Prairie Dog Lover's Burrow

I purchased "gopher" our prairie dog mid summer. When ever we let her out of her cage she will play for a while and then get spastic and try to bite down hard. I understand they are more aggressive in the winter months but its only October and she has always been like this. If I cant fix this I'm afraid I will have to find someone else who can handle this issue. I have a five year old daughter and if she gets bit Gopher has to go. Please help. Also she is handled regularly and she is not left alone for long periods of time.

I had the same problem with Sommersby, a rescue adult male. When he would bite, hard or otherwise,I would place him in a tall kitchen trash can (clean and used only for this purpose)  and put the lid on and leave him there for 10 minutes. He hated being alone and away from everyone. I took him a couple of weeks, but he did learn not to bite with no violence involved.

 All prairie dogs are wild caught and therefore need to be gentled.  The way to properly gentle a prairie dog is simply keep their little feet off the floor for a year.  When the cage door is opened, YOU are the reward.. not the floor.  They view any attempt to pick them up as having their freedom taken away.. again.  My method works.  Please do not put any prairie dog in a trash can ~  all that will do is cause a stinky mess.  It teaches them nothing.  Trust me.  Feel free to call me if you would like to discuss this further.

Midwest Prairie Dog Shelter at 01:14AM on Oct 26, 2009

 All prairie dogs are wild caught and therefore need to be gentled.  The way to properly gentle a prairie dog is simply keep their little feet off the floor for a year.  When the cage door is opened, YOU are the reward.. not the floor.  They view any attempt to pick them up as having their freedom taken away.. again.  My method works.  Please do not put any prairie dog in a trash can ~  all that will do is cause a stinky mess.  It teaches them nothing.  Trust me.  Feel free to call me if you would like to discuss this further.

Hi there. I was employing a method that was given to me by my vet. I guess that it was on the premise that companionship is more important than biting. I apologize for causing any discomfort and sending out negative messages. Sommersby was the absolute love of my life at the time, as he was my first prairie dog. I do know that only three time outs were all that were needed and each time he was placed there , he had a rather hefty teeth grip on a part of my hand.(Several scars to proof) At no time was he ever treated violently. ie corporal punishment.After the initial getting to know one another , we went on to become the very best of buddies and he loved me" fiercely". Not in a blood letting sort of way,but, well it is hard to explain. Chloe loved me gently (persistantly, but gently)  I guess because the cage time for them both was limited,the option of a year of cage time was not an option. I ran a ferret rescue and shelter for 6 years and found  that  to" prairie dog proof" an area is really just a more intense effort from "ferret proofing an area. Cage time was used for sleep time or safe shelter.The room that they had was safe and secure,so they both had a large place for freedom as well as their cage. I do have a question for you though,Sommersby had a habit of sucking on my baby finger and at first I really did not think much of it, and allowed him to do so. After a while though, he became very demanding and at the same time much less compliant to follow the "rules" I stopped him from doing it altogether and he went back to being a bit more "submissive" Am I correct in assuming that this was a dominance ploy? How would that translate into Prairie dog world.communication? Any way, I really would love to chat sometime. I have verizon cell phone service and my number is 360-929-0587.Thank you for sharing your p.o.v. Diane J. Whitney.