It may seem like an unlikely pairing, but Milo the dog and Cracker the rose-breasted cockatoo, commonly known as a galah, adore one another. Not only do they play and hang out, but the two will even snuggle together affectionately.
Their sweet friendship began when the 12-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier cross found the bird injured in an Australian park in 2020. His family took the parrot home to look after him, and Milo was instantly smitten.
“He is a gentle, beautiful soul with a lot of love to give,” Milo’s owner, Charlotte, 25, told The Epoch Times. “My dad was on a walk with him at his favorite park when they found Cracker on the ground, bleeding, with an injured wing.”
The galah cockatoo, a native Australian bird, was scared and shaken. Charlotte’s father initially helped him into a tree, away from danger, but quickly realized he couldn’t leave the park without him. Charlotte and her dad got hold of a big bird cage from Charlotte’s grandfather and placed the bird inside with food and water, hoping to help him heal in a safe place.
Charlotte, who lives in Melbourne and works in marketing and communications, says her dog was “completely obsessed” with Cracker, refusing to leave the bird’s side for days:
“It was summer at the time and Milo hates the heat, but he still stayed outside next to the cage, staring at Cracker.”
In time, aided by regular cleaning with salt water to prevent infection, the parrot’s wing healed up naturally. Wanting him to be free, Charlotte left the door of the cage open so the wild bird could come and go as he pleased, but he showed no sign of going anywhere.
“Every day, he’d just stay,” Charlotte said. “Birds are extremely intelligent, and I think over time he learned to trust us and knew we were just trying to take care of him.
“We aren’t exactly sure how old he is, but he could be 20-plus years old. He’s confident, crazy, loud, and bossy—and a massive show-off! He’s also very loving and affectionate, but only towards me and Milo!”
Whenever the bird climbed down to the floor of the cage, Milo would attempt to lick him through the bars. “We always assumed he wanted to eat him,” Charlotte said jokingly, “but Cracker always looked so calm.”
Soon, whenever Milo left Cracker’s sight the bird would scream, and Milo would go running back over to sit near him. Having brought the parrot into their home a month before the start of the pandemic, Charlotte said Cracker and Milo helped her enormously.
“We live in Melbourne, which had the toughest lockdown in the world,” she said. “Cracker and Milo brought so much joy—I don’t think I could’ve gotten through lockdown without them!”
Their antics really began when Cracker started to grow in confidence, climbing out of the cage and down onto the floor.
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But it hasn’t all been plain sailing. Disaster struck one day when Cracker went missing. By checking the security cameras, Charlotte discovered the parrot had gotten a fright and flown off. By now he'd become a part of the family, and they were saddened and worried for him.
Milo, too, was “absolutely devastated,” Charlotte said. “He’d cry, looking all around the house and check Cracker’s cage to see if he was in there. Seeing how sad it made Milo broke my heart—he just loved his little friend,” she said.
After two weeks, Charlotte’s aunt called to say a lost Galah had been handed in to a local vet. He had been found just 10 to 15 minutes away. Upon arrival, vet staff reported that the parrot had been in a nasty, bad-tempered mood. But when he saw Charlotte, the bird climbed straight up on her shoulder and started making kissy noises—something Cracker always does.
Since Galahs are commonplace in Australia, Charlotte still couldn’t be 100 percent sure it was Cracker. The only one who would know for sure was Milo. “When we brought Cracker home, Milo was in disbelief,” Charlotte said. “He couldn’t stop smiling for hours; he was so happy!”
Knowing straightaway the right bird was back, and having been told he wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild due to his wing injury, Charlotte decided to officially adopt Cracker.
Charlotte is currently writing a children’s book about Milo and Cracker’s friendship and can’t wait to share it with everyone who will “love them and their story.”
“It’s been a learning experience,” she said, sharing that her grandad kept birds when she was growing up since they were his favorite animals. “I had a bit of experience with smaller birds, but cockatoos like Cracker are completely different.
“It still amazes me that two species can learn to co-exist and love each other the way they do. Even though they are so different in every possible way, they’re like peas in a pod. The world could learn a thing or two from them!”
