Help - Dog Wants Guinea Pigs

[mowgliandme]

Ah okay, thanks for the answers! :) didnt realise they were different re: scooters/animals.

Shes a pretty chill pup but has chased certain types of birds (those brown birds with the yellow beaks) a couple of times, which i don't want to turn into chasing wildlife when camping, I have been rewarding calm behaviours around birds though, soo hopefully that can be generalised!

Thistle looks so cute and happy in your weaving video :)

Edited October 12, 2016 by mowgliandme

[Simply Grand]

I'm finding it really interesting watching the difference between the excited herding drive instinct in my herding dogs (who don't seem to have prey drive at all, just curiosity) and the prey drive my foster dog shows towards cats, small dogs, possums etc. The body language is quite different and it's quite clear that the herders want to chase or play whereas foster dog wants to kill (although obviously haven't tested to see if she would follow through!). I imagine the target animal, guinea pigs for eg, have some sense of whether the dog watching them wants to just chase/move them or kill them and that affects the level of stress they feel. Just guessing though.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Simply Grand

[Pawfect]

Thanks for all the comments. Just thought i'd give you an update: I've re-done the GP enclosure so that it's now much more secure & dog proof, & they still have room to run & hidey spots to go to inside and outside if they're frightened. Unfortunately the dog can still see in, & separating them all the time isn't working out. However, although my dog is still very interested in them, she's not spending hours stalking them anymore & gives up after 5mins of watching. She's stopped trying to dig in (i'd put metal fencing sheets all around the pen so there's no way she can anyway). She's more interested when they're inside on our knees rather than in their enclosure thankfully. My other dog cries at the pen sometimes, but I think it's because he wants to go in and eat all the poop...ewwww!!

Piggies seem happy.

[Pawfect]

Interesting about the comments regarding the different types of drive (herding vs prey). TBH I highly doubt my dog wants to kill them, she's a softie & such a sook, but I'm not sure what she'd do if she got one & don't plan on finding out!

[asal]

Thanks for your replies - looks like i'm doomed then!! ????

I'll keep an eye out for a more secure metal cage for their outside time & just do a dog shuffle in the meantime. Their everyday cage for inside is on a stand & she can't see into it, so has very little interest thankfully. It's just too small for them to be in permanently.

Should note also the inside playpen I mentioned is just for brief periods of 'floor time' out of their cage, on the horrible days they can't be outside in the pen. They wouldn't get much of a chance to nibble on it. ????

as long as you provide a dry shelter where they can sleep and rest, and where they are protected from strong winds you can leave them outside the whole year. Our guinea pigs (boy group and a girl group, each group in a separate compound) have been born outside and lived all their live outside (they are all over 6 years old now).

had a friend who rabbit fenced his yard and his herd and I do mean herd, some 30 to 40 cavies/guinea pigs had the run of almost 1/4 acre, kept his lawns perfect. They had boxes under the house to sleep in but they were never locked up. The local hawks took the occasional unwary but they were hard to catch napping.

He didn't lose many.

[melzawelza]

Interesting about the comments regarding the different types of drive (herding vs prey). TBH I highly doubt my dog wants to kill them, she's a softie & such a sook, but I'm not sure what she'd do if she got one & don't plan on finding out!

My dog is a real softie and a sook.... until you get her near small prey animals. Guinea pigs wouldn't stand a chance, and she's unfortunately killed a possum that was in the yard too. Prey drive is an instinct that only kicks in when the prey is around.

That said, she wouldn't give up on the Guinea Pigs after 5 mins, so maybe your dog's drive isn't as strong as others :)

[denali]

Interesting about the comments regarding the different types of drive (herding vs prey). TBH I highly doubt my dog wants to kill them, she's a softie & such a sook, but I'm not sure what she'd do if she got one & don't plan on finding out!

I thought the same about Kokoda until i saw him catch and kill a bearded dragon. It was brutal

[Maddy]

Interesting about the comments regarding the different types of drive (herding vs prey). TBH I highly doubt my dog wants to kill them, she's a softie & such a sook, but I'm not sure what she'd do if she got one & don't plan on finding out!

I thought the same about Kokoda until i saw him catch and kill a bearded dragon. It was brutal

Exactly. I've had greyhounds who were sooky, soft-tempered, shy dogs who'd never dream of hurting a human or other dog but a possum on the back fence was a whoooooole other story. Temperament has nothing to do with prey drive, they are two entirely unrelated things.

[corvus]

Herding dogs are usually more interested in controlling movement than killing things. They can get crazy aroused and reactive about anything that moves, or some things in particular. If they get aroused enough, they are liable to bite. With small animals, they may not be trying to kill it, but you probably don't want to see what will happen if they escalate their controlling behaviour, especially if they have decided it's fun if the animal moves and then they can make it stop again. Likewise, if they are not sure what to do with something, they may try a variety of things and essentially teach themselves to bite it harder and harder. I'm hoping to launch a study next year to look at how different breeds interact with things they have been chasing when they capture it. I'm really looking forward to getting some breed type data to compare. Stay tuned if you are in the Sydney area and would like to participate.

ETA: We're not gonna feed live animals to dogs! Just in case anyone misunderstood that. We can obviously only use inanimate objects.

Edited November 16, 2016 by corvus

[persephone]

LOL... my Mitchell was a therapy dog , a dog who was perfect with problem kids/old people ... but who would kill foxes & feral cats very efficiently .

[asal]

Herding dogs are usually more interested in controlling movement than killing things. They can get crazy aroused and reactive about anything that moves, or some things in particular. If they get aroused enough, they are liable to bite. With small animals, they may not be trying to kill it, but you probably don't want to see what will happen if they escalate their controlling behaviour, especially if they have decided it's fun if the animal moves and then they can make it stop again. Likewise, if they are not sure what to do with something, they may try a variety of things and essentially teach themselves to bite it harder and harder. I'm hoping to launch a study next year to look at how different breeds interact with things they have been chasing when they capture it. I'm really looking forward to getting some breed type data to compare. Stay tuned if you are in the Sydney area and would like to participate.

ETA: We're not gonna feed live animals to dogs! Just in case anyone misunderstood that. We can obviously only use inanimate objects.

my friend had a greyhound her brother had raced, she and her littermates had been trained that the first to get to him with the squeaky toy got the toy to play with, so when they raced they were not chasing the mechanical hare, they knew the first to get to him got the toy.

it was hilarious the day the hare malfunctioned, honey never gave it a glance as she shot by it and all but two of the dogs in the field took honey's Que and ran for their lives trying to catch honey. She won every race she was entered in, but she tried so hard she would finish exhausted so was retired rather than risk serious injury.

so, swing a squeaky toy and honey would behave like a loon streaking around the yard until you threw her toy and she, if anything as she scooped it up doubled her speed. lucky greys are sprinters and in no time she was winded and happy to snooze with her trophy. used to scare me witless to see her careen at the swing set terrfied she would misjudge and hit an upright with one of those skinny legs, but she never did.

it was fascinating how she interacted with Salem their cat when they met, she was terrified of him and over the next ten years of her life her fear and respect for him never altered, he was a horrible vindictive cat (he would permit me to feed him but he would bite and scratch me with no warning the second Maree was home) so at first I thought he had attacked her when no one was looking but she never went near, (simply ignored them) any of the neighbours cats either, when they came to pinch Salem's leftovers. She never took any notice of the various lizards in the backyard either . cannot recall her ever taking any notice of the birds either even when they were pinching her leftovers. I often fed them when Maree was away visiting her parents. loved watching the telly with honey spread across 3/4 of the lounge and graciously permitted me half a cushion, she was a glorious girl. decades earlier I found a lost grey and she was just as regal and ladylike, was sad when her owner came after I had given her tattoo number to the radio station that called the greyhound races, that was around 1967, turned out she was a quite a famous old girl and mum and grandmum of a few champions. She too never gave Sylvester my dads cat a second glance, although cracker night scared the daylights out of her and solved it by doing the same as I did for my horses, put cotton wool in her ears until it was over.

I rather thought they might be all like those two ladies. somehow any like them would not be much good for research on prey drive in greys :-)

Edited November 16, 2016 by asal

[Kavik]

Herding dogs are usually more interested in controlling movement than killing things. They can get crazy aroused and reactive about anything that moves, or some things in particular. If they get aroused enough, they are liable to bite. With small animals, they may not be trying to kill it, but you probably don't want to see what will happen if they escalate their controlling behaviour, especially if they have decided it's fun if the animal moves and then they can make it stop again. Likewise, if they are not sure what to do with something, they may try a variety of things and essentially teach themselves to bite it harder and harder. I'm hoping to launch a study next year to look at how different breeds interact with things they have been chasing when they capture it. I'm really looking forward to getting some breed type data to compare. Stay tuned if you are in the Sydney area and would like to participate.

ETA: We're not gonna feed live animals to dogs! Just in case anyone misunderstood that. We can obviously only use inanimate objects.

I would find this interesting! Throw me a line when you need people. Some training may influence this as well (what they do with it when they capture it). I've worked hard to encourage tug with my dogs, but it is not something I think they would do initially in your study, but may do it now since it has been taught.

[JulesP]

Herding dogs are usually more interested in controlling movement than killing things. They can get crazy aroused and reactive about anything that moves, or some things in particular. If they get aroused enough, they are liable to bite. With small animals, they may not be trying to kill it, but you probably don't want to see what will happen if they escalate their controlling behaviour, especially if they have decided it's fun if the animal moves and then they can make it stop again. Likewise, if they are not sure what to do with something, they may try a variety of things and essentially teach themselves to bite it harder and harder. I'm hoping to launch a study next year to look at how different breeds interact with things they have been chasing when they capture it. I'm really looking forward to getting some breed type data to compare. Stay tuned if you are in the Sydney area and would like to participate.

ETA: We're not gonna feed live animals to dogs! Just in case anyone misunderstood that. We can obviously only use inanimate objects.

I've seen my border collies do this. Before anyone has hysterics I rescued the critters when I realised what they were doing!

I watched one of them carry the critter (rat) into the middle of the garden. He then poked it with his nose until it ran. Caught it and carried it back into the middle of the garden.

My 2 current girls decided to do this to one of the cats. I've got a photo of them in action, I'll try and find it. I rehomed the cat as I was concerned for her safety.

Have also seen them playing with possums like this.

[JulesP]

Trying to get her to move.

[persephone]

Molly & Tallie do this a few times every day .... ... Molly 'sets' Tallie ..then tallie will take off , and they both knock things over and do some sharp maneuvering around the rooms LOL. They both enjoy the 'chasey' game , it seems ..then will both sleep on my lap .

[JulesP]

This wasn't being enjoyed and nipping was happening. The Birmans didn't care and just rolled over on to their backs.

They did it with the ponies too (with a fence separating them!) and the ponies did seem to enjoy it as they would stand next to the fence.

[grace]

I used to have a stud of around 75-80 guinea pigs. Most were kept in cages but I did have some free ranging, my chihuahuas, mini foxie and cross staffie never

took any notice of them. The cats didnt worry about them never tried to catch them even though they were excellent ratters. I guess I was very lucky.

[asal]

I used to have a stud of around 75-80 guinea pigs. Most were kept in cages but I did have some free ranging, my chihuahuas, mini foxie and cross staffie never

took any notice of them. The cats didnt worry about them never tried to catch them even though they were excellent ratters. I guess I was very lucky.

you see some amazing things, a friend bred show guinea pigs and dwarf rabbits, they had the run of the backyard and were guarded by her rottie from the neighbourhood cats. never forget the first time I saw the arrangement.

massive rottie asleep on the grass and nestled like a litter of puppies were her brood of bunnies and guinea pigs sleeping between her legs with her.

[JulesP]

I used to have a stud of around 75-80 guinea pigs. Most were kept in cages but I did have some free ranging, my chihuahuas, mini foxie and cross staffie never

took any notice of them. The cats didnt worry about them never tried to catch them even though they were excellent ratters. I guess I was very lucky.

you see some amazing things, a friend bred show guinea pigs and dwarf rabbits, they had the run of the backyard and were guarded by her rottie from the neighbourhood cats. never forget the first time I saw the arrangement.

massive rottie asleep on the grass and nestled like a litter of puppies were her brood of bunnies and guinea pigs sleeping between her legs with her.

Makes sense as I believe Rotties originally had a tending type herding role.

[Papillon Kisses]

Herding dogs are usually more interested in controlling movement than killing things. They can get crazy aroused and reactive about anything that moves, or some things in particular. If they get aroused enough, they are liable to bite. With small animals, they may not be trying to kill it, but you probably don't want to see what will happen if they escalate their controlling behaviour, especially if they have decided it's fun if the animal moves and then they can make it stop again. Likewise, if they are not sure what to do with something, they may try a variety of things and essentially teach themselves to bite it harder and harder. I'm hoping to launch a study next year to look at how different breeds interact with things they have been chasing when they capture it. I'm really looking forward to getting some breed type data to compare. Stay tuned if you are in the Sydney area and would like to participate.

ETA: We're not gonna feed live animals to dogs! Just in case anyone misunderstood that. We can obviously only use inanimate objects.

This sounds like Malcolm and his compulsive delight in herding ?? German Shepherds. Not that he was actually herding them, they were playing fetch and returning of their own accord, but he was very reactive to their movement and I suspect he thought he was controlling it.

I stopped it as though he seemed to find it a lot of fun it had that compulsive edge, and while the Shepherds didn't care (too interested in their tennis balls) I doubt others appreciated Mal's barking.

It was different to his other reactivity with movement as he did seem to find it a lot of fun as mentioned. It was a game to him. Other movement makes him anxious and he's not having fun, but with this he'd give a great chase while barking then trot back looking like he had a feeling of accomplishment (I'm trying not to anthropomorphise but the kid was happy and somewhat puffed up) and get ready to go again.

Here's an old pic of him getting ready to fly into action.

Edited November 17, 2016 by Papillon Kisses