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Bunnies and Dogs??

pickles79

New Kit
Good Morning Everyone,

Brrr, its chilly today!!.

I thought I would come on here and ask the experts lol. Basically I have 4 bunnies, they live in converted wendy houses with attached runs. I am thinking of purchasing a puppy, but as I had my bunnies first, they are my first priority.

I just wanted to know if puppys and bunnies can get along, the puppy is a small breed, its a dachshund x jack russel, I dont want to commit to purchasing him without knowing the pros cons etc and wondered what perhaps any of your thoughts would be?.

Thank you in advance

Jodie x
 
Hi :wave:

Personally, I wouldn't have a dog and rabbits. I know that there are plenty of people that have both but to me it is just not worth the risk. I would be worried that the dog would try to chase the rabbits (even playfully) and that I would spend all my time telling the dog off for what is natural behaviour: not a nice situation for rabbits or dog!

I think you are being really responsible to think of your rabbits first, too many people just get another pet on a whim without thinking of the impact on their existing pets.

FC x
 
Yes they can get along if introduced properly and the puppy is taught what's expected of him/her. In fact it would likely benefit the puppy as would socialise it with other animals and help teach boundaries.

I have two rescue dogs - a xwhippet and a springer spaniel and both have been taught to respect the other animals. The Xwhippet i had before the bunnies but i got the springer after and he had been taught to chase rabbits. If the bunnies were in their run he's shake and salivate as he wanted to get to them. I got him used to them slowly and if he tried to get to them he'd be marched right back inside. He soon got the message. Now he lies totally relaxed and even when the buns are indoors he doesn't pay any attention to them, except to wander over slowly, have a little sniff and wag of his tail then leave them alone as he knows what's expected of him.
 
You'd need to be careful about how the rabbits react to the dog too. When we have our dogs at my parents the rabbits retreat to their hutch even though the dogs don't get out into the garden. I think they'd be terrified if the dogs managed to get out into their space. My boyfriends dog is very soft and once tried to play with a sick rabbit he found on a walk (it had myxi). I doubt he'd try to harm either of our rabbits but they'd be really scared of him I think.

Obviously some folk manage to get both animals used to each other but for me there doesn't seem much point as the dogs live with us and the buns live at my parents.
 
We have a rescue dog, a lab x staff ish type. She took a little getting used to the bunnies (outdoors bunnies with playhouse and run set up) and the guinea pigs(indoors) but now ignores them. We dont let her in the hall where the guinea pigs are because its not fair on either, and she isnt allowed unattended outside but that doesnt bother her either. I would think differently with a pup in that it probably needs more outside time, whereas our dog only goes out to toilet, she prefers the house!
 
i have always had both indoor and outdoor rabbits and have always had dogs living alonside them.

i must say i had the dogs first and my young buns were introduced slowly so as not to frighten them, they always approached the dog and not the other way around but they have never shown fear, just interest.

all 4 of my dogs have been fantastic with the rabbits, i have beautiful photos of piles of rabbits and dogs in front of the fire or asleep together. all the dogs have been protective of the rabbits and they often groomed each other.

if done properly i don't see a problem though i know many don't agree with them together at all as there is a natural prey/preditor issue.

i know my dogs and trust them. i look after my aunties dog and friends dogs sometimes and even though my rabbits aren't fazed at all by them i would never trust them near my rabbits.

at the beggining of the year i took on 2 foster rabbits who were in quite a bad way. i found the smallest rabbit (Rosie) one day helping Jazz my rottie x akita dog eat her tea!
jazz never batted an eyelid! :love:

fosters018.jpg
 
I have had my dog who is a Lurcher for 7yrs she never bothers the bunnys she lies at the side of their runs and the bunnys never move from the side of the mesh if she's there she also keeps the cats out the garden BUT I wouldn't let her in the garden when the bunnys are free ranging :wave:
 
People have a lot of differing opinions on this. I can't see why you can't have predators and prey in the same house/yard as long as your're careful. You just need to use some common sense. I've always had a variety of predators and prey at the same time (I grew up with a lot of pets) and it's worked out fine.
 
My buns are in wendyhouse with run...then we rescued my dog who was 6 months old at the time. We taught him the command 'away' to call him away from the buns, we then fenced the buns into an area of there own with a 4 foot picket fence so that there aren't any accidents. The dog also knows he isn't allowed in but we have put a spring closer on the gate just to make sure.
 
I have a puppy called tara who is 16 weeks I have slowly introduced the rabbits and they sniffed each other and that was it tara goes nowhere near them ebony and angus accepted her but I would obviously never leave them alone
 
my sisters dog is with us at moment till she finds home and comes back from greece, he licks mabel when i hold her near him, but won;t dare sox as sox is frightened of dogs, mabel winds him up in garden and sits looking at him (the dog) :lol:
if you do get a dog id make sure you tran it from start, or get an easy gong breed that won't want to go for rabbits like terriers etc, although my nan has a yorkie, but she has never harmed any of my rabbits she has seen all of them since i had thumper in 1997, on one occasion she chased thumper but mitzi went for her and biiot her mitzi was my other rabbit, the dog cried out and never chased them again, i doubt we wll ever find a dog as trusting as nans again, she is getting old now too bless her, when thumper was old and dying my nans yorkie sat by nan comfoting thumper (i was away) and nans dog licked her as she knew she was poorly
 
I suppose a lot of it depends on how confident the bunnies are too. Poppy really doesn't like human contact but other than that nothing seems to phase her. We have a steady stream of dogs coming in and out of our house and even the ones who have a high prey drive don't seem to bother her....but....I have Poppy's shed and run behind a gate and fenced off area so that I know she is secure. We don't open the shed door until the gate is shut etc for security when I am fostering. I have chickens too and keep them fenced off.

My old bunny used to love our family dog and she free ranged all day and used to cuddle up with the dog.
 
I have 4 retired greyhounds ageing from 5yrs to 10yrs. As you can imagine i was really worried at the start, but my dogs already were trained the 'leave it' command which made it a lot easier.

My rabbits were originally going to be outdoors buns but after a horrible experience i realised there were many foxes around my area and that the buns would be safer indoors!

My dogs were curious initially but after careful introduction, all just ignore the rabbits now. I think the novelty has worn off :lol:

My rabbits are in indoor cages in my bedroom and when they get out for their playtime i simply shut the dog gate so the rabbits are safe to play away from the dogs.
 
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