# Guinea Pigs - horses - alpacas



## Jasper (Mar 18, 2011)

Can anyone tell me a success story of their V being friends with guinea pigs? 

My 6 month old V is getting used to them and more to the point the piggies aren't running away in risk of a heart attack if they are in their run and Jasper is also in the garden.

Will they ever cuddle up without fear of piggies becoming dinner? 

Any stories greatly received.

Also .... any stories on Vizlas playing with any animal would be greatly received. Not in a hunting setting though please


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## Linescreamer (Sep 28, 2010)

That's like asking the Fox to play nice whilst in the Hen house!


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## Jasper (Mar 18, 2011)

Perhaps, but stranger things have happened. Years ago, as a child, my first piggies were bought from a family whose large alsation dog was their best friend ..... 

I'm sure there are some success stories out there, whilst - perhaps not entirely natural instinct ....


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

I've seen hunting dogs that knew the difference between a pheasant and a chicken. No reason to think a Vizsla can't be conditioned to Guinea pig in time. Just takes a little maturity.

Friends with an Alpaca, or a horse, is a little different. An Alpaca and a horse, and llama's, can very brutal on 4 legged predatory type animals. 
We don't trust the dogs around our horse, because we've seen what he'll do to a Coyote. The Coyote stood zero chance in that contest.


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## kellygh (Oct 25, 2010)

I have seen hunting dogs make good buddies with cats. I have also seen them raised in a barn around horses. I wouldn't say they were buddies with the horses, but they had decent horse sense. None the less, I would never trust any dog, of any type, around a guinea pig. It doesn't mean they can't be friends or the pig will be eaten, but even friendly play can be deadly to such a little critter. Do not leave them unsupervised. I was horrified yesterday when Pumpkin body slammed, all in good fun, a 13 wk old GSP at the barn. It took a minute for the little one to recover with a limp  She was on a leash too.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

Kellygh

The dogs get along great with the other horses, but wouldn't ya' figure, it would be our horse we'd have to watch out for.

He's not really tolerant of dogs at all, which is too bad, because I know the "girlz" mean him no harm at all
There are plenty of coyotes in the woods, but there are never any in the pastures when the horses are out.
It's pretty obvious, he's not fooling around with the coyotes. He's deadly serious about keeping them out of the pastures, so we can't really trust him to differentiate between a coyote and a domestic dog.


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## kellygh (Oct 25, 2010)

Gunnr--
I totally understand what you are talking about! You just never know. Regardless of the animal, I don't think it's ever wise to really relax with a "multicultural" animal environment. Pumpkin means no harm around the horses, she wants to clean their noses , but she is exuberant in her movement around them. It is loving excitement, but it is not shared by some horses & frightful to others! Heck, some of her exhuberance/power frightens me, because I'm waiting to see the damage on the other end :-\ Coyotes have become a bigger issue in our territory over the past 8 yrs or so. I have heard folks say they turn their horses out with burros to scare the coyotes?? We have used burros to turn out for company with horses (evil ponies too) who do not play well with others or convalescing; however, I am new to the idea about using burros to scare off coyotes. Have you heard of such? This brings me to a question I may have already asked you (sorry a little off thread topic). I'm going back to your post about how Vs behave when tracking animals other than birds. It was a thread re: how to stop your V from going after rabbits etc. I'm assuming Vs pick up coyote trails. What kind of pattern would the pup/dog be running in if smelling coyote?


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## DarDog (Aug 15, 2010)

We have a 10 mo old Vizsla, two cats (one about 4y and one probably the same age as him), and a guinea pig. Darwin is best buds with the kitten. As for the guinea pig, since we brought Darwin home, I have regularly exposed him to the pig. Just picking her up, and putting her in front of him (I am always holding her). Once he seemed a little too keen, so I corrected that. But mostly now, he just wants to give her kisses. Scout, the guinea pig, is kept out of Darwin's reach, and I don't think I would ever be comfortable with them just chilling together: Darwin likes to roll on small animals, and Scout doesn't seem to have too much survival instinct .


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