Westie Dog And Guinea Pigs

[Maddykins]

Hiya, not sure if this thread is in the right place or not.

Does anyone have a dog as well as piggies and if so how do you go about making sure piggies are safe and everybody is happy? A member of family has a westie dog who is about 6 years old that she would like to rehome to me, I know this is a HUGE decision and no decision would be made for many months anyway for practical reasons. If you got a dog after you had piggies, what prep did you do? I know westies generally have strong prey drive and it seems so by the way he plays with his toys, he also barks at cats, is that a sign he would similarly not be able to keep his eyes off the pigs, or would I have to do a trial and see how he is around their (extremely secured!) cage? I wouldn't want to keep them permanently in a separate room I don't think that would be fair on my piggies.

And believe me when I say if I couldn't make everyone happy and safe then I would not be taking on the dog. My little boys came first and I will care for them as I promised I would when I took them on from the rescue. Thanks!

 

[Bluebell]

The obvious point to make is that West Highland Whites are terriers, (sadly) bred to hunt and eat rodents!

However with common sense the guineas can be kept safe at all times and the dog have a good home with you.

Just don't expect the dog to understand the concept of 'pets not dinner' if he hasn't been brought up around other animals - if he has been allowed to bark at cats that isn't a good start! My dogs are taught to be respectful to all wildlife and domestic pets - but it's 24/7 to reinforce this, and if they make a mistake, the fault will be mine - not theirs.

 

[Freela]

I'm wary of terriers around small animals, simply because they are bred to hunt rodents and other small prey and it may be hard to train it out of them, particularly as you would be getting an adult dog rather than starting from puppyhood. That said, as a child I did have both a guinea pig and a very dominant dog (she was a Welsh Corgi, though, so not with a built-in drive to hunt. But she certainly wanted to chase squirrels and such and was VERY dominant with other dogs.) We made really sure that the dog and pig weren't loose in the same room. It would just have been too easy for something to happen. If the pig was out, the door was shut so there was no way the dog could get in. She did once poke her nose through the cage bars and the pig bit her nose, so she might have given the guinea pig a wide berth anyhow, but better safe than sorry! My only other piece of advice with the 'separate rooms' plan is to make sure everyone in the family knows which pet is where (maybe by posting a sign on the door.) A family member's pet hedgehog ended up needing extensive stitches after she left the hedgehog to roam in her bedroom while she ran to the store and her brother went into her room to get something, not realizing the hedgehog was loose, and left the door open, letting in the two dogs. They were dachshunds, who are also bred to hunt small prey, and probably only the hedgehog's spines made the difference between him needing stitches versus being killed outright!

 

[Guineapigfeet]

Our dogs were pups when we adopted them and we already had 'pigs, so they grew up being fairly uninterested despite both being prolific hunters as adults. We would never trust them in the same room as them but they paid minimal attention to them in the run. The boy used to play bow to them and two piggies used to popcorn at him!

I would be very cautious with terrier breeds, just because they're terriers! But with carefull monitoring, I wouldn't rule it out for definite.

 

[Courtneyyyleex]

My boyfriend has a jack Russell X poodle and she is so good with the Guinea pigs. I would never leave them un supervised though, she's only allowed near them when I am holding the pigs and usually she gives them a little sniff and then wonders off and goes to sleep. She isn't really bothered by them.
One thing you could do is have the Guinea pig cage off the floor because wesites are only small. Having dogs and Guinea pigs honestly isn't difficult, I've never had a Guinea pig and not had a dog at the same time and my Guinea pigs are always safe