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Dogs and Rabbits

lupine lacuna

Warren Scout
Soon I will have a dog addition to our family of two rabbits. We'd like them to get along so we can all be in the garden together. The breed is an Minature Australian Shepard. Has anyone got any tips of how we can achieve this?

Thanks
 
I can't for the life of me remember how Misty became so confident around our dog Poppy, they were proper buddies and when Misty died, Poppy used to go and stand looking at the wishing well where Misty is buried on the back garden :(

We've tried slowly introducing Lola to Poppy, it depends on the dogs temperament though, and Poppy is really laid back, would let Misty bite her ankles and everything! :shock:

We popped Lola in her cage and let the dog walk past until she wasn't startled by her anymore, then told Poppy to lay down so the rabbit could come over to investigate. We're at the point where Poppy can walk around without startling Lola, and Lola has even stated coming to say hello.

Its taken 2 months to get to this, but Lola isn't as confident around Poppy as Misty was, it just depends on the dog/rabbit :wave: just take it slowly :thumb:
 
I keep all of mine separate unless I am there supervising. So Poppy has her shed, run and its fenced off for extra security...that way I dont get any negative interactions...only positive ones. I would take it very slowly and make sure the pup is 100% with the sit, stay and leave commands before introducing them but others may well have different suggestions:D

Good luck:wave:
 
I'd start by teaching the "leave it" comand so that you can tell the dog to leave the buns, I'd also always keep the dog on lead if the rabbits are loose in the garden because no matter how much training there is accidents happen especially with young dogs who sometimes don't want to listen to their owners :lol:

My dog and rabbits have always got along, it just sort of happened but I know she plays very tough so I don't let her meet them without a barrier there
 
I agree with teaching 'leave it' and other basic commands first. Also with keeping the puppy on a lead at least until you are confident it will listen to you and realises the bunnies are out of bounds.

We have successfully trained our dogs to leave the cat alone (in fact, the cat is the boss of the dogs... :lol: ) and our hens, but the rabbits are more difficult as they used to spend a lot of time chasing wild rabbits. :? So far I have avoided interaction or meeting, but we're working slowly towards the dogs ignoring them. I wouldn't allow the dogs access to them though, too tempting!

The rescue we got one of our does from have a house bunny wandering about the place, indoors and out and a greyhound, (very prey driven breed) which totally ignores the bunny, so whilst I'm not sure that would be recommended, it can be done.
 
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