Dog Killed The Guinea Pigs - Opinions, Advice, And Friendly Ears Neede

[gsdog2]

Your poor dog just did what he's supposed to do, catch rodents. It's sad for your stepdaughter, but GPs are strange litttle rats as far as a dog is concerned. Your Stepdaughter needs to hear that you are upset with the situation, and very sad for her loss, but please don't let her or your partner blame the dog. Please don't let the Stepdaughter have any more GPs, it could happen again quite easily.

Whippet#1 caught a rat the other day, I would never consider disciplining him for it.

I had a situation years ago where I was out the front of our house saying goodbye to OH, as his car disappeared down the road and I was about to head upstairs a huge rat was blocking my way . As I stood there contemplating what I should do my shepherd walked over, picked up the rat, shook it, put it down and walked away. To me, at that moment, he was my hero - if that rat was my pet would he have been a villain

[Souff]

He's a DOG. They were prey.

Smack your partner for considering punishing a dog long after the deed was done. Its utterly pointless.

Either dont get any more guinea pigs or get them the equivalent of a Fort Knox hutch and put a fence between him and them.

Personally I'd be going for the first option. Dogs and small mammals are an accident waiting to happen.

Thank you PF.

I am fed up with people putting unrealistic expectations on dogs.

They are DOGS! Dogs are ANIMALS! They are not stuffed toys that do not react to instinct.

And they WILL KILL small animals. if the opportunity presents.

PF & Souff

Yes I completely agree. I own Gordon Setters, not terriers, but I can assure you that any one of them would kill a guinea pig if they got hold of it and I can tell you exactly how they would do it because I've seen them kill other small animals such as rabbits and possums and once (RIP), my kitten. They grab the animal on the back of the neck and close their jaws and the animal is killed instantly, other than a bit of slobber the animal appears completely unmarked. It is very quick, I've seen one of my bitches grab a possum and kill it in less than five seconds. Once the animal is dead they'll guard it for a while and then lose interest unless it's a rabbit in which case they'll eat it.

If you're going to keep small prey animals as pets don't use chicken wire, because a dog can break it easily, use heavy duty wire and place the hutch or enclosure out of the dog's reach if possible. It's unfortunate that your pets were killed, but the dog was only obeying its instincts.

I think Gordon Setters and English Springer Spaniels use the same modus operandi on hutches, because of their strength.

However, unlike a terrier or Gordon Setter kill, the victims of the 2 ESS were eaten, with very few body parts left behind in the bloodied carnage.

The dogs returned to the scene of the crime the next day.

Owner of dogs was in denial :D but it is noteworthy that the dogs were never again seen roaming the neighbourhood after that incident.

[Rascalmyshadow]

My standard poodle girl is also a rabbit and guinea pig killer, she lives happily with 3 cats and 2 small dogs. We have rabbits and piggies again but I have gated off the side of the house so there is no way for my girl to reach them. If the kids want to bring theminside the dogs get locked out first.

Please don't be angry at your dog it's an instinct for many dogs to chase (kill) when they come face to face with a prey animal.

[Shaar]

Our neighbors GSD jumped our fence and killed our rabbit about a year ago.

I wasn't angry at the dog at all, I was angry at the neighbors for not controlling their dog.

I have pet rats in the living room, their cage is locked up tighter than Fort Knox. I trust the dogs not to touch the rats when I am home, they even sit on their backs and ride around, but I would never trust them alone together, they are dogs, rats are food.

[jacqui835]

The family dog we had as a child killed all of my mice by actually pulling their metal cage apart, I was about 9 at the time. Strangely enough however, when I decided I wanted a rat instead of more mice, and being a rat I got a lot closer to it and interacted with it a lot more and eventually even succeeded in convincing my parents to let it live indoors, the dog stopped wanting to kill it. I was very young and naive but fortunately our gut instincts were right/our luck held out, and the dog and rat co-existed inside the house for 2 years until the rat died of cancer I think the difference was the dog decided this rat was part of the pack, but if I could go back, well it makes me nervous just to think how close to disaster we could have been.

[mac'ella]

typical man really right?

Does he get man flu?

Stupid question - ofcourse he does

do you have him vaccinated each year?

[jaybeece]

I haven't read many of the posts, but I wanted to chime in as someone who lost a guinea pig to the family dog a long time ago. It sucks, but it's what they do. We were too trusting and built a tunnel out of bricks to another pen for the boys (3 brothers) to run through, our very excited deerhound smashed her way through and while the shy brothers ran further down the tunnel, the extrovert made a run for freedom and ended up being a doggy play toy.

Not a mark on him and she clearly didn't intend any harm, it was just a game.

Being young my brother and I were devastated and were upset at the dog for a couple of weeks, but understood that this is what dogs do. Mum and dad were great and made it clear we were not to be angry at the dog. It's hard to look at them the same way for a little while, but it doesn't last.

My partner is furious (understandably) and showed the dog the piggies and smacked him. I thought that was fair enough.

I'm sure this has been covered ad nauseum, but it's really not fair enough. The dog has no idea that what he did was wrong so it was a pointless act of aggression towards the dog. All it would have done is leave him feeling confused and hurt.

We also have 4 cats. Although Joss sometimes attempts to "discipline" them, chases them away from his bowl etc... he's not rough, doesn't ever hurt them and seems to consider them a part of his pack. There is a little unease in the house. My partner is questioning whether he can be trusted with the cats - although he was lying out there on the deck with one of them as normal afterwards - so I think he'll be fine.

Our guinea pig killer was great with OUR cats, but no others. One of mine met her as a tiny 2 week old kitten and grew up sleeping with her in front of the heater. She was death to any strange cats though/

I get the feeling that he saw the guinea pigs as a "game" - like it was a challenge to figure out how to get them and then when he did, I don't think he meant to kill them - as I said, they were virtually unmarked. The guinea pigs never lived inside the house, so that might be why he didn't see them as pack.

Yep.

I can't bring myself to blame the dog. He's still the same good dog who is so eager to please. I am sure he doesn't know why killing the guinea pigs is wrong, and given that we have no more guinea pigs, I don't see the point in punishing him further (by making him sleep outside) other than to appease my partners sense of justice. I know it probably sounds mean, but I am much sadder for my poor Joss than I am for the guinea pigs. I hate to see him so sad.

Spot on. Tell your partner to grow up and stop anthropomorphising the behaviour of a dog.