I answered this before but it somehow got deleted...
i love having birds in my garden, but i've found that traditional bird feeders are a disaster. i have two dogs like yours and the squirrels would make them nuts at dawn. i was overwhelmed with house sparrows that nested and pooped everywhere..
the solution for me was to ditch the feeders and put up 2 birdbaths, and 4 single outlet hummingbird feeders. I LOVE ❤️ how peaceful my yard has become, I have a much greater variety of birds that visit, and almost no fights. they don't stay as long in a bird bath, but there is no aggression and everyone comes to my yard
you have to clean the baths often, every 3rd day, but I just spray it out with the hose.
i do plant some flowers specifically to attract birds.. Asters and bachelor button are super easy to grow from seed and finches love both. I love my hummingbirds, even though they're total jerks and will harass away full grown blue jays to say nothing of what they do to each other..
all in, I prefer constant short visits for a sip of water.. every day I see every bird for a second. i enjoy the clean water bird bath visitors much more than I ever enjoyed the bird feeder that was expensive, aggressive and mostly house sparrows anyway.
