How Will My Dogs Do With the Chinchillas? -- part 2

When bringing a chin into a home with a dog, the initial interaction between dog and chin (and by that, I do mean, with the chin IN the cage) should be supervised.  You want to see how the dog is going to react to the chin, with the chin in a place where it feels secure (the cage).

In a perfect world, this should go nice and smoothly, the dog walks up, sniffs the cage, sees the chinchilla, curiously sits there for a bit... then gets tired of staring at the chin, and walks away.

But sometimes other things happen.

Sometimes, the dog sniffs the cage, and the chin bites the nose of the dog.  This doesn't happen all the time, but now and then it does.  This has happened, now, to two of my dogs.  The first dog has never gotten that close to the cage again, whereas the second dog is not deterred in the slightest.  See... it depends on the dog.

Sometimes, the dog gets all excited with the new chin in the house.  They may paw the cage, they may jump around, they may act all loony!  If the cage is in a spot where the dog can easily access it, this may warrant doing some training with the dog.  Basically, you want to reward the dog being calm around the chinchilla.  If the dog sits down, give it a treat.  Dog lays down, treat.  Dog stays sitting / laying, treat.  The dog needs to catch on that they are only getting treats when they are not acting like a lunatic, but rather, are acting calm.  This may take some getting used to, and may take a little effort for the dog to learn what exactly it is that is getting them the treats, but they will catch on... though you still gotta be careful that the dog behaves when you're not there (though if you're able to get this well enough ingrained in their head, this shouldn't be a problem).

And lastly, sometimes the dog wants to eat the chin.  Like literally.  I've had people call me when their dogs knocked down the cage and were actively trying to get into the cage to get the chin.  These people were worried for the safety of the chin.  Obviously, it depends on the situation -- sometimes, the chin can be moved to a different room, with the door closed, and this fixes the problem.  Sometimes, though, certain dogs may stop at nothing to get that chin, and the chin has to removed from the house, for the safety of the chin. 

So you see... whether a dog and a chin can co-exist, depends primarily on the dog itself, and how the dog interacts with the chin.  So unfortunately, without knowing the dog, that's not a question I can easily answer for someone.  That is all.