I get a lot of hedgehogs in my garden (they must be on a suicide mission). The thing that I cant understand is how do the dogs know that there is a hedgehog in the garden? They can be sleeping on the sofa and the next minute they leap up in unison and start barking to go out - they then surround the poor hog and bark at it until I drag them away

Maybe the hedgehogs make a sound above human hearing frequency or the hounds can smell them from a distance. I used to get a lot of hedgehogs in the garden at my last house and Ben was always finding them and barking.

They probably can hear the hogs snuffaling about,
we used to get loads in the garden, but i think they've learned not to
come in this part of the garden anymore, otherwise they end up being brought in the house by our micky, he thinks there for playing ball with.

Hello,

We had many hedgehogs of our ground in the last autumn also.

Best regards
Joerg and Yoki

Murphy is exactly the same. Sound asleep one second, then up and off the next, if the door is shut, he goes to the dining room window, crying to get out. He just barks at them, daren't go near it incase he gets prickled!

Mind you, I nearly threw a bucket of cold water over two last year, getting fruity in my front garden in the early hours, they don't half make a racket! No comments please Hairybeasty, before you say anything!

My lips are sealed Helen..dont want to get told off again!!

Elsie Grey does exactly the same thing....she runs outside and does her 'emergency bark' letting me know there is an intruder in the garden! Then she stands and barks at the poor hedgehogs, they usually totaly ignore her Daisy May just looks and walks away. At least Elsie Grey has not tried to eat one yet! Elsie Grey has also done the emergency bark when she found an upside down beetle waving its legs in the air She is so daft, never barks when anyone comes to the door though!

hairybeasty wrote:



But have to say it, just before you come out with something! everyone thinks I have naked guests now!

Don't forget dogs have a great sense of smell, they know before they get in the garden I bet they hear them as well. My old lurchers always found them in the park and would not leave them alone I had to put the leads on and drag them away (with everybody looking of course as the dogs were crying to get at them)!!

I find it odd that the dogs show so much interest in them as by the time they have ambushed the poor hog it is curled up in a tight ball and with all those spikes they cant be got at - or can they?

daisymay wrote:


Gawd knows what she would do if she found a tortoise!!

houndy wrote:


Our Boxer x GreatDane used to deal with them by gritting his teeth and working through the pain, but he was a real hard case. My Deerhounds have learned to pretend they don't see hedgehogs, but there's always one who takes them personally and feels they have to bark them to death - it's currently DownJess. The number of times I've had to go outside in the pitch dark with a torch and a stainless steel dog bowl to scoop the hedgehog up and release it outside the dog run...

hairybeasty wrote:


Gawd knows what she would do if she found a tortoise!! [/quote]

I think we know how that one would end Hairy....think 'pork pie'....& then Elsie Grey with no teeth!

We do not have hedgehogs here ( who really are very noisy , no wonder dogs discover them so easily ) but we do have porcupines ....- mine never had an encounter with one ,I only get to see their tracks and start " praying " right away that they are safely up some bushes/hidden away from my girls ;those pics of dogs with well over 100 hundred quills in their heads and mouths circulate regularly - we once got one in at the SPCA , poor Akbash , head all swollen and quills everywhere - luckily all was well soon after they'd been removed , no lasting damage , none in the eyes .
My girls run out regularly at night to keep the yard free of , well , racoons , bear , beaver , whatever ...- for many years , when I still had my Picardy Sheepdog Polka , we had some territorial issues between her and the big beaver who resides in the lake - almost every night in summer she would swim by , smashing her tail loudly onto the watersurface announcing her arrival , which sent poor Polka into a frency ; the end , regularly , her swimming in circles with the beaver - both swimming towards each other , the beaver diving right underneath her after having splashe her with water it was sooo sweet to watch . One of Polka's best dasy was , when we dicovered a dead beaver on the beach , not " hers " mind you , but just as god - as this happened the week before her death , I was extra happy for Polka and let her have as much a go at it as she wanted .....Polka's beaver took over 1 year after Polka's death to return , now young Hermione barks at her , but does not swim after her .

Great story Verena! Your girls have such a great life.