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Dog jealous of rabbits new hutch?

LittleEskimo

LittleEskimo

Mama Doe
Well our dog can be quite the jealous type around other animals. We have had it when we had to look after a dog for a friend who was very excitable when you came home and I have it when I am feeding the guinea pig and talking to him etc. But it seems to be worse with the rabbit :? The rabbit tends to just laugh in the dogs face a lot of the time. Teasing her and everything. When I had the old hutch and I would feed the rabbit I would just lift up the lid, feed her and the dog would get jealous and bark at me and the rabbit because I wasn't giving HER the food and attention :roll: and then if the rabbit made any kind of noise at me, whether it be honking or grunting the dog would think she was trying to hurt me and would bark at her. Because rabbits are blood hungry murder demons :lol::roll: But now Rosie has her new hutch every time I even go NEAR the rabbit or try to do anything with her the dog goes berserk and screeches at the rabbit. It is not even a bark it is just some horrible yelping screech. The rabbit just sits there as if to you 'U mad?' and doesn't pay her any attention but it is driving me crazy! I don't know how to stop the dog getting in such a state. Usually she behaves quite well around the rabbit apart from when she is not getting the rabbits dinner. I don't know what to do. Any help??
 
Can you exclude the dog from the room or area when you're doing anything with the rabbit? This sounds an unhealthy and stressful situation for everyone - you, the dog, the rabbit...

I think the dog is attention-seeking and somewhere along the line he's learned that his behaviour gives him the result he wants: your attention.
 
The rabbit doesn't act scared at all, she acts really normal. Doesn't run away or look wide eyed and panicy. She just sits there eating her food. I have tried to exclude the dog. But when you have handfuls of hay, rabbit food, veg, stuff for cleaning out it is hard to keep the dog from running out of the back door. And then you have to try and catch her to stick her back into the kitchen unless you trick her with food and just urgh...I always tell her no and try to discipline her but she isn't like any other dog. When she gets into these manic states. She isn't quite all there mentally because of her breeding we think. The vets wont treat any of the dogs that are from the breeders farm because they are inbred and stuff. So we have to lie to our vets :/
 
This would really worry me, but then I am almost phobic about dogs!

This aside, I would definitely do everything possible to minimise the dog and rabbit coming within sight of each other. Rosie might not seem scared, but the dog could still be a threat. I would shut the dog in a room out of sight of the garden while you are attending to Rosie.
 
LittleEskimo said:
I have tried to exclude the dog. But when you have handfuls of hay, rabbit food, veg, stuff for cleaning out it is hard to keep the dog from running out of the back door.
Click to expand...
In that case, shut her in a room other than the kitchen (or wherever the back door is) so that you can walk in and out without difficulty. Then when you've finished what you're doing, let her back out.
 
If you want to properly train the dog you could try something along the lines of this:

Have someone the dog is not attached to holding her on a lead. You give the rabbit food attention and if the dog get irate then the person holding the lead removes her from you and the situation. My idea here is that she realises that when she's not calm she is not allowed near you. You being the reward for her being calm.
 
I will have to try sticking her in the frontroom. I keep all of the animal stuff in the garage which leads onto the dining room which is open plan with the kitchen and the back door. But the only problem is the front room is where our front door and stairs are so people will always be going to and fro :/ It's not a very well laid out house for trying to keep a dog away from a rabbit. So many times I have tried to keep her calm and stop her from getting manic but it can take a whole day for her to calm down again :( she does get walked but it is just her head never stops buzzing when something gets her going.

Also the dog isn't a threat of any kind. When the rabbit has been put away and the dog gets to go around the garden they never try to go for eachother or anything. She could go right up to the hutch doors and try to attack the rabbit through the wires if she really wanted to. But I have never seen her go for the rabbit for any reason. It is only when I show the rabbit any kind of attention that she gets jealous and tries to get between me and the rabbit
 
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Right...the dog...

What breed is she?
How old?
Is she neutered?
What kind of basic training does she have? Sit? Stay? Leave?
What food is she on?
How often is she walked?


Is bunny fenced off and a safe distance between the two at all times? Thats really important as the situation is stressful for both so it needs to be avoided for a while.

I suspect you need to have a complete retrain with your dog. Its not easy and takes time but even if things are not 'perfect' theres still room for improvement:D Starting with the basic training. Re-learning sit, stay, leave, back and no barking. Giving lots of praise for these things will enable her to understand what your asking her to do when near the rabbits, but dont put her in that situation again for a while, at least until her training commands are 100%.

Make sure when you are re-introducing them (it could be months away) that the dog has been walked and fed and is in a calm state. When one of mine shows inappropriate behaviour if they ignore my warning, they go on their bed for time out, only a minute or so and then we try again. If theyre having a bad day and I dont feel its the right day, I bring them inside and give it 30mins and maybe do basic training instead. Dont set them up for a fall...dogs are like us, not every day can be a good one;)

Make all training fun and achievable. Keep going back to the basic commands and then eventually you can get the dog to back off, leave and eventually ignore the rabbits. It took me about 6 months to get one of mine (he had quite bad behaviour problems) to ignore the animals and now he has no interest in them:D I would never give him the opportunity to be left alone with them but I do trust him now:love:
 
It could be that she's a very intelligent dog and needs to have her mind occupied. Has she been to obedience training or agility - what sort of dog is she? There's also "clicker training" which might occupy her mind and help you to calm her.

It sounds as if the dog would benefit from some help and then you and the rabbit would benefit too. Presumably you can't provide much companionship for the rabbit if the dog is bouncing around which is a shame.

ETA: in fact... what Helen said ^^^ ;)

Good luck. :D
 
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helen01 said:
Right...the dog...

What breed is she?
How old?
Is she neutered?
What kind of basic training does she have? Sit? Stay? Leave?
What food is she on?
How often is she walked?


Is bunny fenced off and a safe distance between the two at all times? Thats really important as the situation is stressful for both so it needs to be avoided for a while.

I suspect you need to have a complete retrain with your dog. Its not easy and takes time but even if things are not 'perfect' theres still room for improvement:D Starting with the basic training. Re-learning sit, stay, leave, back and no barking. Giving lots of praise for these things will enable her to understand what your asking her to do when near the rabbits, but dont put her in that situation again for a while, at least until her training commands are 100%.

Make sure when you are re-introducing them (it could be months away) that the dog has been walked and fed and is in a calm state. When one of mine shows inappropriate behaviour if they ignore my warning, they go on their bed for time out, only a minute or so and then we try again. If theyre having a bad day and I dont feel its the right day, I bring them inside and give it 30mins and maybe do basic training instead. Dont set them up for a fall...dogs are like us, not every day can be a good one;)

Make all training fun and achievable. Keep going back to the basic commands and then eventually you can get the dog to back off, leave and eventually ignore the rabbits. It took me about 6 months to get one of mine (he had quite bad behaviour problems) to ignore the animals and now he has no interest in them:D I would never give him the opportunity to be left alone with them but I do trust him now:love:
Click to expand...

What breed is she? She is a cocker spaniel but she seems to have different kinds of spaniel in her and we think is inbred. Like I said the vets wont treat any dog that the breeder has sold :/
How old? She is 5 in April
Is she neutered? Yes she is neutered
What kind of basic training does she have? Sit? Stay? Leave? Yes she is trained, she picked up all of the training and tricks within a couple of months of us having her.
What food is she on? She is on Burns, it is the only thing that stops her climbing the walls
How often is she walked? She is walked everyday

She is a very smart and trained dog. She will listen to you. Before we got the new bigger hutch I would sit the dog in the garden while the rabbit would run around free range. The dog would never go for the rabbit but would sometimes try to walk up to her with a toy to play with but I was always tell her to leave the rabbit and come back and she will listen and come back to me and sit by me. She is trained and will listen and behave. But food is another matter. She is one of those dogs that will do ANYTHING for the smallest crumb of food. Which is why she can be naughty when I used to feed the rabbit. Now she just seems to hate the rabbit :? :(
 
helen01 said:
I suspect you need to have a complete retrain with your dog.
Click to expand...

This. Not in a bad way, just that the dog is showing attention seeking behaviour and the fact it will rush out through doors etc is bad behavior and disrespectful to you. Starting from scratch is a good idea, possibly consult a trainer/behaviorist. Its probably best to have help initially as you dont want to give the dog the attention (telling off is attention, she has then succeeded) when she shows that behavior. Someone with her on a lead and if she shows any interest in the rabbit or moves toward you/the hutch she has to be turned away, sat down and repeat til she sees that its not acceptable.
 
Ellasyn said:
This. Not in a bad way, just that the dog is showing attention seeking behaviour and the fact it will rush out through doors etc is bad behavior and disrespectful to you. Starting from scratch is a good idea, possibly consult a trainer/behaviorist. Its probably best to have help initially as you dont want to give the dog the attention (telling off is attention, she has then succeeded) when she shows that behavior. Someone with her on a lead and if she shows any interest in the rabbit or moves toward you/the hutch she has to be turned away, sat down and repeat til she sees that its not acceptable.
Click to expand...

I agree with all of this. Sometimes it helps to have a second opinion, we kind of fall into habits that we dont realise.
 
LittleEskimo said:
What breed is she? She is a cocker spaniel but she seems to have different kinds of spaniel in her and we think is inbred. Like I said the vets wont treat any dog that the breeder has sold :/
How old? She is 5 in April
Is she neutered? Yes she is neutered
What kind of basic training does she have? Sit? Stay? Leave? Yes she is trained, she picked up all of the training and tricks within a couple of months of us having her.
What food is she on? She is on Burns, it is the only thing that stops her climbing the walls
How often is she walked? She is walked everyday

She is a very smart and trained dog. She will listen to you. Before we got the new bigger hutch I would sit the dog in the garden while the rabbit would run around free range. The dog would never go for the rabbit but would sometimes try to walk up to her with a toy to play with but I was always tell her to leave the rabbit and come back and she will listen and come back to me and sit by me. She is trained and will listen and behave. But food is another matter. She is one of those dogs that will do ANYTHING for the smallest crumb of food. Which is why she can be naughty when I used to feed the rabbit. Now she just seems to hate the rabbit :? :(
Click to expand...

I have one that's very inbred too, a lovely dog in some aspects but a nightmare in others, how these BYB's get away with it I will never know:censored:. You have done all the obvious things, checked she isn't on a food filled with colourings etc, she's neutered, your walking her so it really is going to be a case of a retrain. Its not as bad as it sounds and is quite fun. As Ellasyn said it might be worth getting outside help in the form of a good, recommended trainer. I would try and fence off the rabbits from her though so you dont exacerbate the problem. Our Poppy is behind a fence and when I was training them I had it completely covered. Now they can all see each other through the fence and often lay side by side:D You will get there...it just takes time:thumb:
 
helen01 said:
I have one that's very inbred too, a lovely dog in some aspects but a nightmare in others, how these BYB's get away with it I will never know:censored:. You have done all the obvious things, checked she isn't on a food filled with colourings etc, she's neutered, your walking her so it really is going to be a case of a retrain. Its not as bad as it sounds and is quite fun. As Ellasyn said it might be worth getting outside help in the form of a good, recommended trainer. I would try and fence off the rabbits from her though so you dont exacerbate the problem. Our Poppy is behind a fence and when I was training them I had it completely covered. Now they can all see each other through the fence and often lay side by side:D You will get there...it just takes time:thumb:
Click to expand...

Yeah she is a lovely dog but can be a complete nightmare too. I will try to re train her. We don't really have money for lessons and stuff :/ I taught her everything she knows when she was a puppy. But that was 5 years go and can't quite remember how I did it haha. Might try a clicker or something. And yeah I was going to buy one or two of those metal run things that you can take apart and attach how you like to create a fenced in area for the rabbit to use. That way the rabbit gets a run space and I can get close to the rabbit without having to deal with the dog getting all crazy. Thanks :D
 
It might be worth reading up on stuff on the internet or getting a good book. There might be some books second hand on ebay or something, an up to date one would be best.
 
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