New Hedgie and family dog concerns

[Benedict]

Hello! I just became an owner of a hedgehog and although I have no other pets in my apartment, I do have a dog at my parent's house. I have to go home in a 2 weeks and would love to take Benedict with me. I'll take him even if he doesn't get along with our dog, Mia, but I was wondering if anyone had any tips on acclimating the 2 animals to each other.

Benedict is an 8 week old male hedgehog who is a friendly explorer but skeptical of most things at first.
Mia, is a 50 pound black portuguese water dog who is super friendly and loving but can be protective and is very much the princess of the household. Also Mia is sometimes unaware of how large she actually is, some days she thinks of herself as a lapdog.

[definitelydeven]

I have two pitbulls and a two month old hedgie, they dont really LIKE each other but the boys pretty much learned that the spiky ball hurts their noses and paws. i just held peaches in my hands and they sniffed her a bunch. Now they leave her alone for the most part.

[abbys]

You never know how they'll react. My parents have a really friendly, bouncy schnauzer, and since terriers are supposed to have an instinct to hunt rodent-sized animals I was very careful about introducing him to Piglet. But it turns out Otis is terrified of Pig. Every time I take Pig to my parents', my poor pup quietly sulks away downstairs and won't resurface until I leave. He's never even gotten close enough to Pig to know that he's sharp! Pig has gotten pretty comfortable roaming the house and he doesn't spike up anymore, so I've tried holding him and gently showing him to Otis, but no luck. He won't even play with his favorite squeaker toy after Pig chews on it!

[Lilysmommy]

Since Abbys is right and you don't always know how they'd react, personally I'd be more careful than might end up being necessary - make sure one person (you) is holding the hedgehog, and have someone else nearby or holding the dog, either by collar or on a leash. It may all end up being unnecessary, like I said, but better safe than sorry. When things go badly, it's remembered - every time I see posts about people introducing hedgies to dogs, I remember a situation a year or two ago where the person was introducing their hedgie to a dog (don't remember dog breed), the dog lunged and in a quick second, hedgie's eye had been popped out of the socket from the dog's tooth. I think hedgie ended up being okay....but I can't recall, and it's still a bit horrifying to have something like that happen. So I guess my main point is - go ahead, but be extra cautious! You may feel silly afterwards if the pup is just afraid or doesn't care, but I'd rather feel silly.

[JulieAnne]

When I introduced my 100lb Weimaraner to Prim I had my mom hold her and I help my dog with his pronged choke collar on. He listens to me more than he does my mom and the collar gives me even more control. I let him sniff her butt and even let him sniff her face after several minutes. I let him get quilled in the nose and now he's scared of her lol.