Advice needed

[niamherrity]

Originally Posted by KayMarie

Thing is though, if they've never met and they happened meet by accident, the consequences will be a lot more severe if they are unsure of one and other.

Steven my other half agrees with kayleigh, we have two guinea pigs that finn see's all the time they are in one of those wire runs that is pegged into the ground at first he thought they were puppies to play with and jumped at them to play now 2 weeks later after being told NO 500,000 times he doesn't go near them This is why steven feels it will be ok for them to meet, we will see I don't like the idea

[KayMarie]

I think its a good idea and with him being a puppy 'an all, its a good age to teach him right from wrong. I agree with the others, once the novelty has worn off, he won't even bother with them AND they're not exaclty vicious dogs

Give it a go, supervised, see what happens.

Niam,

I would say, let your dog out with the tortoise, just on a very short lead, treat and verbally reward him, if he lunges at the tort or tries to pick him up, a firm no, and carry on, try to play with him and stay away from the tort as much as possible, because if he's near the tort- he will think it something to worry about, but if hes moving and your not bothered, he'll see it as every day
once you've got him ignoring tort on a short lead, use it at full length and walk and play with your dog around the garden, treat, verbally reward (I find cheese or cut up ham works great as treats with buddy)
and then once you are very confident (1-2 weeks) then let him run about and play and treat him and verbally reward him, but with his lead still on, so if he does lunge you can step on it.

After hes confident with that, play and treat him around the tort as much as possible, that way, if by accident they do ever meet, then everything will be fine.

I would think of it as- if they did meet by an off chance (its certainly not impossible) you could end up with a dead tort and manic dog, where as, if you train him, but they aren't living together, and they do meet by the off chance- he wont be interested.

I am starting up buddys training again.

Josh

[niamherrity]

Thanks for the advice josh ,we will see, I have to work myself up to it . I think I will get the toilet training done first

My last dog loved cheese as a treat

If hes going to puppy classes- ask them for advice.

I was worried too, but with pups they say you should try to get them to encounter lots of stuff before they are 14 weeks, so that they arent stratled when something new comes up- i think your pup is that young, so its best to get him started sooner rather than later.

[kaz9t9]

cheese?

my dog loves anything as a treat lol

[shelliemavis]

I think that's why we have the problems we have with Em, as I previously posted. We got her at 5 months from someone who didn't want her. She'd been kept in a kitchen except for waqlks and 1 hour every night. When we brought her home she went berserk, going behind the telly and everywhere she shouldn't. As I said in my earlier post she still does some things she shouldn't although she's much better than she was. Su on the other hand we've had since a pup and is so well-behaved. It does make a difference how they're treated from being a young pup and what they're subjected to so it does make sense what Josh says.

Judith

Never use dry dog treats for treats for training,
they take too long to eat, and it would be like you eating fish and chips every day of your life, then being expected to do tricks for another plate of fish and chips.

Hope you understand my reasoning.

[fourtorts]

Accidents do happen however hard u try to avoid them.... My tort was "chewed by my parents dog (story posted in "don't hate us" as reply). needless to say he is now banned from the house. However i have four small dogs of my own, two shih tzus, a lhasa apso and a bichon. Two of my dogs are elderly 12yrs and 13 yrs and were with me before having the torts. When I first got the torts they were interested at first and now they just accept them as part of their life. THEY ARE WITH THEM A LOT OF THE TIME BUT ARE NEVER LEFT UNSUPERVISED. This is very easy to do as my dogs are like a flock of sheep and follow my everywhere including the loo, (whoops too much information).
When I got my lhaso puppy i spent a lot of time introducing him to the torts and he justs accepts them as part of the furniture and the redfoots were actually nearly as big as him when i had him. He seems to be a bit scared of them as they push him out of the way if he is lying in their path when they are on walkabout. I rehomed a friends 3 yr old shih tzu last july and was very concerned about his reaction to the torts but again after the inital interest he doesn't bother them. What I find amazing is the torts have no fear of them and considering one of my tort's had an horrific experience you would think she would be terrified. i would like to point out that my dogs had been with my torts for a couple of years before my parents dog attack.
MY advice to anyone would be TAKE NO CHANCES but I think you should let your dog be used to them as I am too aware and accidents can happen and if the dog is used to the tort there may be a chance it won't attack it.

[Templer-nt]

I agree wholely with fourtorts, I have spent the last week slowly introducing my new tort to the dog vice versa, they are starting to except each other now and looks good for the future, but be assured I will never trust the dog alone with the tort, I make sure there is someone with the tort myself or the kids etc...