Say Hello to Puppy

[Kenny]

This is Puppy, whom I think is male because there is no green near the vent.
He flew (actually walked) into my life 3 years ago and we have been best buddies ever since.

A local couple breeds Senegals and I got Puppy just after weaning.
There were only 2 babies in this clutch so baby-Puppy got a lot of handling and it shows; he's very cuddly and affectionate.

Puppy is usually hanging on my shirt or on one of the several perches or boing boings around the house.
He's not allowed on shoulders because of the eye-height-dominance concern I've read about.
Also, human eyeballs are very delicate and beaks are very sharp and fast.

Every day when I walk our dogs Puppy tags along (here in sunny Southern California) often hanging up side down from the thick leather leash, so cute.
He LOVES going for walks around the neighborhood and makes certain happy chortling sounds only when he's out for a walk.
He is very social with strangers and will climb down me and walk over to them as I keep a lookout for cats.
One of his favorite things to do is lay on his back and remove the cotton from Q-Tips, see pic above.

I love Puppy so much and appreciate this forum where I can hang out with fellow bird-people and learn how to give Puppy a better life.
I have already read two wonderful Barrons parrot books by Mattie Sue Allen.

[Natacha]

Hi and welcome.
Puppy is adorable

[dohcsvt]

Welcome, you have beautiful frien there. How does he get along with the other pets?

[Kenny]

Welcome, you have beautiful frien there. How does he get along with the other pets?

Like North and South Korea there's a DMZ zone that is rarely crossed.

We have two small (10-pound) 5-year old dogs that are closely-bonded sisters.
The day we brought Puppy home my SO sat with the dogs on one side of the room and I and Puppy on the other side.
All 5 of us were on the floor.
The instant Puppy saw the two dogs he growled.
Yes, the bird growled like a dog.
I can only assume the couple who hand fed the bird had dogs and that's how the Senegal learned the sound and its meaning.
My SO and I looked at each other in disbelief.

The two dogs ran to the other side of the room, and that was that.
The pecking order was established and remains unchallenged to this day.

Silly me, I'd like everyone to be lovey-dovey - so human of me.
I find every opportunity possible to get the three of them to be closer.
While the dogs are taking a nap I'll lay on the dog's bed with Puppy next to my neck.
The dogs will tolerate it, but usually will not relax with their backs to the bird.

Once or twice the bird has lightly nipped the dogs paws, to which they overreacted of course.

These days they have all three become much more comfortable with each other, occasionally even brushing against one another without incident or even reacting.

Occasionally I sense Puppy wants to get closer to the dogs but they are not really open to it.
I'm not sure how the proceed on this since it would be very easy (and only take an instant) for the bird's beak to remove some dog flesh or some dog teeth to kill the bird.