donski Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 I'm pretty sure I've lost my dog (mini bull terrier) down a wombat hole. Long story, but it happened 10 days ago now and I'm completely broken hearted. I've searched and searched and done everything I could think of, including donning a climbing harness and rope and squeezing down a 15mt hole which I still didn't manage to get to the end of. It was a brand new interest she had developed, so I hadn't fully appreciated the seriousness of her attraction. I focussed my search at the time on one particular hole, but in hindsight it could have been any of ten or so. Anyway, just wanting to know if others had had any experience or encounters with wombat holes and their dogs....I'm not sure why, but I just can't stop thinking about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebbles Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 Unfortunatly this can happen. Friend lost a Boxer down a wombat hole. Hole collapsed on the dog and friend couldn't dig him out. Sorry if this has happened to your dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trifecta Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 Oh donski, I am so sorry. Wombats use the cartilage plates on their back to crush invaders against the sides of their wombat holes. A friend's GSD x was lucky to get out of a wombat hole alive, but your little girl is so much smaller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 Oh... Yes, if she followed a wombat the outcome would not be good. All you can do is hope some other bushwalkers found her and are loving her somewhere safe. Not ideal... but a better thing to imagine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trifecta Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 (edited) Oh... Yes, if she followed a wombat the outcome would not be good. All you can do is hope some other bushwalkers found her and are loving her somewhere safe. Not ideal... but a better thing to imagine Yes, sorry Donski to be brutally frank in my reply, but thought it best to be honest. Hugs to you, & as persephone says, she may still be out there waiting to get back home. Edited October 24, 2011 by trifecta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bindo Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 LIke others have said, wombats and dogs are not a good mix. We have a place in the central tablelands which is wombat central, and have heard of dogs in the area being killed (crushed) by them. My dog is off-lead all the time up there, but I have trained her not to go near the holes. Nearly died one day when a mother and baby were out in the middle of the day and she took off after them, but luckily the 'stay' worked and she stopped before the hole. I really hope you find her Donski, safe and well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodie12 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 We have a property adjoining the Wombat Forest. We have two Cairn Terriers - one about 6kgs (Lily) and the other 11kgs (Jasper). The little girl has gone into a wombat hole nearer to the house twice. We can hear her faintly barking but it sounds very muffled. You can also hear a wind noise which is the wombat protecting its burrow. Both times after lots of calling she has come out after an hour or so. She was just doing what Cairns do naturally - go down holes! It was very stressfull for the family and there were lots of tears when we thought she was not coming back. Jasper was too timid to venture into the hole. We now block the entrance to that burrow between morning and dusk - when the wombats stay in the burrow. Last week we went to the property for a few hours in the late afternoon. The two dogs simply vanished around 5pm. We scoured the surrounding farmlands and forest but they just seemed to disappear. They were definitely not in the wombat hole that Lily has been in before. Not knowing where they were was heart breaking - especially for my daughters. After 35 hours when we had given up hope, they appeared on the front doorstep. Both had mud underneath their bodies, and some mud spatterings on their heads. We believe they had been stuck in a wombat hole all that time. As its the breeding season and the wombats are protective, it may have been that a wombat blocked them in and didn't leave the burrow on the first night. They appeared some time between midnight and 8am.Other than that they may have got lost in the tunnels which I believe can go as long as a km. After a good wash all seemed fine. But 4 days later and after a trip to the vet, Lily was crawling with ticks (eggs, baby ticks, and adult ticks - hundreds of them), and Jasper has torn his cornea which we are still treating. Everyone is astounded that they both made it out OK. They wouldn't have got close to the wombat unless by accident - they just bark a lot but wouldn't attack or bite. Also being smaller they are easily able to navigate the hole. Our big issue now is that we cannot trust them to roam our property as there are lots of wombat holes. Its a shame as they love running through the forest. We shall have to build a dog run and only have them off lead when supervised. The stress is too much to bear otherwise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Yep - no free running around wombat burrows .. there are way too many things to go wrong for dogs and wombats both ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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