Does anyone have a golden retriever & flemish?

[TinysMom]

I'm finally taking the time to write the story I've wanted to write for a few years. I've decided that the woman in the story is going to go to the shelter looking for a cat - but wind up taking home a one year old flemish giant buck (litter box trained) named "Tiny".

Yeah - I know....I would never let MY Tiny go....but that's ok.

Anyway - the guy in the story is going to have a golden retriever...PUPPY. Not sure yet if it will be female or male.

I'm wondering if anyone has a golden retriever and a rabbit - preferably a larger rabbit like a flemish giant. If so - how well do they get along? Do they sleep together? Do they ignore each other? Does one chase the other?

Oh well....back to work. I'm working on my background research - so I am going to try to talk to shelter workers too (via pms or something) to find out more about the adoption process. And I still have so much to research about the town I've picked out too!

I'll try to keep an eye on this thread though....

Peg

 

[Elf Mommy]

I think you're just going to have to give in and buy a Golden Retriever puppy and adopt a Flemish Giant.

All in the name of research, of course!

 

[TinysMom]

Well, I already have the flemish giant and a 9 year old black lab dog. But the more I read about golden retrievers, the more I realize that is the best type of dog for this character.

But for me? HA HA HA.

Art would definitely send me to the loony bin then.....its bad enough with all these rabbits. (He made THREE trips to the dump today w/ rabbit droppings thanks to my rabbitry...they were starting to get suspicious and wanted to check what he had on the third trip...not sure if they opened up the trash or not....I forgot to ask).

Peg


Elf Mommy wrote:

I think you're just going to have to give in and buy a Golden Retriever puppy and adopt a Flemish Giant.

All in the name of research, of course!

 

[Elf Mommy]

Oh, and I have a Palomino (kinda large) and a Boxer (also large)

Elf scared Kirby at first

But after he got used to her, he was way too bouncy to have around her.

It's not that he'd be mean, but boxers bounce. If those monster paws bounced

down on her...I'd be scared that he could break her back on accident.

So...Elf and Kirby are out at separate times in the house. Or one on the porch/deck

the other inside.

I just like it better that way.

I think if Kirby lives longer than Elf does, he might do all right with a rabbit when

he's an older dog.

Puppy...hmm... no Don't know if that helps or not.

 

[flemishr2cool]

My Flemish HATE my dogswith a large passion. Most of the time they ignore them, Athena on the other hand is a 25 pound 4 year old great grandma and she doesn't take $hit from anyone lol. When she encounters the dogs, she thumps, a few times, then goes after them. Its usually not a fast hop to them, she'll hop pretty slow but she will be grunting the entire time, I've never let her get close enough to them to see what she would do but from her attitude and how angry she is when I stop her I can imagine it wouldn't be pretty. Jake the 85 pound lab sort of walks away quickly, the 12 pounddoxies run...fast. LOL.

 

[Nes]

I had goldens all growing up & they are pretty neat dogs! Mine are *tollerant* of the cat - mostly because he thinks he's a dog & constantly tries to get them to pet him...

One really neat behaviour of goldens ... they LOVE goldfish!! Specifically goldfish & I have no idea why. I had some fancies (these are EXPENSIVE fish) in an open toped tank & whileI was selling someone an other fish my golden reached into the tank, pulled out my smallest fancy (very carefully), took him across the room & dropped him on the carpet... He didn't want to hurt him, I think he wanted to play with him...

So a golden retriever and a golden flemish? I don't see how it could fail

Nes.

 

[Jess_sully]

That goldfish story is the CUTEST thing I've heardin awhile. Too bad you weren't armed and ready with a camera, what a photo opportunity!

Peg, I love writing novels, and always put a lot of thought into them like you do. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who researches everything (even pets) before starting a new story Good luck with it, sounds very interesting

 

[Hollie]

My parents have a golden retriever (Jim) and I used to have an older albino bunny (Bobtail) - she wasn't huge like a Flemish.

Anyway, the bunny was kept in our servant's quarters (a room seperate to the house with an AC - so-called because normally you would let your maid live in there, but we didn't), seperate from the dog.

Jim, however, has a passion for all things small and fluffy. Teddy bears, rabbits, cats, rats (the farm next door flushed theirs out into OUR garden, which was very nice of them - NOT!)... he loves to catch them and, basically, kill them. He tried to get to Bobtail whenever he could, so we had to be extra careful.

Then again, when Jim was a pup, his owners had encouraged him to chase cats, so maybe that's why he likes to go for small animals. His previous owners didn't really give him any training at all.

 

[Cait]

Well... I've never had a Flemish or a Golden retriever (although I dog-sit a pair).

But, when Harley (dutch) was still with us, he helped "train" two of our Rotts to be tolerant of small animals. Jada and Gertie BOTH played with Harley when they were puppies. And I do mean play, not terrorize. They'd follow eachother around and Harley would jump over them and do binkies. They'd also "wrestle", but all that involved was the puppy standing over Harley and licking him. Of course when they got too big, that had to stop as they liked to try and chew Harley's ears, and they didn't know their own size and strength.

Ancient picture of Harley with one of his "trainees", I think this was Gertie.

 

[TinysMom]

Thanks to everyone who has shared their stories. I'm still in the researching stage (which Tiny loves as it means he gets more craisins and stuff while I note his reactions and what his favorite treats are). He's been pretty good lately about coming in during the day when it gets hot - but he sure hates to be cooped inside all the time.

I've already decided that the gal who adopts the flemish is going to wind up (at the end of the book) volunteering with a rabbit rescue group and renovating part of her house to have a room specifically for rabbits (with tile flooring and play areas, etc).

If anyone has neat stories to share about their dogs and rabbits interacting - I'd love to hear it. So far I know that Tiny will be offended at the dog drinking out of his water bowl....and he will probably steal dog food sometimes (just like Tiny does). I'm even putting in his experience at "altering" my dress (I shared it on his blog a while ago).....as he'll get locked in the closet and be bored...

Peg

 

[Haley]

My boyfriend and I live together with my three rabbits (2 are bonded..we're still in the process of bonding the third). My boyfriend has a Golden Retriever who is seriously the most gentle dog I have ever met. Hes pretty big, about 100 lbs, but a big baby. I would love for he and my buns to be buddies...

However, he is terrified of them!

He does this thing where he pokes his head around a corner and checks to see if there are any bunnies in the area. We live in a bilevel condo, and he will stay in the lower level all day if the buns are running around upstairs. Its really cute! The twobonded buns are also afraid of him, but my third, Mr. Tumnus, will run right up to him

Good Luck!

-Haley

 

[TinysMom]

Oh Haley! Thanks for sharing that. I think I'm going to have the guy's dog (a golden retriever) do that at some point in the book - peek around to see where the rabbit is).

What a great idea - and I can almost picture it! A 100 pound dog scared of rabbits......:bunnydance:

Peg


hh2420 wrote:

My boyfriend and I live together with my three rabbits (2 are bonded..we're still in the process of bonding the third). My boyfriend has a Golden Retriever who is seriously the most gentle dog I have ever met. Hes pretty big, about 100 lbs, but a big baby. I would love for he and my buns to be buddies...

However, he is terrified of them!

He does this thing where he pokes his head around a corner and checks to see if there are any bunnies in the area. We live in a bilevel condo, and he will stay in the lower level all day if the buns are running around upstairs. Its really cute! The twobonded buns are also afraid of him, but my third, Mr. Tumnus, will run right up to him

Good Luck!

-Haley

 

[Haley]

You're welcome!

And good luck with your book!

-Haley

 

[SweetPeasMommie]

If I would still have Micheal him and our dog Samantha would have beena great one. Samantha is a goldie/shep