General Guinea pigs and dogs? Can they live together or recipe for disaster?

[pigtales]

We currently have five guinea pigs. We are considering getting a family dog, but I would like to hear from people that currently have or had both guinea pigs and dogs at the same time and what that looked like. We have four kids, so we wouldn't be getting any aggressive or temperamental breeds, but we haven't made any decisions yet on what kind. We will likely end up adopting from a shelter, so we're not too picky as long as it's a gentle dog. I just don't want to put our piggies in some danger that we hadn't considered prior to getting the dog. Things that we should ask the shelter or be aware of before adopting?

 

[bpatters]

If the pigs are caged and don't run loose, you can certainly have a dog. If the dog is large and/or aggressive and/or overly interested in the pigs, it would certainly need to be a very sturdy cage. My cage is made of closet shelving, and has stood up to everything from chihuahuas to huskies to great danes.

As far as their interacting together, it depends entirely on the dog. And I'd think it would be hard to know enough about a shelter dog to make a decision on that at the time you adopt. If you get a gentle one, it might turn out to be friendly enough for the pigs, but it might not. You'd have to be very careful.

My philosophy about small kids and dogs is that I don't trust any kid with any dog, or any dog with any kid -- they all get supervised until I know them well enough to trust them. You don't have to go that far with guinea pigs, since they can't inflict the kind of damage on a dog that child can, but you certainly have to be concerned about the opposite happening.

 

[barbaramudge]

Our dog and my pigs get along very well. Now our pigs have never run loose with her (and I just wouldn't do that) but my dog lays by the cage. My shy pig actually seems to like the dog better than people. He'll go lay next to where she is and I've seen him lick her nose through the grid. During lap time my dog will frequently lay next to me and let the pigs nip her ears and lick her and cuddle next to her. I'm very very careful though because I assume she could decide to eat them anytime. I'm pretty sure my dog loves them because they are like little pez dispensers to her. Totally gross but she loves to eat Guinea pig poop. Drives me nuts and I prevent it as much as possible. It really is a wait and supervise and see kind of thing.

 

[jaycriae]

When I had pigs and dogs (and cats) at the same time, I kept the pigs' cage in a room with doors that could be closed when I wasn't there to supervise, just in case. It possibly wouldn't be necessary depending on the temperament of your dog, but it definitely prevented the pigs from getting scared and gave me peace of mind.


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[Roy Patton]

ive introduced my dog to the pigs, at first he didnt care really, and would be curious everytime we get them to and from the cage... he will now rare up look into the cage when piggies are playing and talking...... his curiosity has def gone up since we go them....

we have a spot in a hallway in our apartment that we block off and let the piggies free run (about 4 x 12 in size) .... he will sit at the gates and whimper and talk to the piggs, and the piggies will tease and talk to him as well...

 

[rotto77]

We had our dog first, we've had him for 10 years almost. He's very mellow. It is interested in our girl but we don't leave them together. He has licked her a couple of time. Super funny to watch. He will go over and watch when she's running around he cage. And gets a little jealous when we get her out. We make sure he gets attention too.

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[pigtales]

Thanks everyone, this is all pretty good news. We have 2 stacked 2x5 c&c cages, so the top would be inaccessible but I will have to consider adding grids to the bottom opening to make it secure. We will start with a high level of caution until we get to know the dog.

 

[Starrats]

I have 2 30-35 cm high dogs (height of there back) that want to hunt everything that moves. But I also have 2 hamsters 2 rats and 2 guinea pigs
All of them are in cages that are on furniture that is 70-75 cm high That way the dogs can't get to them

 

[lunarminx]

Our dog and my pigs get along very well. Now our pigs have never run loose with her (and I just wouldn't do that) but my dog lays by the cage. My shy pig actually seems to like the dog better than people. He'll go lay next to where she is and I've seen him lick her nose through the grid. During lap time my dog will frequently lay next to me and let the pigs nip her ears and lick her and cuddle next to her. I'm very very careful though because I assume she could decide to eat them anytime. I'm pretty sure my dog loves them because they are like little pez dispensers to her. Totally gross but she loves to eat Guinea pig poop. Drives me nuts and I prevent it as much as possible. It really is a wait and supervise and see kind of thing.

Piggy poop is so much better then a cat poop. Growing up our dog loved it and one dog with my ex loved the cat box as a puppy but we were able to break that habit.

 

[lunarminx]

My dog is old 12 1/2 and does not care for the pigs. if he is on the couch and I am doing laptime and sit next to him, he gets down. He is more like just leave me alone or not another animal.

 

[barbaramudge]

Piggy poop is so much better then a cat poop. Growing up our dog loved it and one dog with my ex loved the cat box as a puppy but we were able to break that habit.

Oh yeah, cat poop is way grosser. [emoji30]

 

[Icarus_Hermes]

I'm pretty sure my dog loves them because they are like little pez dispensers to her. Totally gross but she loves to eat Guinea pig poop.

Glad I'm not the only one with this problem!! My dog gets excited when I poop sweep the pig cage hoping I'll drop some. Other than that, he doesn't care about the pigs. He does get a little jealous during lap time, like "why are you petting that thing and not me?"

 

[heather81]

I'm pretty sure my dog loves them because they are like little pez dispensers to her. Totally gross but she loves to eat Guinea pig poop. Drives me nuts and I prevent it as much as possible.

Mine too!!!

 

[heather81]

We have a dog,2 kids, and 2 boars. Our dog is smaller (just over 22 lbs) and our cage is on a one grid high stand, she is able to see into the cage, but can't get into it. Periodically she'll go and check the pigs out and one of them likes to greet her at the bars. When we go to get them out she'll sometimes get excited and in the way but we just shoo her away and she's fine. She also loves when I clean the cage or they're out for floor time because she hopes they'll leave her a little treat or I'll drop one.

 

[Nikkipig]

My family has four dogs. One of them goes absolutely nuts over my guinea pigs and their poop, though she's a big troublemaker in general. The others couldn't care less. Our yorkie mix had a high prey drive when he was younger, but now he's too old to bother anymore (he's 16).

 

[nikdarg]

If possible it might be good to set the c&c on top of a table or high surface if you can. That way there is even less of a chance of something going wrong when you aren't watching.