Other Pets?

[Asue]

Some of ya know I want to get a Boston Terrier puppy from my posting in the Behaviour forum...

My heart is still set on a Boston puppy. My fiance doesn't like them because he wants a Jack Russell instead. I'm going to be the one home part of the day and having a hyperactive pup turn into a dog who needs a lot of excersie isn't on my wish list.

Bostons are a calm breed, they've been known to walk away with complete strangers with their tails wagging. They're friendly. Some breeders I've visited say that Bostons are not "yappy" dogs. One guy said if his female did bark, then he'd take her to the vet to make sure nothing was wrong! :)
This is a dog that I could live with in a one bedroom apartment!!

Anyone else wanted a pet when your significant other didn't want one?
I don't want to get a pup if my fiance doesn't agree with it....

[Angelwing]

Maybe you should get a Boston and a Jack Russel. ;)

I don't have a significant other anymore, but I do still live with my parents. There are many animals that I'd love to have (maine coon, golden retriever, african grey, sun conure...the list goes on) but they aren't too thrilled with my choices. I'll just have to wait a few years. :cool:

[Mummieeva]

Yup, I got a pet my husband could not imagine why i wanted. Lovebirds..lol. He never understood why I liked them. But he let me get them. My husband has his cat and I have my birds. We both want a dog. But waiting til sons are potty trained. We also have to find a breed that can stand 2 rough boys(no little Shizu for me,,,darn it). If was up to us we would have a zoo. I agree a Jack russel is not a great dog for all. I would never even get one. They can be rather aggressive dogs for their size. Alteast from what I have seen.



Steph

[Buy A Paper Doll]

Actually my first choice for a pet was a cat ( ! ) but my husband is allergic to cats and dogs. Because it was going to cause him to have health problems, I had to take "no" for an answer.

He didn't understand why I'd ever want a bird, let alone two birds. Now he has a framed picture of the birds on his desk at work and calls them "the babies."

[Cooper]

Oooh, Boston Terrier is on my list of possible breed of dog if ever I could get another type of pet. My fiance is very allergic to everything it seems. I had to leave my best friend of nearly 17 years at mom's when we moved out. I was heartbroken, but thought "it isn't logical to choose my cat over him". I still have hope that one day I can have a cat again, and will continue to bring it up - wear him down.

But seeing as how your fiance isn't against dogs in general, maybe the two of you could research the temperments of various breeds and find one that will work for both of you. Or just go to a dog breeder and get him to fall in love with one of the puppies!

[Buy A Paper Doll]

I had to leave my best friend of nearly 17 years at mom's when we moved out. I was heartbroken, but thought "it isn't logical to choose my cat over him".

I had the same thing happen, but when I moved out, we all felt that it was in my elderly cat's best interest to continue to live with my parents. They had already retired and were home with her all day. We just didn't think it was fair to stick her in an apartment by herself while I was at work.

[cassysmiley]

Try 8 fish tanks. :D
No allergies there at all. :whistle:
as got babies comming out of her ears. :eek: doh.
my boys wont let me have another cat in house now. And they are CATS.!!
already got a parrot who when i come in says night night instead of Hello.
Says Hello if i am going out. Only time he gets it right, is when i cover him up. then its Night night. (wonder if he got a bit of irish in him. :lol )
cant have a dog. due cant walk them. Have to agree Jack Russels can be nippers. Cant beat a good Mongrel tho. ;)
Cassy

[Bella]

My hubby has never exactly WANTED any of the pets I have had. The deal has always been that they are my pets, and I am solely responsible for them.

I did have a bit more discussion with him about the pug puppy we recently got, as that impacts on his life rather more than birdies, and the guinea pigs I used to have. He said he would live with it so long as I do all the work.

Well, he has now fallen in love with Snifter (though I still have to do all the work :lol )

If you do get a Boston I'm sure you will find good internet forums, but as I have a pug I go to PugVillage.com. There are quite a few folks who have Boston Terriers as well as pugs, and I'm sure you'd be very welcome.

[Asue]

Well... after a few weeks of chit-chat, my fiance and I didn't find any breeds that fit our lifestyle, and our rental agreement on pets. Our Apartment complex won't allow any pet over 20lbs. Birds aren't a prob. If they had been... we wouldn't have moved in.;) Yeah, Mikey's a big factor in our lifestyle.

On an unplanned visit to our local bird store ( Mikey needed a nail trim and I don't have the guts for that ) we met a Green Cheek Conure, and some Ringneck Parakeets ( don't know the difference between African/Indian sorry!! ) The ringnecks were nippy, but the Green Cheek wanted to take a quick trip down my shirt. :p Perv bird!
After playing with the GCC, and asking a bunch of questions, I think I may want one!

The store owner said the GCC aren't as loud as the Jendays or Suns. -But they can be loud. The guy also said GCC can live in apartments without disturbing the neighbors too much. I stuck around to hear the GCC vocalize. Two hours of shopping and the ( 14) cockatiels were drowning out the GCC!
I wonder if anyone else has GCC's or knows someone who does?
What are your thoughts of GCC as pets?

[mjm8321]

Lori (Bellarains) and Kimmie (Kimsbirds) have GCC's and I've heard they are absolutely delightful. I'm sure they can fill you in on all the good stuff. I have a Gold Cap conure who is loud, cranky and hates me....wrong person to ask about Conures...:rofl: :rofl:

[Janie]

Sue, since you live close to me (I'm in Norcross, a stones throw from Doraville), I'm curious where you saw these birds....what store? If you're seriously thinking about buying a conure (a green cheek IS what I'd buy if I were conure shopping) you should plan a trip to the next bird fair which is on March 4th and 5th at the Atlanta Farmers Market. But, before that, a trip to the Avarium, located around Gwinnett Place Mall is a great place to see lots of conures and to HEAR them, too. They have a bird room and I've seen as many as 15 in that room before. It was deafening! :lol Their birds are nice and if I were going to buy one at a pet/bird store, that IS where I'd go. But, since finding the bird fairs, I'd be far more likely to buy there. The breeder that sold me my last two lovies does have conures and could probably give you info. on the breeders she knows that will be selling them at the show. She doesn't have any GCC babies right now, just one Sun, that I know of, but she does know other breeders and could probably give you some advice and information about them. If you want phone numbers for my breeder, Jeanette, or the Avarium, send me a PM and I'll get them to you.

If I were to get any other parrot species, I do think it would be a GCC! Perfect size and so darn cute. Yep, Lori and Kim will tell you that! :D

[Eliza]

Right now it's just myself, Beetle the lovebird and Cricket the BEW Holland Lop.

I also care for a saltwater tank with 3 fish and 1 shrimp. I'll have to edit later w/ the types!

I live above a business so I can't have too many pets... or noisy ones, for that matter. Dogs and cats aren't allowed (believe me -- I've tried!) or else I'd look into rehoming through a shelter or rescue.

I was given one of those small, desk-top aquariums as a gift a while back and I'm finally getting around to setting it up. I'm trying to figure out what types of fish are best suited for it, though!

-e-

[Mummieeva]

Ej guppies do well and are not super hard to care for. It all depends on the size of the tank.

Sue I agree with Janie bird fairs are the best. I might be going to next one also.But unlike last time this time I can get a bird(or two:whistle: ). The only other pets we might get in future is one dog. Hopefully soon I can get rid of the huge fish tank we have.



Steph

[Cooper]

I've read that Senegals are relatively quiet. There was an article that talked about parrots and their levels of noise. There was even a bit that compared different parrots to a recognizable sound (ie finches sound like a well tuned BMW...). I can't find it though :(
...but I did find this http://www.parrotparrot.com/articles/senegal.html

[mjm8321]

Senegals? Someone considering one? We have a Senegal, and I believe Cassy does as well, so she might be able to offer her experience as well.

Our Sennie, Ripley, is marvellous. Though we adopted him and he has some behavioral issues, such as plucking and he arrived with a severe hatred of women, I wouldn't trade him for the world...or even a Hyacinth Macaw. :lol

He is quiet in comparison to the evil Conure we have, but he is a master at mimicry. He can mimic the conure perfectly, so you can imagine it can get very loud at times. He can also imitate a cockatiel as well as a lovebird (can you guess what types of birds I have? LOL). He is very intelligent, picks up words and sounds very quickly. Relatively speaking, he is quiet. Senegals are very intense however and unless they are introduced and bond with multiple people from a young age, can be deeply attached to their chosen person and that's when the behavioral issues can come in. Ripley hated women so badly when he arrived that he would literally jump (he had no flight at all) 5-6 feet off his cage to attack me. Senegals have a very strong beak and he drew blood everytime....even attacked my neck. Through a lot of behavioral modification (both for him and me) we are at a point now that he allows me to touch him, give beak rubs and scritches and we talk for about 15 minutes each morning while I'm getting ready for work. Both of us are not ready for me to handle him still. I offered my hand to him recently and he let me know, with eye pinning and body language that he wasn't ready. I respected that and backed off and he and I continued our "conversation" and head petting. He is a delight to have in my life.
Senegals are very playful, acrobatic and I had no idea how well they can speak until he began learning new words with us. I'd recommend having one, only if you are willing to put in a lot of time with him/her.
Ok, I'm done, sorry for the novel. ;)

[Z28Taxman]

Ok MJ, now I have another parrot to add to my list of birds that I want. :eek: Thanks. :rofl:

I only have Ditto but have to constantly resist getting more parrots.

[Kathryn]

Eliza, Have you thought of a betta for your desk top fish tank? They are easy to care for and are beautiful.

Cooper, Loved the site and watched every movieof all the birds.:rofl:

[Asue]

Janie, we were at Petsupermarket. It's of Holcomb Bridge, I think...

:happy: I forgot all about the Bird fair in Forest Park! I'm marking my calander!

I already got a big cage, perches, a stainless steel feed dish and a tear-up toy. Well, we live in an apartment, neighbors on both sides and below. No one's complained about Mikey, he's only outside on our covered porch during the late afternoon hours. Our neighbor to one side actually enjoys Mikey's chattering. ;) Anyway... are senegals very loud? Compared to a Sun?

I want a playful parrot that won't screech like a Macaw every hour on the hour? ;) At least... not until we buy a house. So... now it's between a sennie and a GCC? I'm going to look up some sennie facts.

[Janie]

Janie, we were at Petsupermarket. It's of Holcomb Bridge, I think..

:D I wondered if that was where you saw them! I was there a few days ago!!! I might have been there at the same time you were! :D I live about 3 to 4 miles from there so I pop in often. I saw the conures, all three of them. The little sun conure was so friendly (*I* did not hold him but several customers did). They told me that the GCC's were not friendly but I'm not sure how much they really know about their birds. The GCC's were gorgeous! Wasn't one a dusky? I've sent you a PM with contact information for Jeanette. :)

[mjm8321]

Are Senegals loud???

Well, they do have couple of calls that can be shrill but certainly not as loud as our conure. I guess it would depend upon whether the bird had been exposed to other "loud" birds and picked up their calls. Ours can imitate the conure perfectly and they have a daily routine of calling back and forth to each other in "conure-ese"....yes, that's loud. But I'd imagine if you got a young Senegal, they might not have picked up such noises. However, Ripley also mimics perfectly, the sound of the battery going low "beep" in a smoke detector, door slamming shut, squeaky door opening to the laundry room, whistles, burps (yes, burps), various other interesting sounds....and he talks up a storm. He is playful and very lovable....he does have his behavioral issues that came with him when we adopted him, but he's really a fantastic fid!
I'm sure GCC parronts will tell you there little ones are marvellous as well. I've only heard good things about green cheeks, never bad, so I guess that says alot.

[HeatherH]

I agree with Janie.... you should give Jeanette a call or send her an email.... it would be worth waiting for one of her babies!!! I have 2 of her babies and I must say they are my fav's of all my birdies shhh... dont let my others know ;)

[Finnysmommie]

I have 2 dogs and a Lovebird. All of which my husband said each time "If you buy that I am divorcing you". Well we are still together and he has 2 dogs and a lovebird that he now adores! I was actually shocked at how fast he bonded with Finny, I thought it would take years, but if you look at my pics posted on the pics page you will see that was not the case.

Just a note... I admit I know next to nothing about birds and what I do know I mostly learned here, but I do know about dogs.
If you are even considering a Jack Russell you should be prepared to have a very hyper pup on your hands (this does not change when they become full grown). They are wonderful dogs but it takes a special type of parent to handle their energy levels. If you are in an apartment I would not suggest it. The Boston would be your best choice. They are calmer and need less constant attention. But both breeds are wonderful (In fact I am a dog lover and think all breeds are wonderful).

For those of you with allergies that still would love to have a dog. There are two breeds of dogs that you can most likely still have.

1. Poodle (all sizes) standard, teacup, toy.

2. (my personal favorite) Schnauzer (all sizes) We have two Mini Schnauzers who are the most wonderful dogs in the world! My husband has athsma and terrible allergies and he has no problems with our dogs. They do not shed and they do not have dander (or at least if they do it is very very little). They have wonderful personalities and were both very easy to train... ok so not the little one he is stubborn but still trained. I have heard it said that people with small children should not own a mini schnauzer but I cannot find any justification for that statement in my dogs at all. They are around children frequently and are actually quite patient as they have their beards pulled and eyes poked etc. They actually gravitate towards children for the kisses and of course the crumbs and food they drop :-)

Anyway I just wanted to post this so that I could try to be helpful as so many of you here have been for me.

I wish you luck with your doggie adoption and no matter what breed you decide on you will have a happy healthy pup if you just give it lots of love and attention :-)

Finnysmommie