WORKINg gsdand small animals - Page 1

hey anyone here have worrking gsd and small animals? you ever get to the comfortable level of leaving them alone together? if so what species?

 

also do they ever share the same backyard? ONLY talking working gsds here with high drive

I have high drive working gsds and cats right now.  In 15 years of dogs I've had only 1 incident where a cat was harmed, and the dog that was involved was a very low drive American showline..  There was a time period after that where I did not leave them alone together but after a while I went back to allowing them together again.  They've also been ok with birds and they didn't hurt my hamster when he escaped.

What sort of small animal? Gebil? Rabbit? Cat? Little dog?

I wouldn't advocate leaving -any!- dog along with a prey animal. I would let my dogs out in the yard with Ralph the Macaw, but the dogs were tethered while Ralph was not... and Ralph could handle himself. He was basically a feathery bolt cutter with PMS, who decided one of my dogs was his lifemate. My dogs tollerated Ralph, but they were all a bit nervous around him. That beak on a tender nose or curious paw established who was boss quite quickly.

I'd be cautious about leaving big dogs with fragile little dogs. I leave my GSDs with my JRT, but he's the oldest in the pack, and established himself as boss a long time ago. I would not let him unsupervised with a strange dog.

Cats? Depends on the dog... and the cat, and if the cat has enough dog-safe spots that she can easily get to. My JRT is never left unsupervised with cats, as jacks are notorious for going after small, furry animals on a whim.

Reptiles? Predatory reptiles like my large snake might try to go after a dog. Smaller reptiles and dogs seem to ignore each other.

to the above poster you sure you have working shepherds? a macaw would be killed by one bite by ANY large dog if it wanted to, in the wild large parrots fall easy prey to small wild cats and hawks

love how some people think these large parrots can really hold their own when any predatory animal is keen on killing them parrots are not hawks or eagles their DEFENSE from predators is to FLy

none of these small animal could handle themsleves agaisnt a serious gsd

i have a macaw also that likes to walk around my house my cat would put up a MUCH better defense than the macaw she deals with foxes on a daily basis i would never leave my macaw outdoors unsupervised

birds are very fragile and easy to kill

Depends on the dog.

My female is a working GSD, SchH titled with high drive.  She adopted the three kittens we brought home six months ago and treats them like her puppies, they crawl in food bowl, all over her tail and muzzle and she loves it.

My young male, also working GSD I do not trust with the kittens because they bolt around, trigger his prey drive and he chases them.  Even if he doesn't mean to hurt them, he's very big and all it takes is one snap of those jaws.  On the flip side the older cat who knows to stand his ground rather than run, is okay with the male.

Where to start?

My 2 older girls (6 yrs) treat the cats like puppies. The kitties clean the dogs and the dogs clean the kitties. Syd has one kitty in particular she likes to herd and the cat plays along. The cat routinely curls up on the couch in between the dogs, sometimes on top of the dogs and they sleep that way.

Melissa

My gsds love our cats, but chase them sometimes to play with them.  They have never tried to bite them.  However, they hate stray cats and dogs that come into our yard.  I wouldn't trust them around a stray cat or dog that they don't know.

Hanny really loves Catzilla and wants her for breakfest, lunch or dinner!