Beagles and chickens living happily with each other?

[Billiam]

I think it could work.

I have a beagle too. She is just over a year old. She is very 'curisou' of the chickens. I need to take a week off of work sometime and properly introduce them all.

 

[Chickenaddict]

Well we have been going backawrds rather than forward in his progress here. Yesterday he had a playdate with a rottweiler that went great altho he broke his sore on his paw open again. This morning at 3 am I awoke to a wet spot in my bed immediately assuming he had an accident, jumped up and took him out telling him he has to go potty outside, changed the sheets and blankets and tossed the wet ones in the wash. I sat down briefly to ball my eyes out from the lack of sleep and intense training followed by frusteration. I placed him in his kennel for the rest of the night. Noone got a wink of sleep after that. He managed to chew up his pet bed, slide the plastic tray out of the kennel and tip it on it's side so he could escape. He began puking at 3 am, thats what was on the bed. He hasn't stopped since and now I am very worried he may have an intestinal blockage. He hasn't eaten anything out of the ordinary except a portion of a trachea the other day he had picked out at the pet store. No loose runny stools, still nice and solid but he can't keep any water or food down. Being he is still considered a pup and shouldn't go more than 12 hours without food I went ahead and made an appt at the vet for 6:30 tonight. Having spent all my funds on the dog plus the supplies so his rescue was possible I am pretty tapped out to say the least so I hope the vet goes easy on both me and my new boy. I feel aweful for him, he has already been thru enough trauma.

 

[nakstk]

I hope everything goes okay for him and for you.

 

[Chickenaddict]

Thank you! We ended up going in early because I was that worried about him. He has reverse sneezes pretty bad and the way he couldn't keep anything down made me think something was lodged in his throat but it turns out he had no obstructions. He is around about 25 Lbs (hard to keep a very excitable beagle still when there is a black lab 2 ft away from the scale). He has a minor infection where he was neutered which I was afraid of so he is on some antibiotics for the next 7 days for that. He had a shot of anti nausea meds which made him FREAK OUT like someone just sawed off his leg so now the vet techs call him drama king LOL. He is on pepcid 10 mg per day for 5-10 days,Metronidazole for the infection, and Sucralfate every 12 hours. No treats, No bones, NO pigs ears = Extremely hard to train so we decided to train him with toys as his motivation. He got to go out in the backyard without the leash or zip line and as long as I had that toy in my hand he stayed by my side. He slept in his kennel in my bedroom right next to my bed with a comforter draped over it and tons of comfy blankeys to burrow into, took him a few minutes and whenever he whined I replied with a stern NO. The only way I could get him to settle down once I locked him in the kennel was to place this furby in the kennel with him, he moves or gets to worked up the furby wakes up and starts talking to him! He settles down when the furby is yakking. He won't chew on it whatsoever, he thinks of it as a friend, sooo strange LOL But hey it's working so I think I'll stick with it for now.

 

[NajmoNests]

Oh my! Furby is still collecting love. Maybe Roscoe thinks it is a voice of authority... Did it fall on his pumpkin head and then start talking to him? LOL GREAT training tool.

 

[nakstk]

So glad to hear that it was not more serious and that the Furby is working in your favor. We found it is much easier with 2 dogs then one even though its a lot more work. Our mama dog died in March and we thought about just having Tank but he seemed SO lonely even after 6 weeks. So we got him a friend in June and it took a few week for them to become best friends. I know not everyone can have two or more dogs but they are pack animals and when their pack leader is at work it's nice for them to have a friend at home too.

 

[Chickenaddict]

SO far so good. Last night I let him sleep in my bed verses the kennel. I just wasn't feeling up to listening to that bdarn furby all night long. Roscoe hasn't had an upset tummy since the vet visit but he does still have reverse sneezes and a runny nose. The vet did say it was possible for him to have the flu or some virus and that the anti viral meds are a FORTUNE.... I sure hope thats not the case! He is eating and drinking like a normal dog now. He was really good yesterday, no accidents in the house at all. Nakstk I am still considering taking in Weston the other beagle roscoe became quite close with, however he is not as healthy as roscoe here and I am afraid his adoption fee is going to me much higer then roscoes. On top of vet visits and cortizone injections for his bad reaction to the Comfortis so I am a little reserved yet. I am still trying to get used to roscoe. Weston is in another foster home now and the ppl who are fostering him MAY adopt him, if they don't Well, guess U can book me a room for the rest of my life in the dog house bcause I will probably take him in too and my other half will probably kill me.

 

[nakstk]

How is Roscoe today? Feeling better and adjusting more to his new life I hope.

 

[Chickenaddict]

Roscoe is much better today. He is still stubborn as a mule and of course doesn't listen most of the time. I wired up his kennel so he can no longer slide the tray out from under him to tip the kennel on it's side for his great escape. He has learned stay, sit, and of course his name. We are working on "shake" speak and drop. He has been in the chicken room everyday since he got here and just yesterday I felt confident enough to hold one of my smallest hens on my lap while roscoe sniffed her. She is the most tame hen I have here and isn't scared of anything so letting the dog sniff her didn't bother her one bit. He had no interest in grabbing her, he gently nudged her with his nose and went about his business. I think he will get along great with the birds eventually. Today as much as I hate to medicate any animal I am going to give him a benadryl while I am at work so he doesn't work himself up again in his kennel. While I was in the shower he snuck into the chicken room where I also keep a litter box and food/water for the cats. He ate most of the cat food and I am sure he cleaned out the litter box too. He was scolded for that (no hitting, no yelling, just a stern "NO") He knows right from wrong because as soon as I caught him before I said a word he put his head down in shame. I have to admit out of all the dogs I have had over the years he is by far the most challenging. I am starting to feel bad for one of my cats as well, she was adopted a few months before we got roscoe and has never been around dogs. Roscoe likes to chase her because she is so scared. She stopped eating and began having accidents on the carpet. She won't even let me pet her. I feel like this is sooo unfair to her but they are both here to stay so I hope eventually she will warm up to him and be ok around him, if I could get him to back off of her that would help lots. I am going to start being a little more strict with him or he is gonna walk all over me. When he acts up, he will get squirted with a water bottle with vinegar water in it. This worked great with other dogs in the past so I hope it works for him too. I have gotten approx 2 hours of sleep a night if I am lucky since he arrived here. It is sooo much like having a newborn baby around. I have had several moments of frusteration where all I could do is sit and cry (beats yelling) Probably due to the lack of sleep. Roscoe sleeps in my bed every night and he is pretty restless. He gets up a few times during the night to let me know he has to go outside. He will not go potty unless you are outside with him freezing your butt off. It's been a bumpy ride to say the least but he is making progress. Boy if he wasn't sooo dang cute I think I would have called it a day a few days into this.....

 

[nakstk]

Those Beagle eyes and ears have a way of melting your heart. I hate medicating animals as well but I think in this case it might be a good thing. I have to give Tank benadryl on the 4th of July. He freaks out and chews on his crate. He chewed it so bad his gums were bleeding. If Roscoe is chewing because he is nervous then it might be good for him so he can relax and maybe after a few days he will just become more relaxed and not need it any more. I have tried some all natural pet calm that didn't really help too much. Maybe adding some lavender in the room he is in might help him too.