sparky, bless him, was interested but not obsessed.  After just a few minutes he laid down and went to sleep two feet from the cage.  Cholla got the same reception.  She was a little scared of this beast who talked, but soon she too was bored and went to sleep. Both dogs were taken aback when Pyewacket let out a high-pitched ear splitting squeak. I hope he noted their reaction and now knows how to make them back up fast.

When Sparky first met my beloved cat Rocky (RIP), they launched toward each other so fast I couldn't stop them. But Sparky had play bowed first, so I relaxed.  From that day on they were best friends. They wrestled and chased each other and just when I thought Rocky was fed up (like when he was backed into a corner and hissing), he'd start it all again by chasing Sparky across the furniture, both of them bouncing off the walls.  Rocky learned how dogs move, and Sparky learned to out box cats, much to the consternation of the strays in the yard he tries to play with. 

And so it may be with Pyewacket.  I'm not about to let them wrestle or back each other into corners, or be unsupervised, but Sparky did play bow to his big-beaked friend, and that's the right start.

Bulletin: Pyewacket stepped onto my arm from his cage for the first time!  Thank goodness I had a walnut in my pocket. 

Leave me some comments below - tell me about your birds, or give me some Pyewacket tips.