What happens when the bird lands on the dog’s eyes and scratches it? How confident are you that the dog won’t give a warning nip?

Furthermore, mammal saliva is toxic to birds. This is stupid in more ways than one.

It only takes one time being surprised.

It’s always a risk. Would you want your best friend to go into a polar bear enclosure alone even if the bear had never mauled anyone or acted like it wanted to?

It’s never worth the risk if you value the little bird’s life.

Many professional trainers believe that hard mouth can be a hereditary affliction. When selecting a puppy, by all means check out the parents first. Still, there is really no surefire way to tell if a dog is going to be predisposed to damaging birds once it grows up. That part likely falls in the luck-of-the-draw department. There are, however, precautions you can take while training your retriever puppy that may help prevent the dog from developing hard mouth. Common sense applies in most cases.

I mean, they’re literally bred to grab birds.

Please don’t do this.

A dog has a very strong predator instinct, and one little bite is all it takes to kill the budgie very painfully.

It looks very cute, but it’s a recipe for disaster.

Nothing better than chili or miso ramen.

I’ve never looked at a pelican the same way since I saw one swallow a seagull in one gulp.

Absolutely.

I moved out on my own and started asking the questions that I had previously been told not to ask at church.

Turns out there’s a reason you’re not supposed to ask those.

Lots of maker type hobbies do require an initial (and often ongoing) material purchase. Some are better than others at using what is at hand though.

Sewing/alterations is both a useful skill to have and allows you to repurpose old fabrics.

Art supplies can be quite expensive, but drawing materials are fairly ubiquitous. You likely have something within reach that you can practice with.

Guitar and magic tricks.

Ideally both at the same time.

Or if their bat-trees are low.