How do I teach my hunter dog to leave a bird alone?

One of my dogs eats squirrels and birds and the likes, and I'm afraid he'll try to get to my bird. He hates water bottles, so maybe I should spray him with one if he gets too close to the bird? Open to suggestions, thanks.

Other than water, you should spray vinegar either around the cage, or on him. Vinegar isn't harmful, but it will keep your dog out of that area for several weeks. You can also spray him. Why don't you try saying, "no!" or other terse phrases like that to signal your dog that it isn't right to come near your bird??

Good luck!

You can try spraying him with water, but in the end, you probably can't do much about it. Its been hard wired into his brain through countless generations of breeding. Potential bird owners should be aware of this before they buy.

I wouldn't have both a bird and a dog as pets. They rarely mix well together. I'm afraid your hunter dog is going to seriously injure or kill your bird. I don't see how you can teach the dog to leave the bird alone. You either have to keep the dog outside where it can't get at the bird or one of them has to go. I'm hoping you'll keep the bird.

We had a duck hunting dog along with 2 cockatiels and a love bird. He learned not to bother them by us just telling him NO! I guess it depends on how disaplined your dog is and if you can get it through to him.