guinea pigs and dogs

ladymuck83

ladymuck83

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whats your thoughts or experience with this. My dog is 9 years old cavalier king charles, she can't hear any more but since the guinea pigs have come she is very excited and very very interested in them, i showed her one and she went to lick it and i pulled away as i was cautious, it but I'm not sure if it was god lick or i want to hunt u lick.

I taker her out the room when i let them have enrichment time but I've seen vids on youtube with dogs and guinea pigs and they are soooo cute but is this rare?
 
I personally let my dog near my Guinea pigs as he has been raised with lots of small animals such as rabbits and hamster he has never once caused them any harm he is always under supervision when hes near them and they seem to like him ino my two older boys climb on him and like to groom him he doesnt mind (this is him with my two younger boys he always lies down when around them and will not chase them if they get a fright)20190310_092752.webp
 
I think you should be cautious. I have 3 cats, two of which are new kittens in to the household. My older cat had nothing to do with the piggies and we have just started to introduce the kittens to them who seem more scared of the piggies than the piggies are of them! Just make sure that you supervise at all times and never leave your dog alone with your piggies
 
RicoandRocky said:
I personally let my dog near my Guinea pigs as he has been raised with lots of small animals such as rabbits and hamster he has never once caused them any harm he is always under supervision when hes near them and they seem to like him ino my two older boys climb on him and like to groom him he doesnt mind (this is him with my two younger boys he always lies down when around them and will not chase them if they get a fright)View attachment 114505
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Is that dog a terrier?
 
Cross what? I was just going to say. Watch out because terriers have it in their blood to go after small animals. Beuatiful dog and pig by the way👍.

I can see shi zu in your dog but i can also see terrier, the face isnt flat, looks jack russel ish. I might be totally wrong
 
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My dogs are absolutely fascinated with my guinea pigs, and my guinea pigs are just as fascinated with them. They come up to the bars and check each other out and interact, but I wouldn't let the guinea pigs around the dogs outside of the cage. It really does only take a second for something to happen and it all to be over. Having suffered a puncture wound when one of my dogs got excited and bit my arm without meaning to (he was excited, barking, my arm got in the way, and BANG), they can cause a lot of damage. Still have the scars, and he's the friendliest thing ever.
 
my terrier has no interest whatsoever in my pigs. however, any interest, even licks, show a potential to hurt a piggy. my auntie wanted to see if her puppy liked my pigs. at first, she just licked them, but soon tried to nip. luckily i intervened and gave her and puppy some stern words :whistle: :whistle: unless your dog is entirely comfortable around them and doesnt show any interest whatsoever, and has ideally been raised with them, i wouldn't risk it. the way that dog is looking at the piggies above is a bit scary! looks like he wants one in his belly.
 
I would never trust a predator and a prey animal together, it’s just not worth it for the cute factor imo. I’ve heard far too many horror stories of pigs who have lost their lives to lovely family dogs. It’s not their fault, it’s their nature regardless of domestication. I think it’s up to us owners to make sure that both are protected from that ever happening.

I wouldn’t trust any of my carnivorous animals with my pigs, they’ve never met in person. Besides, I’m pretty sure it would terrify the pigs. One of the reasons I won’t go on Facebook piggy pages is the amount of pictures with pigs next to cats and dogs that look petrified, it makes me so sad and it’s so dangerous :(
 
It is interesting watching the unique bonds animals make. I've seen many videos of dogs making friends with guinea pigs or other various species- very cute, but as said above also very risky.

My dog LOVES my rabbit and my rabbit I'm turn LOVES my dog. I've honestly never seen a bond like it. She'll go out and wait by his hutch and cry until I let him out. Then he'll follow her around binkying and nudging her leg 😂
 
The only thing my Patterdale Terrier is interested in when it comes to my pigs is their poop, otherwise he couldn't give a monkeys, BUT I would never put the pigs in a situation where there is the potential for my terrier to get at them, so there is always cage/run bars between them. I would never risk it, no matter how friendly your dog is it only takes a second for something to happen.
 
ladymuck83 said:
whats your thoughts or experience with this. My dog is 9 years old cavalier king charles, she can't hear any more but since the guinea pigs have come she is very excited and very very interested in them, i showed her one and she went to lick it and i pulled away as i was cautious, it but I'm not sure if it was god lick or i want to hunt u lick.

I taker her out the room when i let them have enrichment time but I've seen vids on youtube with dogs and guinea pigs and they are soooo cute but is this rare?
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Just be cautious (Guinea Pig attacked by dog thread) Many dogs are fine with piggies but I would introduce them through the cage bars first.
 
It does depend on the dog. I wouldnt trust a king charles spaniel with pigs simply because that is a dog bred to hunt, so that instinct is hard wired into the genetic make up of the dog.

I have 2 dogs. One is a tibetan terrier. Terrier is a misnomer in this breed. They do not belong to the terrier group and have no terrier characteristics whatsoever, apart from the look. My tibetan shows no interest at all in the pigs. We can safely have them out and he will not bat an eyelid. We still wouldnt leave them running about with him in a room together but, at cage changes, the pigs can be in an unlidded box and he wont go near. He just is not interested at all.

My other dog is a brittany. This is a bird dog (gundog) bred to hunt, point and retrieve game birds and any other game. She would definitely kill the pigs in a heartbeat.

We have just put our bereaved boar in with 2 baby sows and our brittany was absolutely locked on to them. She has had a lot of steadiness and gundog training (though she is a pet and i have only done basic gundog work with her) so she will sit at a distance and not break her position (this is with the pigs in a secured cage btw)

However, after a few days, her interest was not subsiding so i did use an aversive (jingling bells) to break her off the eye lock (which is part of the hunt sequence)

This seems to have worked in that she now maintains eye contact with me when she is near the pigs but i would never trust her round them. She is in a closed crate when the pigs are out.

Not worth the risk
 
Although there are lots of stories about dogs getting on well with guinea pigs, it probably isn't worth the risk as there are also many stories of guinea pigs being bitten and that has caused a lot of panic. If you do decide to let them bond with each other do not leave them alone even if they look like they are getting on well, because it only takes a second for a dog to bite because it is curious on what the piggy actually is. In my opinion I wouldn't take the risk.
 
My dog is actually sorta skittish around my guinea pigs. I would never leave her alone with the but I think its kinda funny that the dog is scared of the rodent
 

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RicoandRocky said:
I personally let my dog near my Guinea pigs as he has been raised with lots of small animals such as rabbits and hamster he has never once caused them any harm
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This is not because you have raised your dog around small furries. It's because your dog is a non sporting breed with nil/low prey drive.

A completely different kind of dog to a king charles cavalier.

Scuttle2 said:
Many dogs are fine with piggies but I would introduce them through the cage bars first.
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This is a very dangerous thing to suggest. This simply will not work for dogs with prey drive. A dog with prey drive needs to be instructed in what to do when it sights prey. Unless you have proofed a sit/down response, a prey driven dog will pounce and kill in seconds.
 
tabelmabel said:
This is not because you have raised your dog around small furries. It's because your dog is a non sporting breed with nil/low prey drive.

A completely different kind of dog to a king charles cavalier.


This is a very dangerous thing to suggest. This simply will not work for dogs with prey drive. A dog with prey drive needs to be instructed in what to do when it sights prey. Unless you have proofed a sit/down response, a prey driven dog will pounce and kill in seconds.
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Agree with this. I wondered about different breeds of the dogs and whether that could make a difference.
 
SkyPipDotBernie said:
I meant pugs ffs lol
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I wondered what you were on about, but guessed you were joking! I dont know about the pug thing but i think you're right that the king charles was crossed with flatter faced breeds and the cavalier king charles is the longer muzzled one. These are both hunting breeds though and not, imo, safe with pigs.
 
tabelmabel said:
I wondered what you were on about, but guessed you were joking! I dont know about the pug thing but i think you're right that the king charles was crossed with flatter faced breeds and the cavalier king charles is the longer muzzled one. These are both hunting breeds though and not, imo, safe with pigs.
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I didnt know they were hunting breeds. Interesting, i had a springer spaniel, the gun dog retreiver breed, not the show type
 
tabelmabel said:
I wondered what you were on about, but guessed you were joking! I dont know about the pug thing but i think you're right that the king charles was crossed with flatter faced breeds and the cavalier king charles is the longer muzzled one. These are both hunting breeds though and not, imo, safe with pigs.
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My dog Poppy is a three year old Cavachon (Cavalier King Charles and Bichon Friese), she doesn’t have a bad bone in her body, she’s just not the brightest 😂 70F2158F-9704-440F-B04F-BA949440CA52.webp
 
Sophie B said:
My dog Poppy is a three year old Cavachon (Cavalier King Charles and Bichon Friese), she doesn’t have a bad bone in her body, she’s just not the brightest 😂
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If by 'bad bone' you mean no prey drive, this is likely to be because a bichon is not a working breed.

Hunting genes arent bad bones btw - it's dogs doing what they were bred to do. It's very desirable to have a high drive dog if you can harness that power to work the dog. But to put a purebred hunter with no steadiness training near guinea pigs and expect all to be well is foolhardy, as well as being unfair on the dog and, of course, the pigs.
 
Sounds like because of the breed of my dog 🐕 it’s best I keep them apart. The guinea pigs have the lean to all themselves so they have separate territories

This was her when I first got them and that thing u spoke about when u said locked eyes and her body went all locked she did that as well. I had her since a puppy but is obsessed with the smell of the rabbits in the field so it’s in her naturally

They all have a place in my house. 75683A69-D349-4438-8A99-65169F72F650.jpegF8E229D7-98CF-4F82-BD8F-F47E2477984C.jpegA18CF9AF-06A1-4026-9397-D540B97945AC.jpeg
This is their cage now so they have two layers of protection :)
 
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