To bee or not to bee!?

tk123

Bailey seems hell-bent on trying to eat bees lately(!).. Does anyone's dog do this? Will it sting him on the way down or is it only if the bee actually stings where they release the sting...if he swallows it I'm assuming the sting is still attached to the bee's bum so maybe ok? ...I'm slightly worried about him getting stung on his floppy tongue(!)=€€'s :eek:

Knine

Yes mine do it & one of their faces swelled up huge! Always have Zirtek syrup handy! In fact I usually have it in the car too!

tk123

Well I have the zirtek but I'm going to need a defibrillator at this rate because he's going to give my Mum a heart attack doing it!

peasant

bring some treats instead and condition him to ignore the bees

tk123

He has a solid leave it command but usually he's seen the bee before us so I can't really intercept it. Not sure how I'd teach him to ignore it unless I took around the corner to the bee hives in the Botanics lol

peasant

No offence ...but that doesn't sound like a solid "leave it"

He wouldn't be so quick as to catch the bee at fist sight would he?
When ours go after insects it usually takes a few attempts before they get them ...this is where you need to intervene ...I wouldn't risk any of our dogs getting stung by a bee/wasp/hornet.

With all of ours we seem to have managed that they leave stingy insects alone (the specific colour scheme and sound seems to help not just us with identifying them).

Maybe it was the genuinely concerned/panicked "no" that we shout at them ...or perhaps the relieved "good boy/girl" after they stopped ...but ours seem to have got the message that bees/wasps/hornets are not for hunting/eating

Knine

I feel TK123's pain. I have terrier's. They are far too quick for the bees/wasps/beetles etc & even with keeping a close eye they will get them plus mine love being outside in my garden!

Mine respect the leave it comment unless their target is more fun! After all they have a high prey drive! As they should!

tk123

peasant wrote: »

No offence ...but that doesn't sound like a solid "leave it"

He wouldn't be so quick as to catch the bee at fist sight would he?

He's already eaten a load of them he's that quick! ... And has won a prize for his leave it so I'm more than happy with it.

peasant

It's beginning to sound like we're really lucky ..none of ours have ever eaten a stingy thingy (that we know of )

tk123

Childhood memories coming back - I remember seeing our GSD eating bees which we thought should kill him - us being 4 or 5 lol......he also ate my stew one time when I was eating it at the little table we'd sit at as kids and I turned my back... another time he took and ate my Golly bar - STICK AND ALL!!! ..

Knine

I was a terrible child. I used to catch the bees in a jam jar with flowers in the bottom of it. You got brownie points from your friends if you caught a red arsed one.

Now I seldom see any bees & not even many wasps.

tk123

Knine wrote: »

Now I seldom see any bees & not even many wasps.

Well as I said there's a load of hives around the corner from us!! I'm dying to get my hands on the honey if they start selling it - I have allergies so think it could be my elixir lol! :pac::pac::pac:

Knine

tk123 wrote: »

Well as I said there's a load of hives around the corner from us!! I'm dying to get my hands on the honey if they start selling it - I have allergies so think it could be my elixir lol! :pac::pac::pac:

I will be around with my Jam Jar!

Get me some honey! Hayfever seems earlier then ever this year!

DBB

Knine wrote: »

I was a terrible child. I used to catch the bees in a jam jar with flowers in the bottom of it. You got brownie points from your friends if you caught a red arsed one.

Now I seldom see any bees & not even many wasps.

Lol, we used to do this too! Mind you, we let them go when we'd finished gawping at them

AryaStark

DBB wrote: »

Lol, we used to do this too! Mind you, we let them go when we'd finished gawping at them

I used to do this too... feel a bit guilty now with the shortage of funny bees (although we did let them go after a bit of a shake!!!)

When my dog was a pup she got her head into a wasp nest. I was so worried her face swelled up like a football. She was ok after a trip to the vet and some antihistamines... the problem was that for at least a month after she kept trying to get back to where she had found the nest (it was in the garden and we had it removed the same day she got stung!!!)