chins playing with other pets

Riven said:

Actually they are bred to retrieve, not hunt. Pointers hunt, retrievers retrieve. They were actually bred as water rescue dogs, not hunting dogs.

I failed to see where it said it chased or mauled the lizard, I read that it followed it.

I'm not saying anything either way, I'm just stating some information. I also think it's funny how people on this thread are clearly stating that species should not come into contact, etc. but on another thread no one seems to have a problem with a chinchilla living directly over top of a prairie dog in a chinchilla run... :hmm:

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Actually, Pointers don't hunt either... they point :neener: Terriers are hunting dogs -- they were bred to find and kill small "pests." That doesn't mean that other breeds don't hunt. My lab and lab/irish setter mix both hunt out of territorial instinct. Any animal that comes on our property is done for. It's sad, and I hate it, but I don't know how to train it out of them. Groundhogs especially are at risk of this.

On another note, Max (the mix) loves to play with mice -- of course his idea of "playing" involves getting them in his mouth and tossing them into the air to see how high they can fly. He doesn't mean to hurt them -- he gets very confused and then sad when they die and will pout for at least an hour after. (This I've only seen twice -- it's not encouraged)

That being said, all though they are sweet and well trained and show next to no interest in my chinchillas, I would never let them interact fully. When the chins get playtime the dogs are either outside, or being otherwise supervised and not in the room.

Through the cage bars is one thing -- but I know that no matter how well I've trained them, my dogs are dogs, and thereby not to be trusted to deny their instincts.

Riven said:

Actually they are bred to retrieve, not hunt. Pointers hunt, retrievers retrieve. They were actually bred as water rescue dogs, not hunting dogs.

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Retrieving is a type of hunting. They have to spot what you want them to retrieve then find it (see "hunt"). Pointers hunt and are called pointer because they point what they have found once it has been hunted out. Retrievers, pointers and terriers are hunting breeds, it's just the way they hunt that is different and specified in their breed name.

I've known many therapy dogs and the biggest thing any of their trainers ever said to me is to avoid any forms of temptation. They teach the dogs to ignore things, but at the same time, when possible they avoid giving them any source of temptation. Their main training is to work, not tolerate other animals.

The fact that your dog followed a lizard points out that he has the instict to chase. All it takes is for your dog to follow your chinchilla, your chinchilla to stop, then your dog not knowing he stopped steps on him. With a dog that big the damage can easily be fatal. That just shows you how something as innocent as following can turn deadly.

Carnivores "playing with" prey animals usually ends badly for at least one animal for a number of reasons.

I won't risk one of my pets' lives because "usually" doesn't mean always.

Animals are not computer programs; there may be a level of predictability with many pets, but there is never any certainty with animal behavior. If there were, 6 million animals a year wouldn't be euthanized in shelters.

:deadhorse2:

I just think that the "enjoyment" or whatever of letting different species play isn't worth the risk.

I made mistakes, when I got my first chin he was housed next to a rabbit, but I would never let my chin/small animal play with a dog/cat/ferret whatever. It's just dangerous.

Riven said:

...........but on another thread no one seems to have a problem with a chinchilla living directly over top of a prairie dog in a chinchilla run...

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i believe it was stated in the other thread that that specific chinchilla came from the same home as the PD and it wasn't supposed to be in that area of the cage, and the person fixed the problem.

now back on topic, i would never allow any other creature that has the slightest chance of harming a chinchilla anywhere near a chin. a few people i know would fall under this category too!

My cats sneak into the chin room on occasion, but I do my best to keep them out of there. I'm not worried about disease or attacks so much as the stress to the chinchillas. But I agree with anyone that says you never can tell. Teddy escaped one day while I was at school. I found him in shock under the bed, surrounded by cats, but unharmed. They may have chased him but they didn't hurt him, however now my house gets the occasional mouse and the cats go to town on them, so you really can never tell. Would you leave your kids alone by the pool all day just because nothing has ever happened before?

Wow. After reading all the posts, I'm not sure I want to come back into the debate threads.

I'm going on no sleep here, and even to me it was clear LittleChinta had an initial question regarding chins and other pets playing together. His question got answered. Then, somehow, it turns into this huge thing where people are arguing with one another, not thoroughly reading what other people posted when making replies, and (it seems to me) taking things WAY too personally.

As more than one person previously mentioned, there are a lot of new people on this forum (myself included) that are asking questions, wanting answers. Yet some of the veterans "seem" (I say that because it's hard to read someone's mood or intent through messages) to answer with attacks on the inquirer's ethics/etc.

To those of you arguing back and forth, could you not settle it in a Private Message? It's called "Chin Debate", not slay one another's characters.

Lastly, if some of these people here choose to let their chins out with their pets (and/or house their chins with their pets) after you've advised them not to, so be it. You've given your feedback and your suggestions...you can't control whether they take them or not. I don't think judging them for it will help matters.

I know that a lot of you have lost chinchillas because of the situations mentioned above. But sometimes people aren't going to see it any other way until it happens to them.

If you don't like a post, use the red triangle on the upper rt corner of the post, you are not a mod, buddy or admin and you cannot tell someone how to post or not to post, self policing is not allowed.

Good to know!

This area of the forum is called "Chin Debate" which automatically means people will bump heads. Everyone has an opinion and they will be voicing it in these threads, which is what the area is form, debate.

I agree. But there's a difference between disagreeing with and outright attacking someone.

However, I have since learned--thanks to TickleChin--the "appropriate" way to handle such posts.

Using the report button rather than attacking or if you are the attacked keeps things from getting out of hand and the leaders can take care of the problem person, they do a good job.

To everyone that currently allows/thinking of allowing their pets of different species to have any contact: my roommate's cat got my chin over a week ago. It was through the space between the bottom of the door and the floor. When she ran out of her cage and escaped initially I wasn't too worried because I knew that was the only space they could possibly contact each other and the chances of it happening seemed small. I went to catch her too late and the cat must have been at the door when he heard her scurrying out of her cage. I had to get the cat's paws off of her. I felt like I was playing tug of war with the cat for the chinchilla.

She had to have surgery to stitch up her wounds, has to wear a collar and is on antibiotics. Her wounds are healing up nice, except one on her foot and she definitely doesn't trust me as much. And she hasn't had playtime since.

I usually lock the cat in my roommate's room or put books and blankets under my door when Chloe is out of her cage. The cat has gotten into my room a couple times before (my door is handmade...long story) and Chloe was protected by her cage, but aside from that, I have always made sure they are not in the same room and the cat is not allowed in my room at any time.

Just a cautionary tale. So anything that is a potential danger, make sure you fix it. If you have a raggedy door that is easy to open, fix the hinges or door frame or whatever. Buy better locks, go out of your way to separate your animals before there is ANY chance of them contacting eachother etc. Make sure there is no chance of anything happening.