I love how interested my new puppy Nora is in everything I do, especially the mice. I would love to share my joy of these tiny animals with her, but first we need to figure out how to do this safely. I am not quite sure yet what rules to give her so we are just going to go with the flow for now.
The mice have very little fear of her, especially these two boys. Finnegan and Tom are feisty little guys and view her as a sparing partner. I had never expected them to behave this way. It is adorable, as long as I can keep things safe. The boys do not seem unduly stressed. Male mice get a high from fighting just like prize fighters and as long as things stay safe for everyone, allowing them this bit of enrichment seems to be o.k.
This video shows Nora’s first introduction to them, she is figuring out how to play with them safely more everyday. As soon as she enters the studio, Finnegan and Tom come running, she leans up against the wire and gently playfights with them, before everyone wanders off to do their own thing. Still under strict supervision though, want everyone to stay safe and Nora to learn appropriate behavior.
For those of you who worry about the mice, don’t, I will keep everyone safe. Male mice enjoy playfighting like this and Nora is becoming more and more gentle with them all the time. In a year’s time she should be 100% safe with my mice, until then strict supervision. I want Nora to be as good with my mice as my previous four dogs were, but to achieve that I have to allow some interaction so she learns the rules and sees them as tiny people to be careful with, instead of fast moving objects. You could never train a terrier breed to be good with mice, but Nora has a low prey drive, just very energetic and playful. As soon as the boys know Nora is around, they come running, asking to play with her. She plays with them for a few minutes through the bars, then goes off to do something else. She shows no intensity, if she did, I would not allow this.
For those of you who are interested Nora is a three month old miniature Australian shepherd. My sweet, 13 year old German shepherd Brooke passed away last September.
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