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This is tangential but our monk parakeets make a special sound when they see something they don't like. We have learned to identify it, and hilarously, our dogs

This is tangential but our monk parakeets make a special sound when they see something they don't like. We have learned to identify it, and hilarously, our dogs did too. Now when they see something weird (recently, a bird of prey in street light they saw through the window) they sound the alarm and the dogs go absolutely crazy.

vanderZwan 1mo ago
> and hilarously, our dogs did too. Tangent to your tangent, but this is one reason why a guard llama works so well together with guard dogs for protecting livestock. A llama is much more alert to potential danger than, say, sheep. Which actually is an understatement: sheep have the added problem of not making any noises when attacked or eaten by predators, and therefore not alerting guard dogs. Dogs can teach themselves to interpret the llama's body language and pro-actively chase away coyotes or foxes or whatever it is that the llama spotted. I've seen this in action on a family friend's sheep farm. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_llama https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_llama
veunes 1mo ago
That is fascinating. The parakeets are basically providing an early warning system, and the dogs have figured out enough of their "language" to subscribe to it.
- card_zero 1mo ago
  There's a more complicated example with fork-tailed drongos and meerkats. The drongos can mimic the meerkat alarm calls in order to panic them at strategic moments (and swoop in to take food), along with a high percentage of genuinely helpful alarm calls to keep them malleable.
- devilbunny 1mo ago
  My in-laws had a Chihuahua as the alert dog and a Doberman as the guard dog. Yip yip yip WOOF WOOF WOOF. Took the Dobie on a lot of walks in natural areas where sketchy people were around. Funny enough, nobody tries anything when you have an 85-lb/40 kg dog. They saw me put her on a leash when I saw them and they knew I could just drop it.

vanderZwan 1mo ago

> and hilarously, our dogs did too. Tangent to your tangent, but this is one reason why a guard llama works so well together with guard dogs for protecting livestock. A llama is much more alert to potential danger than, say, sheep. Which actually is an understatement: sheep have the added problem of not making any noises when attacked or eaten by predators, and therefore not alerting guard dogs. Dogs can teach themselves to interpret the llama's body language and pro-actively chase away coyotes or foxes or whatever it is that the llama spotted. I've seen this in action on a family friend's sheep farm. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_llama https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_llama

veunes 1mo ago

That is fascinating. The parakeets are basically providing an early warning system, and the dogs have figured out enough of their "language" to subscribe to it.

card_zero 1mo ago
There's a more complicated example with fork-tailed drongos and meerkats. The drongos can mimic the meerkat alarm calls in order to panic them at strategic moments (and swoop in to take food), along with a high percentage of genuinely helpful alarm calls to keep them malleable.
devilbunny 1mo ago
My in-laws had a Chihuahua as the alert dog and a Doberman as the guard dog. Yip yip yip WOOF WOOF WOOF. Took the Dobie on a lot of walks in natural areas where sketchy people were around. Funny enough, nobody tries anything when you have an 85-lb/40 kg dog. They saw me put her on a leash when I saw them and they knew I could just drop it.