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Introducing Rabbits to Dogs

LoopyLou2087

Warren Scout
I have a shih-tzu cross. My bunnies are not in the least afraid of her, in fact they go up to the bars to sniff her when she gets close to the cage. I don't know what the dog would do if the bunnies got loose, but as they're going to be house bunnies, at some point there's probably going to be an incident in which the dog gets a little too close to the bunnies, especially with three kids in the house.
To be honest, most of me screams don't EVER let the dog near the bunnies.. not that I think she'd do them any harm, she's more scared of them than they are of her, but she is a dog after all. Nevertheless, a little part of me wonders if I should introduce them under controlled circumstances, and make sure the dog knows it's not OK to chase the bunnies, so that the first meeting will be controlled and as "safe" as possible, rather than me chasing after her screaming!
Advice/opinions anybody?
 
Try putting your dog on a lead in the room where the bunnies are free ranging .
Then when a bunny vhooses to come over to the dog let them meet. If you are worried and tighten the leash then the dog will sense that something is wrong and wont be relaxed. If you stay calm then the dog will stay calm and the rabbits will stay calm :)
Only do this if you are sure that the dog wont try and bite the rabbits though !
Remeber to praise him when he has been fiendly to the rabbits !
here is my labrador with my bridge bunny harry -
PICT0119.jpg
 
We have the bunnies and dog in the same room tonight, bunnies are in their cage just in case.. the dog keeps taking her ball over to the cage and dropping it in front of the bunnies! I think she wants to play! Looks sweet, but I'm worried about her seeing the rabbits themselves as toys once they start running around!
 
what about gettin a baby gate/pen or someting and putting dog the other side and let bunnys hop around the room and watch dogs reactions

one of my dogs will case if the bunnies go into their mad sprinting, but when she gets to them shes just like ohhh what do i do now!
 
Lots of members have dogs and bunnies, so hopefully they will be able to pass on their own experiences. :)

There is some info here re. introducing bunnies and dogs that may be of interest. :wave:
 
We have a chinese crested puppy who is convinced he's a rabbit - we had the buns first and Keith Richards gave him a good kick the day of his arrival and so the pup knows his place - at the bottom of the pecking order.

We introduced them very slowly with me and the hubby present (and bribes for all the animals for distraction) just in case. We were very lucky with how smoothly it went.

The buns are forever pinching the puppy's toys and food. It helped the pup was smaller than the buns to start with.

I had sleepless nights over getting the puppy and even now I wouldn't leave them together unsupervised just in case! He also knows their cage is the buns' safe place and he mustn't follow them there.

The "Living with a House Rabbit" by Dykes and Flack has a section on introducing to other animals I think.
 
what about gettin a baby gate/pen or someting and putting dog the other side and let bunnys hop around the room and watch dogs reactions

one of my dogs will case if the bunnies go into their mad sprinting, but when she gets to them shes just like ohhh what do i do now!

If she did decided to chase, she'd be over it in an instant! And I'd be stuck fumbling over the other side being a right dosy moo! :lol: I can imagine it now! :oops:

I think my Bella would be the same, not knowing what to do, I'm positive she wouldn't do any harm, I'm more worried about the bunny getting stressed because it's been chased!

Thank's for the replies ppls :D some good ideas to think about!
 
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