Best dog breed with torts

[Laura]

I guess there isnt a reason to reply now.. but my first thought was 'none'.
IF you MUST have a dog, in your situation, get a small one. It would take longer to do damage if it did get a hold of your tort. and since it will have to be inside since you dont have room enough outside to safely house both.. then smaller the beter.
In the job Im in.. I see this tyep of thing all the time. My dog would never,, I dont put a collar on cause i never let it leave my sight, I dont need to use a leash, my dog is trained.. yada yada yada.. then I get the calls. of the dog being lost, ran off, chased something, bit, attacked got run over stolen etc.. Unfortunately it takes some people to expereince a tragic event to learn. Learn the Hard way. Usually at someone elses expense or life and the animal pays dearly..

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However.. a small dog will be at risk from the raccoons as well.. so are large ones.. soo.....

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

My Danes, my daughter's Chihuahuas, and our Ananatolian Shepherd/Great Pyrenese mix are all good w/ tortoises/guinea pigs/chickens/cats/bunnies/mini-goats/mini-pig, etc., but only because I took to time to train each dog carefully.

The Danes and the Chis ignore all of 'em, and Annie (the Ananatolian Shepherd/Great Pyrenese mix) protects them fiercely, as she knows her job is to be the guardian of our property and all the small critters that live here.

Most, if not all, dog problems come from their "parents" not correcting bad behavior IMMEDIATELY...and, with the possible exception of the very worst pit bulls, any dog will be as smart as his/her "parent(s)" take the time to make him/her.

 

[matt41gb]

I have two very large greyhound mixes. Shiner, the male is 100 lbs, and his sister Abby is around 90 lbs. They were raised with my box turtles and tortoises. They live in the backyard with all of them. They can walk right over the wall to their pen, plus I have an 80 lb + sulcata that shares the backyard with them. They don't so much as bat an eye at the box turtles or torts. They will bark at the sulcata if he comes too close, but he just veers the other way. They are the box turtle and tortoises best ally. They keep raccoons and opossums out of the back yard. I trust them 100% with my animals. They even have two cats that live back there with them.

Now everyone cannot be so lucky to have this luxury. I would not recommend getting any terrier breed, or any other breed that is a hunter, or that gets bored easily. Dogs chew because they are bored. If you don't let your dog get out anxiety, it will take it out on your tortoises. Fortunately my dogs are not chewers. I couldn't even get them to chew on toys as pups.

You have to raise them right and be a good owner. You cannot ever let them think for one second that they are allowed to chew on turtles or tortoises. There are no such thing as bad dogs, just bad owners.

Shiner and Mookah facing off. Shiner was raised with him, all he has ever done is bark at him. They still love each other.

-Matt

 

[Kristina]

I guess there isnt a reason to reply now..

I disagree... There are great reasons to continue replying!!!

This forum comes up a LOT with google searches... Anyone out there in cyberspace that googles this particular question should pull up this thread, and the more information and experiences posted here, the better.

I am sure others would agree with me that the most important purpose of this forum is to help people and provide information. There is no good reason I see to stop doing that!!!

 

[South FL Katie]

Isn't it better to assume the worst and take precautions then assume everything will be fine?

I have 6 toy breed dogs that usually come with me when I'm outside hanging out with my tortoise and although they haven't shown any aggression to my pet rats or my tortoise I wouldn't leave them unsupervised. I am constantly reminding them to keep their distance when Cody is on the ground to make sure there won't be any accidents.

There is ALWAYS a risk no matter what breed... any dog could hurt a tortoise and it's ignorant to believe that a specific breed wouldn't be able to cause harm.

 

[matt41gb]

I can promise you 100% that my dogs will not under any circumstances attack, or hurt any of my turtles or tortoises. There, I said it!

-Matt

 

[dmmj]

I can promise you 100% that my dogs will not under any circumstances attack, or hurt any of my turtles or tortoises. There, I said it!

-Matt

96 % of all stats are made up 87% of all people know that.

 

[Tom]

I can promise you 100% that my dogs will not under any circumstances attack, or hurt any of my turtles or tortoises. There, I said it!

-Matt

No. What you can promise is that none of them have done it yet. Unless they are like my Bloodhound. We buried him a year and a half ago. "RIP Bubba". I can absolutely, 100% guarantee that he will never hurt any of my tortoises.

 

[Angi]

My old dog Lucy is very, very old, and probably doesn't have too long to live. She is a Springer Spaniel, as was always very good with my torts and turtles. If anything, my torts would harass HER, more than she ever bothered them.
After Lucy passes, we will be looking for a new dog. I don't want another Springer, because they have very bad eyes, and in fact Lucy has been totally blind for about 3-4 years now.
So please feel free to offer your opinions about good dog breeds to keep with my 3 adult Desert Torts.
I understand that I need to be careful with a dog under any circumstance. Luckily I work from home, so I am almost always here to supervise.... Thanks in advance...

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What about adopting a dog that went through service dog training and just didn't make the final cut. There is a place in Ramona Ca. that does this. I don't know where you live, but if you are near I could get you the info. I do agree that they should never be left unsupervised.

 

[Sigmar]

Tried to keep out of this. I see so many giving human qualities to our pets, which is what gets them in trouble. So going to make this real simple, ANIMALS ARE ANIMALS, they mainly survive by instinct. Any time you mix species especially predators you take a chance. Your decision is is that chance worth it. We own birds, cats, dogs, fish, a turtle, and a tortoise. But we NEVER leave them together unsupervised even for a little while. To do so would be completely irresponsible. The only breed of dog that isn't going to chew is a toothless one. Yea sometimes nothing ever happens bad but all it takes is once.

 

[matt41gb]

If I know that my dogs will never hurt my turtles or tortoises, how am I being irresponsible?? I'm talking about dogs who I trust with newborn kittens to clean them when we get all of them at the clinic. I understand what everyone is talking about, but if you only knew my dogs. I still stand by my original post. If it weren't for my dogs, my animals would be missing limbs or killed by predators by now for sure.

-Matt

 

[Tom]

Matt, consider for a moment that some of us were once in your shoes. We had a dog or dogs that peacefully coexisted with our turtles and or tortoises for years without incident and we wholeheartedly trusted them and believed everything was fine. Imagine our horror and grief when one day, out of the blue, we learned we were wrong. You don't understand this, because it hasn't happened to you yet. I sincerely hope it never does. Some people do get away with it. Some don't. I'll leave you alone on this, if you just admit you know it is a gamble. It may be a very slight gamble in your case, but still a gamble none the less.

Now you do have a good point about the presence of dogs keeping predators at bay, but I'd still never leave dogs unsupervised with any kind of access to torts.

 

[matt41gb]

I completely understand the situation. I think I was just wanting to brag about how trustworthy my dogs are. I've had my fair share of chewed up box turtles come to me, and have heard multiple stories about our clients dogs that have chewed them up as well. I'm not trying to cause a stink with you guys, just wanted to brag a little. Ha!

-Matt

 

[ChiKat]

I am almost positive my sweet little Chihuahua would never hurt Nelson but it is impossible to be 100% certain...it is a dog with animal instincts.

 

[matt41gb]

A Chihuahua can never be trusted!! Ha!