Piggies and other pets?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Freela

Freela

Senior Guinea Pig
Joined
Aug 15, 2010
Messages
6,809
Reaction score
7,230
Points
1,600
Location
Canada
Just curious as to whether any of you have pets of other species, and how that works out with the guinea pigs. My hubby and I are considering getting a dog in a year or so... any idea how the pigs will react to another species of animal in the house? Can we train a dog not to see smaller animals as prey (obviously we would never give the dog access to them to test that theory! Safety first!)

Whenever we go away the piggies get babysat by my friend who has two cats... one of them ignores the cats completely and the other seems to have made friends with the more curious and friendly cat and will touch noses through the cage bars... but they have no experience with dogs. Just curious how 'multi species' families make it work!
 
I have a cat, who won't go near the piggies at all. When he was a kitten, I had my old piggy, Nibbles, out of her cage. He poked her with his paw and sent her into a rage! :)) So now, he won't go near the piggies even though Nibbles has been gone for almost a year now.

I'm not sure about dogs though. One of my friends has dogs and they don't bother the piggies. But, I think it depends on the dog.
 
We have 2 Rottweilers. We do not allow them to go near the piggies.
The piggies are not bothered by them one bit, but the dogs go ballistic to get to them. They LOVE eating the poops, and will stand with their noses up against the glass windows feeling verry sorry for themselves when the piggies are running around the lounge.
I will never even attempt to allow the piggies near the dogs. :...
 
Dogs can work fine with guinea pigs :)

I'd suggest getting a puppy because it can grow up with them. But if you want to get an adult dog or a rescue or whatever, then choose a certain type of breed that will be more likely to be good.

There are exceptions of course, but the breeds that are more likely to see them as prey are probably terriers and hounds. I guess maybe collies too.

So I'd go for something like a toy breed (not Yorkies though cos they've got the terrier instinct) or a gundog. Like a Cavalier, Bichon Frise, maybe a Golden Retriever or something. But be careful with any dog that it can't break into the cages somehow.

I have 4 Cavaliers, which are brilliant with the guinea pigs. I don't let them together, but they lick the guinea pigs through the bars of their cages, and if I hold one up to them they just sniff at them and lick them. It's cute :) They grew up with cats and kittens so they were trained to be good. They also have very little hunting instinct, they would chase a mouse or rabbit if they saw it, but they never catch them, one of them actually picked up a mouse gently in her mouth, brought it over to me, and then just looked at it as if to say "what's this thing I got?" and looked at me, and didn't hurt it at all. :))

My friend also has loads of Cavaliers and she has huge runs for her guinea pigs and rabbits and she lets the dogs into the runs and they just cuddle up with the guinea pigs and rabbits. :) Hers are really well trained though, I wouldn't do that with mine! :)) just in case

I do know a few hounds and terriers that are good with small animals, so there are exceptions of course :) but they're just more likely to retain a hunting instinct.
 
I have 2 dogs a little Bichon Frise and big Collie x German Shepherd.
The Bichon would lick any small animal to death if he got the chance lol he loves them and often I find him laid on the sofa near the indoor cage with his tail wagging like mad.
As for the big dog he's just as soft, in fact last november all of the piggies were inside cos of the fireworks and my phone rang, I took my eyes off the indoor run for a few seconds whilst I answered the phone.
When I sat back down I realised (whilst still on the phone) that Alfie was missing from his run, in a blind panic I was looking all around when I spotted the dog and something small and furry laid next to him.
Alfie had jumped the walls of his run and gone straight to the dog and laid cuddled up to him in the dog bed (that's when I first realised Alfie was a jumper lol).
My dogs were nearly 10 and nearly 1 when we first got guinea pigs, not sure about cats as my next door neighbours cat kept trying to get them in their runs outside (although they didn't like it when the dogs were out and usually stayed away).
I think so long as pets are introduced properly (that sounds daft) then they should be ok.
 
I've had numerous rescue dogs over the years and all have easily been trained to see guineas and bunnies as 'friends not food' although none of them had ever met a guinea or bunny before coming to live with us. Stanley the basset hound loves the buns and guineas although he hides under the dining room table if Steve the bunny tries to chase him..........rolleyes

Think it's probably easier to train some breeds of dog in this respect than others. My friend has a minature schnauzer that she's had from a 6 week old pup - he's now 18 months and despite all her efforts cannot even be let out in the garden if her pigs are in their run as he goes mad and barks at them continuously, pulls at the wire and would kill them given the chance. He has tried to grab one out her arms whilst she was putting it back in the cage.

I also have a cat who loves nothing better than to wash the guineas - and they seem to enjoy it ! She has, on the odd occasion, been found curled up sound asleep in the guinea pen while the guineas are going about their daily business:)

Teresa xx
 
We have....a dog, cat, chickens that live around the pigs, the cat doesnt bother them and usually is found laying next to the run snoozing away. Taz, the dog well shes had puppies before we adopted her so thinks their her pups and is always watching over them, she cries whenever they wheek for their veggies to let us know that 'her babies' need their veggies! We've introduced the boys slowly to taz, over the past nine months, at first behind glass, then behind wire and now whilst were holding the boys in our hands we allow taz to sniff the boys backends....Taz and Harvey (the pig), make such good friends...they usually share a carrot together through the run bars :)

The only pet we have trouble with is the chickens who want to get through the run to get to the food! :))
 
for a while frodo lived with my nan as i wasdnt allowed pets were i was living. She had a dog and he was just adorable with frodo. The dog would sit by his hutch and cry if he didnt come out. when he came out hed lick his face. Frodo would just sit there with his chin up being licked!
 
I have 2 cats and a dog around Guinea pigs 24/7, none of them bother. They just go about their usual business, I guess Guinea pigs aren't that entertaining to them lol Then again I have smaller faster rodents like Gerbils and they don't bother with them either. All of my pets have been brought up around each other and I think that makes a lot of difference.
 
I have a cat and the boys are perfectly ok with him (and vice versa). He's brilliant with them and just sits there while the piggies go up to him to say 'hi'. They were a bit wary at first, but they quickly learned that Gis isn't a big scary type of cat who wants to eat them. No experience with dogs yet ...
 
We have 3 cats, 4 dogs and of course 4 guinea pigs, the cats are fine with the piggies, the dogs are good, but would`nt trust them unsupervised, basically we live in a madhouse lol ..:)):)):))
 
well my pigs hate the dogs. both piglet and gizmo have gone for our staffie cross on a couple of occasions biting him very hard on the end of the nose so he's now terrified of all of them
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top