I’m thinking of adopting a year old Westie, but I’m concerned that it may attack my two guinea pigs =0
Just test the dog out with the guinea pigs before adopting it.
If it were a puppy, I’d say with good training it could probably work. But an adult, especially a young adult, I’d be really leery of. As others have said, Westies were bred to hunt small animals.
I’ve been to earthdog trials where there were more Westies than any other breed (well, it was put on by the Westie club), so it’s not a forgotten instinct in the breed.
Sure, you can do it, but if you want your guinea pigs out of their cage a lot, definitely do research with the individual dog before doing so. Also, what is your experience with dogs? A very experienced dog trainer might be able to retrain an older dog while a new dog owner might have trouble teaching a puppy to get along with guinea pigs.
Good luck!
aren’t your pigs in a cage?
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thats crazy! dont u have a leash?
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Terriers were bred to hunt and KILL… not all Terriers still have the kill instinct but most do.. I wouldnt chance it…
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haha, thats funny, do you know what terriers were bred for?? they were bred to catch and kill rodents, though not all do. its just a funny question. if you watch them at all times when theyre together for about a year and you dont see any problem, then i would say you can trust them together. some dogs just wont know better, some will understand that the smaller animal belongs to YOU and is your pet or as i tell my dogs (which are pit bulls) when i get a new or strange small animal "baby". they understand and leave it completely alone.
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You need to do some research on Westies before you get one.
They are a hunting breed. Bred for hunting rodents on farms.
Yummm, guinea pigs for lunch.
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Just test the dog out with the guinea pigs before adopting it.
If it were a puppy, I’d say with good training it could probably work. But an adult, especially a young adult, I’d be really leery of. As others have said, Westies were bred to hunt small animals.
I’ve been to earthdog trials where there were more Westies than any other breed (well, it was put on by the Westie club), so it’s not a forgotten instinct in the breed.
Sure, you can do it, but if you want your guinea pigs out of their cage a lot, definitely do research with the individual dog before doing so. Also, what is your experience with dogs? A very experienced dog trainer might be able to retrain an older dog while a new dog owner might have trouble teaching a puppy to get along with guinea pigs.
Good luck!
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Given that they’re terriers and they were bred to hunt and kill rodents, I would think twice about having one around guinea pigs. Are you adopting the Westie from a rescue organization or from a person you know? If it’s from a person you know, you could ask them if you could borrow the Westie for an afternoon to see how he reacts to the guinea pigs. Then you’d know for sure if that’d be a problem. A rescue organization would probably tell you straight out it’s not a good idea to mix the two.
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I would recommend keeping those prey animals far, far away from your potential future Terrier. A Google search for "Terrier" will tell you why….remember, it is not the dog’s fault if he kills a rodent, as that is what they’ve been bred for.
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