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Papillon/Jap Chin dilemma

Amethyst

Warren Veteran
Yes, this is to do with bunnies! :)

I am seriously considering either a Papillon or a Japanese Chin as a first dog. My major problem is that Miles and Miffy currently run free in the living room, all day and all night. The dog would never be left unsupervised with the bunnies.

Whenever the dog has to be left unsupervised, we would keep him in the hallway (it's quite long and wide) with stacks of toys, a crate, food and water, and a toilet area. This wouldn't be for long - just when we go somewhere that we couldn't take the dog e.g. clubbing etc, which isn't often. This would also happen at night. Whenever anyone was home, the plan would obviously be to bring the dog into the living room so we can interact with him and play with him, but what if Miles and/or Miffy take an exception to this? It wouldn't be fair to have to rehome or give back the puppy because of something we didn't have a "plan B" for.

Does anyone have any advice, please?

AMETHYST
 
Now we have Ollie our first dog I wouldn’t dream of letting him loose even supervised with my rabbits. He can move incredibly quick, he’s very playful and even if I was in the same room I don’t think I could move quick enough to stop him getting a bit carried away with the rabbits.

We have made the decision to move all our rabbits upstairs even the free-range pair. They are all been moved into the attic room over the next few weeks, which is huge but out of bounds to the dog. My free-range pair will no longer be free range (they have been residing in the kitchen since the arrival of Ollie) but they are going to have a big pen (8ftx6ft approx) with several hours run of the attic room as an exercise area.

This works well for all of us as for me everythings now in one room for the rabbits rather then on three levels, the dog can have the run of the house except the attic room and the rabbits don’t have to compromise on space.

Its costing us a fortune to convert the attic room but will be well worth it to know at the end everybody will be happy and safe,

Louise
 
Personally, now I have made a commitment to rabbits, I wouldn't bring a dog into the equation. For lots of people it works and you see lovely photos of rabbits nestling with dogs, but I personally wouldn't want the agro of it not working or stressing my rabbits.
 
Not sure if I have read your post correctly - Is your ultimate hope that the rabbits and the new dog would get along, all in the same room together? (Obviously supervised).

My dog and my rabbit get on well together - and have done for years - but I am lucky because my dog's temperment is very laid back so the rabbit (and the guinea pigs) learnt very quickly that he wasn't a threat.
 
Thanks for the replies so far. I'll try to clarify things a bit more.

Papillons and Japanese Chins are lapdogs, and Paps are very attached to people whereas Chins are very cat-like. The idea from that would be that they are the safest dogs (although obviously they would still be treated as a potential threat and I wouldn't allow the dog to be left alone with the rabbits even for a moment). We only have a small bedroom, a tiny office (neither of which are suitable for the rabbits or the dog, there's just no space), a hallway and an open-plan kitchen/living room. All the rabbits currently live in the open-plan kitchen/living room - Miles and Miffy are free-range with their own "area", a mat with their food bowls and water bottle etc. China and Rocket live down one end of the room in a double hutch and run, and Benny and Domino live at the other end of the room in an enormous double hutch. They are also let out for exercise in the hallway.

It would be relatively easy to move Miles and Miffy's "area" to the more kitchen/office area of our living room. They hang out there a lot anyway so that shouldn't be any trouble. We could then get one of those puppy pens with a gate in to step through, and partition the living room with it. That way, the dog could have the hallway and half the living room in the evenings, and Miles and Miffy would still have half of the living room. That way, the dog would never be in contact with the rabbits. When we are out, the dog can have the hallway and Miles and Miffy can have full use of the living room.

Does that make sense, and do you think it'd work? Thanks!

AMETHYST
 
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