Tips on how to introduce Dog to rabbit

Stumpy my Giant bun is very brave and nothing scares him,he goes right up to the dog and tries ot lick him,Archie the lab doesnt like this and tries to chase him away,stumpy runs away and then comes straight back and this happens again.I would always be there to supervise them together and I am using commands and treats for Archie.Is there anything else I can do or shall i exercise Stumpy when Archie is in another room??Thanks in advance

I wouldn't. Even if you are there all the time to supervise it would take less than a second and only one bite to cause very serious damage, even death for the rabbit, it could happen so quickly before you even had a chance to intervene. Especially if the dog already doesn't like the rabbit and is trying to chase him away.

I just wouldn't risk it.

It sounds like Archie isn't too keen, or is unsure of Stumpy at the minute, so I'd take things cautiously.
I have three dogs - two of whom are absolutely brilliant with the rabbits, and puppy Spike who loves them, but still can get a bit excitable when they start binkying.
Spike sees my buns in their runs all the time, and none of the rabbits are fazed by the dogs at all - not even the tiny ones.
I'll let Spike interact with the buns whilst I'm with him, but I wouldn't leave him with any of them at all until I'm sure he's past his puppy stage of chasing (probably another few years yet!). I'm happy though that he is relaxed around the buns and for the majority of the time he is uninterested in them.

I'd do short intro's with Stumpy and Archie, and you know your dog best so you can judge how he is reacting.
Just be careful 'cos Stumpy sounds like a big softie, and I'd hate you to experience Archie turning on him.

You need to introduce them with Archie on the lead first it might take several weeks of doing this but do not try to introduce them without Archie being on lead with you fully in control or Stumpy could get hurt
I did this with both of my two so now i can have rabbits and piggies out with the dogs in the same room no problems

bluebunny said:

You need to introduce them with Archie on the lead first it might take several weeks of doing this but do not try to introduce them with Archie being on lead with you fully in control or Stumpy could get hurt
I did this with both of my two so now i can have rabbits and piggies out with the dogs in the same room no problems

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I agree.It would only take one bite from Archie and that would be curtains for Stumpy.How old is Archie?

Archie is 3 and a very calm lazy dog.I am very aware that he could hurt baby stumpy,and that scares me,but I dont want to keep them completely separate all of the time,but if that is what is best for both of them then thats what I will do,thanks everone for the advice

I use two have two free range house rabbits (24/7 and not locked away at night) living with three labradors and we had no problems what so ever. We introduced them by putting the dogs on their leads and letting the buns have free range around them, if the dog looked like it was going to snap (they never did) then we would pull the dog back and say NO. You can also empty a jiff lemon out and fill it with water, every time the dog looks to go for the rabbit then squirt the water from the jif lemon, the dog will then think that the rabbit is squirting him and will eventually give up.
Good luck and you will find that Stumpy will have the uper hand as one of my rabbits use to wait until the dogs settled down for the night and then hop over and drag the dogs beds off them, once they moved she would go and chill out:lol::lol: