Help!!! Birds terrorizing my dog!!

[Chris Smith]

My backyard has lots of trees and Nalu spends most of his time out there. With the warmer weather coming, there are tons of birds - especially blue jays in the yard. They have started terrorizing my dog!! There are taunting and teasing him constantly. They will swoop down, almost peck him and then go flying off. Or they will land near him, crow like mad to get him racing at them and they fly off right when he's within reach. Then they will sit above him in the trees just laughing and laughing (well crowing, but it seems like laughter). I haven't seen him pecked yet, but it's probably coming.

My poor dog is so frustrated with not catching them and with the taunting. Now he has started to bark constantly at them in the trees when they are sitting up there laughing at him. My normally quiet dog has become a nuisance to the neighbors who just complained about the barking. I also just found out that a dog was poisoned to death by a neighbor from barking so I am a little concerned.

I don't dislike birds, but how can I get the taunting and terrorizing to stop? Does anyone know of a device or something to use in the yard to deter birds? I'm not sure if I can control his barking when I am not home. Is there any way to desensitive him to these birds who seem to want him out of "their" yard?

[Rowena Fry]

Oh no, poor Nalu! Contrary to what people think, pretty, little birds can be quite the territorial terrors!

When we first got our puppy in Malaysia, the crows that frequented our garden weren't too pleased. They used to sit on the wall where Loo couldn't get them and 'craw craw craw' at her while she would leap up and bark her head off. Eventually they realised that she was there to stay and the 'confrontations' were less frequent.

They never swooped down and pecked her though, so I don't really know what you can do about that. I think that is probably because there are so many birds in your trees, and they've got a kinda pack mentality going.

Are they scared of you when you walk out there? Do you feed them in the winter? Perhaps you could hang some chimes or other noise makers in your trees to keep them from gathering? Maybe a scarecrow-like thing?

[Grace Erick]

Chris, these birds are most likely being protective over their bird nests. They must have nests nearby and are chasing your dog away from being anywhere near their nests and babies. When the babies fly away, the birds will most probably stop bothering your dog. I'm not sure what else you can do. I'm surprised they don't go after you too.

Birds and squirrels seem to have a sense that a dog cannot get to them at a certain height, so it is almost like they really are mocking them, lol:) I know last year, I had a squirrel that would sit on my 6ft fence and just watch my dog without a care in the world and she sat below him all excited, wanting to play with him.

I live near the Puget Sound in WA state where I have seen crows chase bald eagles away from their nests, and you know a bald eagle can turn around and kill them, so they are lucky when the eagle just flies off, which is a reason I cannot leave my 3-1/2 pd chihuahua outside alone, because of bald eagles and hawks. I'd take a blue jay bothering my dog any day over a bald eagle or hawk that will come down and kill her.

[Chris Smith]

Thanks for ideas. I hadn't thought about a nest being up there. Maybe there is one. The birds do seem bothered by me too but if I clap my hands loud they will fly up into the trees. But they still crow like crazy at both of us. Hopefully they will calm down if they have babies up there once they leave.

I might also try a scarecrow or see what I can find on the internet that can "chase" the blue jays away. And hopefully they will get used to seeing Nalu and start to leave him alone!!!

[Grace Erick]

It is springtime and depending where you are, they are building nests or laying eggs or hatching their young ones. I saw a crow chase a squirrel in the park today. I would guess that the squirrel was near the crow's nest.

About a year ago, they had a funny piece on the news of some kind of bird that would dive bomb everyone who went by on this street, because the bird had a nest there.

I think a scarecrow may just help the bird build the nest if they take straw or twigs from it. My mom in NY saw these Quaker Parrots that are wild in front of her house go into my sister's dogwood tree and start ripping out small twigs for their nests.

Bye, Grace

[Rowena Fry]

Hi Chris,
Grace is right about the nests, if the blue jays have nested in the surrounding trees, it will be rather difficult to get rid of them. Their behaviour towards you seems to support the fact that they are protecting nests. If they have already laid eggs, I'm not sure there is any way to get rid of them until the chicks are old enough to fly for themselves. Unfortunately that means more of a commotion whenever you or Nalu step outside! :(

You could try putting windchimes, noise makers, scarecrow, or even a pretend cat or eagle (stuffed animal, wooden cut out, or something) up into the tree to make the jays believe it isn't safe for them to raise chicks there. Depends how smart they are, cos they could just end up using it as nest-building material as Grace suggested!

I do know that to keep smaller birds away from airport areas in Hong Kong, they have place metal cut outs of eagles and hawks quite close to the ground and that is all that's needed to keep the smaller birds away. They have very sharp eyesight and just seeing the shape of a hawk is enough. Then again, the birds in your area may be used to your garden and may be bolder in their investigation should you put something in the trees.

Never hurts to give it a go though! Good luck! :)

[Dave Kersh]

At our previous home, we had a Martin house. The Martins would swoop down and pick hair off our Australian Shepherd, Daisy to line their nests. They got quite a bit of hair for a bit, but Daisy figured it out. It only took two dead Martins to make them leave her alone. :eek:

[Chris Smith]

Wow - impressive that Daisy could catch them and kill them (or did you?). Nalu tries to catch him but just as he gets close, they head straight up and get out of his reach. I think there may have been a nest that they were protecting because, although they are still around, the tormenting has lessened.

They are nasty and mean though and I wouldn't mind teaching them the lessen that you and Daisy did to your birds!!

[Dave Kersh]

Daisy got 'em.
She snapped them out of the air when they flew over her head! She's also a great fly catcher. :)

[Grace Erick]

I'm a bird owner. I have a African Gray Parrot, so bird chomping doesn't sound too good to me!!! What's wrong with a little peck on the head every once and a while:) I do understand though. I wouldn't want birds pulling hair out of my dog or attacking her.

A few weeks ago, I was hiking around a lake with a thin piece of land that stretched out onto this lake. At the end were 4 huge Canadian Geese eggs in a nest. One egg is about 6 times the size of a regular egg.

In WA, the birds, Canadian Geese etc are a problem, but we have a lot of protective orgs against killing them, so parks and other orgs have either gotten dogs to chase the geese away, let birds of prey lose under control or used other methods to rid parks and airports of birds that can crash a plane.