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New puppy.. good or bad idea?

Bradshaw Piggies

Bradshaw Piggies

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Hi all,
We have been offered an 11 week old puppy from a friend. Before I agree to take her on, I wanted to check what you all think about having a puppy and Guinea pigs? As my guinea pigs as you know, live indoors.

the puppy won’t ever be left alone with them as I am working a lot from home, or she will go to work with my husband.
If there’s an odd hour alone (e.g. supermarket trip) she will be in a crate in a different room.

Is something like this going to really upset my guinea pigs? I don’t want anyone getting stressed or poorly.

does anyone else have dogs and guinea pigs?
 
My puppy is now 18 months and the most he has ever done is bark at the piggies though I can see he would like to play. He's only ever allowed near the hutch when he's behaving and one of us is present to watch him. With a puppy you need to consider the breed but also that you can train them yourself, it's almost like working with a blank slate rather than an older dog. However there are some dogs, especially terriers, that will always have that instinct. If you can keep them in separate rooms then that would be best. Crate training is good if your dog takes to it. We tried and Archer hated it and would cry constantly so we gave up. I have a friend whose dog loves their crate though so each one is different.

The only way I see it upsetting the piggies is if the dog keeps trying to get in to the cage. Mine aren't phased by his barking even though he has quite a loud and grown up bark :)) I'm sure I saw Daisy raise an eyebrow at him to challenge him on who's boss
 
I have guinea pigs and two dogs. A labrador and a collie. The collie would bark whenever the gpigs squeaked at first but has now settled.

I have a baby gate on the gpig's room so that the dogs cant get in.

I used to have a spaniel and gpigs years ago and she would put her nose into the hutch to eat their muesli and their poos! Current dogs and pigs never mix, just in case.

Good luck with the new pup if you do take her in.
 
I agree with the comments on the breed of dog - instincts are very strong and the terrier types might be a risk. We know a guy with a lovely friendly little dog - can't remember the breed but he said they were bred for ratting. Throw a ball all day and the dog just sits there... but roll it along the floor and it's straight in - deadly.

Saying that my neighbour has cats, dogs and piggies but her dogs are gun dogs and instinctively 'retrieve'. One of the cats is a prolific hunter and brings in half-dead prey which one of the dogs retrieves. She's had her a year now and she's only just started to do it out of the blue! She's found all sorts in it's bed - little birds (usually dead by then as their tiny hearts give out) but last week she spotted a mouse tail hanging out of it's mouth and the mouse was still alive! The dog gave it up straight away... soft mouths apparently. Maybe even a soft heart ❤
 
I think it just depends. Until it gets a bit older, I’d definitely make sure you don’t have an open cage though. Even if you keep them in separate rooms, one accident and it could all be over. I don’t have a dog, but I have a cat. Our cat is lovely, he’s an indoor cat and isn’t a hunter at all. When we first started with the open cage, he was never in the room unsupervised and we had to make sure to always keep the door shut. After a while, we realised he couldn’t care less about the cage. He’s only ever jumped in there once when there was a massive (and I mean huge!) spider on the wall the cage was pushed against. As soon as he jumped in, he freaked and leaped out - sort of not realising where he’d just climbed into. It only takes a split second and luckily for me, my cat didn’t jump in there to attack the pigs but to eat a spider. That’s also, funnily enough, the moment I knew I could definitely trust him with an open cage as he didn’t care about the piggies at all. Similarly, I’ve been asked before to take my grandmas cat many times. That cat though is a hunter and he’s an outdoor cat. If I had taken him on, then I would’ve got rid of my open cage.
I think the pigs will get used to the barking, but 100% don’t have an open cage for a while, at least until you know the dog doesn’t care about the pigs.
 
Thanks all. I’ve been panicking that even just the scent or noise of the dog could upset them?
Though when my brother’s dog was here and barked they didn’t seem too bothered.
I just need to figure out logistics, like the dog being out when the piggies have their floor time.
 
So in the end we didn’t get a puppy. We rescued 18month old Koda instead.
As he’s a Siberian Husky he doesn’t really bark much. But he does have a prey drive (wants to chase birds and squirrels when we are outside - this could just be playful as he loves everyone, loves other dogs too) but I don’t want to take the risk. So he’s always separate from the piggies. And there’s extra bolts and a lock on the door to their room. I’ve also made sure the cage is not open and closed it with extra C&C on the tops.

he desperately wanted to get into that room at first, but now he’s accepted he can’t and doesn’t bother. He waits well back while I go in and shut the door. He then lays outside till I come back. And piggies only get their floor time when he’s away at work with my husband or he’s a doggy day care.
I think while this works I will keep it this way!

But we are also in love with Koda now :) he’s a lovely boy and so well behaved for his age and breed
 

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Marvel_piggie_squad said:
Thanks all. I’ve been panicking that even just the scent or noise of the dog could upset them?
Though when my brother’s dog was here and barked they didn’t seem too bothered.
I just need to figure out logistics, like the dog being out when the piggies have their floor time.
Click to expand...

Percy and Pedro seem more curious than afraid of the dog that lives here with us, Coco the daft potato, meanwhile Coco is afraid of the piggies. 😆 I try and keep interaction between the two as little as possible, even though I doubt Coco would harm them as she is fine with my quail, Scrappy, though the piggies move much faster than Scrappy does.

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Mage of Mist said:
Percy and Pedro seem more curious than afraid of the dog that lives here with us, Coco the daft potato, meanwhile Coco is afraid of the piggies. 😆 I try and keep interaction between the two as little as possible, even though I doubt Coco would harm them as she is fine with my quail, Scrappy, though the piggies move much faster than Scrappy does.

Click to expand...
What a beautiful doggy! :love::love:
 
What a stunning boy! Sounds like you have the perfect plan for everyone to live peacefully so well done on giving him a home. My friend has a Siberian husky called Barney and he's such a lovely natured dog.
 
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