How to stop our dogs doing this

[spike6]

We have two medium sized dogs and a large garden. We occasionally get hedgehogs in the garden but not usually at this time of year. However a few nights ago (I’ve only just found this out) one of our dogs picked up a hedgehog when they went out for their last wee at about 10pm and brought it into the house. I’d gone to bed by this point so Dh ‘dealt with it’ by basically using oven gloves (which have since been used in food prep) to put it outside. I’m so livid about this. Firstly because it’s so unhygienic and could make us sick. Secondly because I feel so sorry for the hedgehog who he just let go as it was still alive, but probably not in a good way.
I don’t know how to stop our dogs doing this. Its
so upsetting and potentially dangerous if they are bringing them into the house full of germs and fleas.
Dh said next time he’ll wake me up so I can deal with it. I would at least try to keep it in a box and call a rescue when possible although not even sure if this is the right course of action.
Is there anything we can do to stop our dogs doing this? Obviously it’s hard to patrol the garden in the dark and they can be under bushes anyway.

Firstly if your dog brings in a hedgehog, you should take it to your nearest hedgehog rescue - not a vets - so they can check for injury and shock. Put it in a box with lots of kitchen paper., be as quiet as possible because voices stress them.

Secondly, you need to monitor your dogs when they're in the garden at night. You could put them on a long lead.

Eta sorry missed the sentence where you said you'd put it in a box and call a rescue!

The fleas are host specific so don’t worry about that. We have dogs and had hedgehogs where we lived previously so had to watch out. You’ll just have to go out with them.

Dh is very much ‘im not putting them on a lead in our own garden’ which is infuriating really as it just shows a lack of care. It’s not the dogs fault, they are acting instinctively but I hate to think of another animal suffering.

Don't they have ticks? I would be checking for ticks

We put our dog on a lead for her last wee of the night. It’s quicker, and she can’t lick toads (seriously!).

if we let her into the garden at night she gets distracted and it takes her ages. If we go out there with her on a lead, she will get straight to the job at hand and is done in seconds.

but sounds like your DH is being stubborn for the sake of it.

There is a reason hedgehogs curl in.....

I fostered a doberman who thought the resident garden hedgehogs were her mates. First time I became aware was when she was bleeding from the mouth. Spent ages trying to find the source, only to discover 2 huge rolled up hedgehogs in her bed. It became a frequent occurrence but she never ever harmed them.

This makes me feel better. Ours don’t hurt them but they just carry them in their mouths but I can’t think it does the hedgehog much good! There was blood but it’s hard to tell if that came from the dogs mouth or the hedgehog.

Keep them separate. Check thoroughly first to see if their nest is in your garden or outside. Then block off access into your garden so they can’t get in. Probably best to monitor for a couple of nights to make sure they are not well hidden and are not trapped inside. Or fence off a secure area for the dogs the hedgehogs can’t get into

What you do is supervise them. You know, go out in the garden with them and tell them to leave it.

Not the point of the thread but I'm amazed you're leaving the door open with current energy prices!

(Assuming you leave the door open otherwise you'd see it when you let them back in)

I always say to mine as I close the door behind her "I'm not heating the garden!"

We had this issue too, so we took steps to reasonably attempt to 'hedgehog proof' the garden. Blocking any gaps under fences to attempt to stop them getting onto the garden.

Even by doing that we couldn't entirely stop them because they can squeeze under the gate so the next step is to go out 5 minutes before the dogs to do the 'hedgehog check' where if we find one we relocate them to the front garden before the dogs are let out.

Even taking those steps we are then still vigilant when we let the dogs out by listening for any intense sniffing or grumbling because that's usually an indicator they might be able to see something we can't.

One of our greyhounds used to regularly bring in a hedgehog. We ended up calling him Sylvester and also used the oven gloves to release him back into the garden. It happened several times a week for months and neither hedgehog nor greyhound was harmed.

Muzzle? I know several dog walkers who use them to prevent their dogs from scavenging.

Muzzle, lead or section a part of the garden so the hedgehogs can’t get in and dogs can have a last wee safely.

I keep my dog on a short lead at bedtime. I learnt to do this the hard way. It breaks my heart because she just picks them up (she makes it look like the spikes provide no protection at all) and although she doesn't hurt them at that stage, she grips them tighter when I try to get her to put them down. One time, I couldn't get a response from my local hedgehog rescue so had to take it to the vet where they probably put it down. Now I am constantly vigilant.

I'm trying to stop myself focusing on how adorable that is! What an absolute sweetheart, with her spiky teddy bears.

EDIT: Sorry, that was meant to be a response to the doberman who took hedgehogs to bed with her, but I lost the quote

How lucky to have hedgehogs! Aren’t they becoming rarer? Could you put a muzzle on for the evening wees? Then they can’t pick it up in their mouth.

My worry about hedgehog-proofing the garden is that the disruption of their normal movement patterns is very challenging for local hedgehog populations. They can easily become trapped in just a small subset of the territory they need to be able to move through.

I still feel bad about putting chicken wire across our garden hedges to dog-proof our garden twenty years ago. I didn't even think about what it was doing to the hedgehogs.

I think it would be better to let them roam and, if necessary, limit the dogs rather than the wildlife. I think only a relatively small number of dogs are actiually a threat to hedgehogs. Even my prey-driven terriers have learnt pretty quickly to back off from them.

You'll just have to monitor the dogs more closely. Please don't block access, as some have suggested, the hedgehogs really need to roam, and they're endangered enough as it is. 🦔 🦔 🦔

I am amazed you are heating the house with these energy prices!

I don't think there's anything you can do apart from supervise your dogs in the garden. I also had a dog who liked picking up hedgehogs, he was very gentle with them on the couple of occasions he managed to pick them up without us noticing. No sign of any blood, and they scurried off fine when released, the spikes are a pretty good defence mechanism.