[ptpowers]

I adopted my 1-year-old chi in April and have been battling with what seems to be an instinctual problem. I have a guinea pig and my chi (Bonnie) apparently wants to kill her. I have had to raise the cage, buy a new table, and have even tried moving the cage to multiple rooms without success. She is absolutely obsessed! I can't leave her anywhere near the cage or I have to endure constant barking and jumping and then chase her around to put her in a gated area. Is this an instinct? She doesn't chase bunnies or birds when she goes outside on walks but she does love to chase lizards. I tried a decoy (a stuffed animal that resembled the guinea pig) to accommodate her to the pig but it didn't end well for the stuffed animal. Help!

 

[ptpowers]

This is what I'm talking about!

 

[lulu'smom]

I really hate that you are going through this. I don't have any advice, but hopefully Wicked Pixie will see this because she has chis and guinea pigs and maybe she can help. Good luck!

 

[Jennmay]

Kinda like my first cat was raised with a bird would not harm it at all. But when we added an older cat well yeah it wanted to eat the thing. Hopefully over time she will settle down and not be so obsessed with the piggy.

 

[susan davis]

I don't know what to tell you, unfortunately. If you could take the little piggy and put her in another room and shut the door? Then you could try and desensitize your pup. When you bring out the cage, have someone holding your dog on leash. The minute she sees the piggy, give her some cooked chicken, or some liverwurst. Anything she really loves. Keep doing this for a couple of weeks. Don't let her get too near and get too excited. Then a little closer for a week, finally ending up with her sniffing the cage. At anytime she gets too excited, then the piggy goes away. You want the end result to be 'oh look, the piggy is out, where is my treat?" Then just reinforce calm behavior. A trainer might help if my instructions aren't clear!!!

 

[KrystalLeigh]

Poor piggy! I hope someone has some good advice for you! We had two rats and Odie at the same time. When they were out, she would sometimes get curious and get too close for comfort for them. One rat charged her one time and didn't bite her or anything, but she yelped as if it had and she left them alone ever since.

That being said, we had a miniature schnauzer and gerbils he would not leave them alone. It wasn't quite an obsession though, I think that the prey drive was just too strong. After all, schnauzers were bred for ratting.

How does Bonnie react when you have your pig out of the cage?

 

[ptpowers]

I had the pig on my lap once. Bonnie bit my leg