Need Help - Chinchilla Fixated Dog

[cello]

My son and his wife have adopted a lab/pitt mix. She is a one year old female named Roxie. They also have a pet chinchilla that is kept in a large two foot wide by four and half foot tall cage in their living room. Due to the confines of their house, the cage cannot be moved from the downstairs, and there is no way to block off cage from the dog. The new dog is totally fixated on the chinchilla, and will try and throw herself at the crate every chance she can get. They have tried verbal commands, barriers with assorted x-pens and baby gates, spray water bottle and nothing is helping. They have only had the dog since Sunday but they are at their wits end. Does anyone have and suggestions for training techniques they could try?

Thank you for your help. Roxie is a very cute dog, and other then this issue she has been perfect.

[MaryJane]

As a stopgap measure can they get some material and just cover three sides of the crate so that the chinchilla is not always visible to the dog.

 

You didn't mention whether or not they have they tried a leash on the dog and stop her each time she tries to get near the cage. Either the son or the wife might want to try attaching a leash to themselves so the dog has to follow them thru the house.

[cello]

As a stopgap measure can they get some material and just cover three sides of the crate so that the chinchilla is not always visible to the dog.

 

You didn't mention whether or not they have they tried a leash on the dog and stop her each time she tries to get near the cage. Either the son or the wife might want to try attaching a leash to themselves so the dog has to follow them thru the house.

 

Yes, they have her in a harness and on a leash. They stop her from connecting with the crate, but she will not give up - she is totally fixated.

[kikibean]

I had a guinea pig and 2 birds when I got Molly. She was fixated on them both, but would back away with a squirt bottle.

 

They can try covering the cage to see if that helps (out of sight, out of mind), but truthfully if they can't distract her at all and there's no way to put the chin behind a closed door, I'd be worried for the chin's safety.

 

Our dogs are gated in our lower level when we're not home, but even so we still make sure the door to the office where Camilla (the chinchilla), the rabbit & hamsters are is closed.

[GeorgeofNE]

I know how much your daughter in law loves that little Chin, and if it were mine, I would not be comfortable leaving that particular dog alone in the house with it unless it can be completely closed into a room.

 

If someone is home during the day (I'm guessing they both work?) they could try to train him to leave it alone, but if they can't be home to protect it, I'm afraid I see a potential tragedy.

 

Is there any other place the cage can go?

[Guest BrianRke]

I hate to say this but Im not sure you will be able to do anything except move the furry prey out of the dogs line of sight. I can only imagine the mayhem if I brought a chinchilla into my house!

 

Diamond is a VERY high prey dog and there is nothing I could do. I have tried for 3 years to train that out of her but there is NOTHING that will draw her attention from the creature she is fixated upon. Its like I dont exist to her. Extreme tunnel vision.

 

I tried the squirt bottle too. She just stood there and let me drench her with it, like she didnt even notice she was wet.

Edited December 9, 2011 by BrianRke

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

prey + predator = nature

 

If they cannot break the fixation, then without years of constant work, they will probably not be able to have them co-habituate. Same thing with a greyhound that has prey drive with a cat.

[sobesmom]

Prey drive, pure and simple. It's just how nature works. I've had some success with some high-prey dogs by covering the small animal's cage. Out of sight, out of mind. Training might work. I've not had great success with it, but I also never worked hard at it. My solution for my DD's hamster's was to move the cage into her bedroom and babygate that room.

 

I hope you can find a solution here. My experience has not been good in this kind of situation.

[jenners]

Yikes. I have a very bad feeling about this. I"m afraid I would never feel that the chin was safe with that dog in the house, no matter how her behaviour might appear to change. With such a brief time in the home, can they return her and adopt a safer (from the chin's viewpoint) dog? It's really horribly unfair to the chin; s/he must be terrified to have that dog throwing herself at the cage which is supposed to be his/her safe home

 

Jennie

 

 

[3greytjoys]

Agreed. If the lab/pitt's attention can't be called off the animal, most likely that lab/pitt's prey drive is much too high to live with a small animal.

 

I knew an Akita who jumped through a window into a house to attack an airline crate with cat inside. The Akita threw the crated cat throughout the whole house trying to break and bite the crate open.

[fsugrad]

I hate to say this but Im not sure you will be able to do anything except move the furry prey out of the dogs line of sight. I can only imagine the mayhem if I brought a chinchilla into my house!

 

Diamond is a VERY high prey dog and there is nothing I could do. I have tried for 3 years to train that out of her but there is NOTHING that will draw her attention from the creature she is fixated upon. Its like I dont exist to her. Extreme tunnel vision.

 

I tried the squirt bottle too. She just stood there and let me drench her with it, like she didnt even notice she was wet.

I agree. Robin is ultra high prey as well. When we go to Petco and he sees the ferrets and other fuzzies in their aquariums at his eye level, he stands there in a trance and licks his chops at the ferret mcnuggets, guinea pig mcnuggets, etc etc. It's just a fact of life.

There's got to be a better place in their home to keep the chinchilla so that he/she is safe and a tragedy is averted.

[Guest GreytOD]

I read this article earlier today and thought of this thread, its on redirecting the prey drive behavior:

http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001/redirect.htm

 

It may not work but be worth a try. Good luck to them!

[Guest zaylea]

I have 2 guinea pigs, and Major was pretty fixated on them. I would never trust her and the pigs alone during the day, so they're kept in separate rooms.

 

However, I wanted to be able to have Major at least be in the same room with them (supervised) without going nuts, because the room they were in is my office. So, I used a squirt bottle. If her nose touched the cage, she'd get a squirt. When she would calm down and lay on the floor, she'd get a reward. The pigs are also mostly above her eye level (the stand is 28" high), not to mention that there's a lot of hideys and the pigs are smart enough to run into a tunnel when Major gets too close.

[Guest happygrey]

I know how much your daughter in law loves that little Chin, and if it were mine, I would not be comfortable leaving that particular dog alone in the house with it unless it can be completely closed into a room.

 

If someone is home during the day (I'm guessing they both work?) they could try to train him to leave it alone, but if they can't be home to protect it, I'm afraid I see a potential tragedy.

 

Is there any other place the cage can go?

I second this. We had two guinea pigs when we got our hounds and did have to rehome them with my daughter's best friend. Better a new home than a tragedy, I thought.

[Guest iconsmum]

I have a border collie, a golden and a grey and it would be an even bet as to who would get the chinchilla first - they're just too tempting looking - but it would die. I'd rehome the little guy pronto.

[Guest 4dogscrazy]

I had to rehome my guinea pig too. She was ancient and it wasn't fair keeping her in a state of panic all the time. She went to my sitters house with 4 kids and my daughter got to see her all the time. I agree, either the dog or the chin will have to be rehomed.

[Mystella]

I have a 19/20 year old chinchilla. When I had Stella she completely ignored Oscar and was actualy afraid of him, he would throw himself at the side of his cage if she came to close and she would run away. He is a character and thinks he rules the roost. I was a little worried when Jeff came to join us because there is no way Oscar was going anywhere!! Thankfully, Jeffy does well with the little guy too. He will ocassionally wander over to the cage to try to get chilla poops but once Oscar even got out and hopped right past Jeff's bed and all he did was raise one ear. However even with that, I block off his cage when we aren't home so that Jeffy can't get near it. Just in case.

 

How is the chin reacting to all this, is the dog stressing him/her out? I would say they need to find away to get their chilla in a room they can close off. In one of our apartments I had to keep Oscar in our bedroom, that was a PITA because they are so noisey at night, but it needed to be done.