Dogs and chipmunks

[pjard]

Two of my three dogs chase chipmunks around my yard constantly. I thought for sure the chipmunks would leave after a few days of being chased. Or...I thought the dogs would get used to the chipmunks and stop caring. However, neither is happening. Does anyone have any tips besides shooting the chipmunks!

[RailroadJoe]

Walk them on a lease

[RailroadJoe]

The dogs that is

[pjard]

I installed an electric dog fence so they could have free reign in the yard.

[Chaselady]

I believe the chipmunks like to tease our dog. They play games to get him to chase them, then they scoot into their holes. Drives the dog nuts!

[gillygirl]

I believe the chipmunks like to tease our dog. They play games to get him to chase them, then they scoot into their holes. Drives the dog nuts!

I think our chipmunks like to play chicken while we're mowing the lawn. Would never be able to let our psycho dog off the leash.

[ApS]

Two of my three dogs chase chipmunks around my yard constantly. I thought for sure the chipmunks would leave after a few days of being chased. Or...I thought the dogs would get used to the chipmunks and stop caring. However, neither is happening. Does anyone have any tips besides shooting the chipmunks!
Chipmunks don't pose any harm to your dogs. As a snowbird, I actually miss New Hampshire's industrious chipmunks during the off-season. In any numbers, they're only found in a few states. They're also not exclusively granivores: they'll eat snakes and insect pests like grasshoppers.

When guests bring dogs to our place, "our" chipmunks disappear. :eek2: There must be something very favorable in your immediate location that brings them back. :confused:

Multiple birdfeeders?

If so, I doubt you'd ever get rid of "your" chipmunks. Even if you did, their "niche" could be replaced by Red Squirrels—aside from mice—New Hampshire's most destructive rodent!

A pile of rip-rap is an ideal home for chipmunks—or any of those rock walls built by the earliest New Hampshire settlers—that many residents have maintained or restored. Chipmunks also use natural underground caverns as "chipmunk highways", which are too small for larger and less desirable, wild critters.

If you maintain birdfeeders, there are some very picky birds that will reject seeds to the ground—one after the other—'til they find "the right one". (Woodpeckers and Nuthatch in particular). To limit the feeding of critters on the ground, I glued window screening to a discarded automobile "beauty-ring", and hung it under my bird feeder. Small birds scarf them up.

It may be hard to believe, but chipmunks have individual personalities! With a very little "sunflower-seed-training", most can be brought to your feet by your whistle. Try discarding your morning's blueberry-muffin wrapper to the ground, and you'll watch them fold it into a neat triangle and run off with it. :eek2: I'd very much like to see what a chipmunk's food pantry looks like. :laugh:

Chipmunks should be kept wary for their survival—and I don't see a downside for your dogs. Your two "problem dogs" are getting necessary exercise doing something that's fun and very natural to them.

...not so much for cats... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuPYZX2cUXE)

If your dogs are digging deep holes, I understand your situation better, but I'd transplant trees there. (Evergreens to the north—deciduous trees to the south).

;)

[Rattlesnake Gal]

Just like Chaselady, my chipmunks and red squirrels love to tease our dogs. They pop out of a hole, a chase ensues, and the chipmunk dives into another hole. It then comes out up the hill and watches the dogs looking at the first hole. It's very funny! :laugh:

The red squirrels like to dart by the dogs and run up a tree. The dogs can't seem to see it when the squirrel jumps to a different tree.

[SIKSUKR]

Awesome action chipmunk shot RG!

[chipj29]

Just like Chaselady, my chipmunks and red squirrels love to tease our dogs. They pop out of a hole, a chase ensues, and the chipmunk dives into another hole. It then comes out up the hill and watches the dogs looking at the first hole. It's very funny! :laugh:

The red squirrels like to dart by the dogs and run up a tree. The dogs can't seem to see it when the squirrel jumps to a different tree.

Thats a huge chipmunk! :D

[Lakesrider]

While Chipmunks may not hurt your dogs, they can wreak havoc on your automobiles. Chewed wires, acorns stuffed in every hole imaginable, etc. I had a Toyota Rav4 that had probably 500 acorns in the Hood. The Chippy would crawl in the engine compartment and up through the hole that the hood latch is mounted to. Every time I opened the hood you would hear the cacophony of little Acorns rolling around in there. I simply couldn't get them out. I also had some chewed wires that cost me $1100.00 to replace. Red Squirrels are the worst though. If you get one in your yard it is best to remove it....Like as in dead, before you wind up paying huge repair bills to your house or cars.

[Rattlesnake Gal]

While Chipmunks may not hurt your dogs, they can wreak havoc on your automobiles. Chewed wires, acorns stuffed in every hole imaginable, etc. I had a Toyota Rav4 that had probably 500 acorns in the Hood. The Chippy would crawl in the engine compartment and up through the hole that the hood latch is mounted to. Every time I opened the hood you would hear the cacophony of little Acorns rolling around in there. I simply couldn't get them out. I also had some chewed wires that cost me $1100.00 to replace. Red Squirrels are the worst though. If you get one in your yard it is best to remove it....Like as in dead, before you wind up paying huge repair bills to your house or cars.

Glad my truck isn't parked at Rattkesnake Island!

So true though. These little criitters can cause trouble, kinda like Chip and Dale.

[Chaselady]

Just like Chaselady, my chipmunks and red squirrels love to tease our dogs. They pop out of a hole, a chase ensues, and the chipmunk dives into another hole. It then comes out up the hill and watches the dogs looking at the first hole. It's very funny! :laugh:

The red squirrels like to dart by the dogs and run up a tree. The dogs can't seem to see it when the squirrel jumps to a different tree.
Love your pic. Our dog would probably get along good with yours...many times he is hip deep into a hole chasing some critter!

[chipj29]

Glad my truck isn't parked at Rattkesnake Island!

So true though. These little criitters can cause trouble, kinda like Chip and Dale.

Hey, I resemble that remark!

[ApS]

​While Chipmunks may not hurt your dogs, they can wreak havoc on your automobiles. Chewed wires, acorns stuffed in every hole imaginable, etc. I had a Toyota Rav4 that had probably 500 acorns in the Hood. The Chippy would crawl in the engine compartment and up through the hole that the hood latch is mounted to. Every time I opened the hood you would hear the cacophony of little Acorns rolling around in there. I simply couldn't get them out. I also had some chewed wires that cost me $1100.00 to replace. Red Squirrels are the worst though. If you get one in your yard it is best to remove it....Like as in dead, before you wind up paying huge repair bills to your house or cars.

You're absolutely correct about Red Squirrels. :fire:

When I googled Chipmunks and cars, the only responses to that form of automobile wiring "vandalism" came from professional exterminators, happy to remove anything for money.

:eek2:

One honest exterminator (below) asserted that chipmunks are burrowers, and they cache their food underground. Red Squirrels make nasty nests out of shredded leaves and other materials.

In our crawlspace, which has suffered greatly from Red Squirrels—as we watch—we find pinecone and acorn debris mixed in with damaged and stained fabrics, vinyl, wood furniture, clothing, plastic containers, cotton cushions, vinyl cushions, fiberglass mat/cloth—and even shredded swim noodles.

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i117/chipmunkwhisperer/P7310044_zpse258c188.jpg

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i117/chipmunkwhisperer/P5290161_zps71fe9b19.jpg

An exterminator speaks knowledgably about Chipmunks:

http://allstateanimalcontrol.com/animals/chipmunks/chipmunk_faq.php#15

[secondcurve]

Two of my three dogs chase chipmunks around my yard constantly. I thought for sure the chipmunks would leave after a few days of being chased. Or...I thought the dogs would get used to the chipmunks and stop caring. However, neither is happening. Does anyone have any tips besides shooting the chipmunks!

From the web. A friend of mine followed these instructions and greatly reduced the population in his yard with out too much trouble:

Place a bucket half-filled with water outside. Lean a wooden plank against the side of the bucket.

Scatter sunflower seeds on the plank, in the water and on the grass around the bucket. The chipmunks will walk on the plank to eat the seeds, fall into the bucket and drown.
Check with your town or city animal control agency to find out how to dispose of the dead chipmunks. Always wear gloves when handling dead animals, and always wash your hands afterward. Many times, they are infested with fleas, mites and other unpleasant critters.

[VitaBene]

a 5 gallon bucket is the world's best mouse or rodent trap (I just read a random fact that there are 4400 patents on mouse traps). Google 5 gallon mouse trap for the design.

[loonguy]

We also had acorn collections in our car. Placing fabric softener sheets in the various compartments solved the problem. Apparently, the smell acts as a rodent repellant.

[SIKSUKR]

Scatter sunflower seeds on the plank, in the water and on the grass around the bucket. The chipmunks will walk on the plank to eat the seeds, fall into the bucket and drown.
Works very well for chipmunks.

[rick35]

Scatter sunflower seeds on the plank, in the water and on the grass around the bucket. The chipmunks will walk on the plank to eat the seeds, fall into the bucket and drown.
Works very well for chipmunks.

Aka "Chipper Dipper". Works great.

[hilltopper]

And if you have a 5 year old daughter that likes feeding the chipmunks, don't put the Chipper dipper out until after she goes to bed. It will save you a very awkard conversation. :rolleye2:

[rick35]

I've had an awkward conversation with my wife. But she's not the one who has stepped into two chipmunk holes. One time it put me face down on the ground. Twisted my ankle the second time. Death to Chippy!

[ApS]

A burrow for a mink is just big enough to trip on. :rolleye1:

a 5 gallon bucket is the world's best mouse or rodent trap (I just read a random fact that there are 4400 patents on mouse traps). Google 5 gallon mouse trap for the design.
Many five-gallon buckets display a picture of a toddler, warning that toddlers can suffocate after falling into these buckets. :eek:
_________________________

A family member left a five-gallon bucket half-full of soapy water outdoors. Days later, when I went to pour it out, I discovered a familiar chipmunk that I had long-trained and photographed. (She had drowned). I buried it nearby in the woods, then poured out the rest of the bucket. It was then I found a second chipmunk—a baby—also drowned. :( As a "nurturer" by nature, I was very saddened—and now all our buckets have a written warning inside to store them upside-down.

Just yesterday, a Fairpoint technician noted that "my" trained chipmunks are cute, and astutely noted that they respond to the sound of the opening of their food jar just like the family dog responds to the sound of an electric can opener! :laugh:

Women—especially—usually agree on "cute", so you could be treading on thin ice trying to "rid" yourself of chipmunks. :eek2:
_________________________

A day earlier, I heard the chipmunk warning sound—a repeated "Monk!" (loud for a tiny mammal). Several seconds later, I thought to look up, and saw a juvenile Bald Eagle very close overhead. :look:

(An eagle warning cry is also sounded by Mallards, Mergansers, and regularly—Loons. On the northern half of the lake, they've all been very busy at "eagle warnings" lately).
_________________________

Why chipmunks aren't likely to make it to New Hampshire's "State Mammal":

Economics of Damage and Control

The majority of chipmunk damage involves minimal economic loss (under $200). Homeowners report that chipmunks are quite destructive when it comes to their burrowing activities around structures. This damage warrants an investment in control to protect structural integrity of stairs, patios, and foundations. Their consumption of seeds, flower bulbs, fruit, and vegetables is often a nuisance.

Of course, if you plant the "right things", you'll get "nuisance deer". :rolleye2:

Chipmunks are said to inhabit their "territory" at the rate of two chipmunks per acre, so observe what might be drawing them to your property in the first place.

:look: