Alright, so first off, this is a bit of an odd conversation to have here, because it's not completely about my Sulcata.
My sulcy Keyser has been living outside for a few months now; he has a heated indoor hide to go to, and a large outdoor area to roam. This area is closed off by a chain link fence (it used to be a large dog run), which works great, but does make him viewable to my two dogs. They can't get to him, but they can see him.
My German Shepherd got over having Keyser out there rather quickly, but my Australian Shepherd never reached such a revelation. Originally, he would bark at Keyser off and on, depending on the day, but it was never a typical thing to hear. Slowly though, it became more and more common. Now, we're at the point where my dog will spend the entire day just staring at Keyser, growling and barking. We've tried typical dog training methods to get it to stop, but, with them both outside full-time, it just hasn't worked. One of the weirdest things about it is that, when this harassment occurs, it doesn't bother Keyser in the least. In fact, he gets up as close as he can to the fence and tries to shove his way out, directly at the 60 lb dog. I've made sure that he can't (and that he can't even stick a leg out, because that has disaster written all over it), but, at times, the barking looks like a two-way thing.
I've been considering, as a way to stop this, introducing the dog and the tortoise in an extremely controlled environment. Despite Keyser having eclipsed 10 lbs, dogs and torts together just makes me nervous, even if I'm there to supervise it. Has anyone else had experience using this as a solution? Are there any other solutions that others have used? Covering him from sight is another alternative I have thought of, but a lot more difficult to do (tarping the fences).
My sulcy Keyser has been living outside for a few months now; he has a heated indoor hide to go to, and a large outdoor area to roam. This area is closed off by a chain link fence (it used to be a large dog run), which works great, but does make him viewable to my two dogs. They can't get to him, but they can see him.
My German Shepherd got over having Keyser out there rather quickly, but my Australian Shepherd never reached such a revelation. Originally, he would bark at Keyser off and on, depending on the day, but it was never a typical thing to hear. Slowly though, it became more and more common. Now, we're at the point where my dog will spend the entire day just staring at Keyser, growling and barking. We've tried typical dog training methods to get it to stop, but, with them both outside full-time, it just hasn't worked. One of the weirdest things about it is that, when this harassment occurs, it doesn't bother Keyser in the least. In fact, he gets up as close as he can to the fence and tries to shove his way out, directly at the 60 lb dog. I've made sure that he can't (and that he can't even stick a leg out, because that has disaster written all over it), but, at times, the barking looks like a two-way thing.
I've been considering, as a way to stop this, introducing the dog and the tortoise in an extremely controlled environment. Despite Keyser having eclipsed 10 lbs, dogs and torts together just makes me nervous, even if I'm there to supervise it. Has anyone else had experience using this as a solution? Are there any other solutions that others have used? Covering him from sight is another alternative I have thought of, but a lot more difficult to do (tarping the fences).