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Dogs & Rabbits - can they live together?

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yvette said:
I may get trifled, but Id like to ask, those who have dogs, do you trust them or do you just keep them away from your bunnies??

Are you not even a little bit worried that your dog would do any harm?? What about your cats??

I love my cats,absolutely adore them, and before now, they have been near the bunnies.Shared a photo taking, shared the garden, Ive even left the bunny door open so the cats could go on my bed, but in recent months, Ive stopped all of this.
I saw a disturbing photo.I also saw Patsy Cat give my Lost Lily a tap.That was enough for me to change my rules.
Would you change yours???

Im just asking.
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I don't trust 2 of mine so my run is fenced off. They wouldn't hurt Poppy but they are still young and daft and would chase her if she ran (thinking it was a game), I dont want to leave that to chance. Poppy loves the dogs though and they usually lay together at either sides of the fence. Its the same with the chickens...I have two gates between them, the dogs can see them but I dont want it on my conscience that one day I was distracted and something bad happened.
 
Interesting thread. Going back to the OP, there is no hard and fast answer to your question. It depends on the bunnies and it depends on the dog. It took me just under a year to train my springer spaniel to not go crazy at the bunnies. He was never and is still never allowed within 2ft of their runs (I have additional wire fencing around the sheds and avairies). I must add that this year of training was also based around letting the bunnies get used to him. I have since adopted more bunnies and when they arrive the training starts again.

It has worked for me but it wasn't easy. For most of the first year and when I have new arrivals Lucky (my dog) was not allowed in the garden unsupervised..... not the easiest when you just want to let him out for a quick pee at night, instead he needed several walks a day and lead time in the garden.

I think its also important to mention that I have similar issues with my bunnies - I have to be very very careful not to let Nushka near any of the other aviaries and runs and heaven forbid if she got out when one of the other bunnies was free ranging :shock::shock: she has the temperament and abilty to do serious damage!!

So its not so much an issue of you can or you can't, its about weighing up the situation. Could you cope if they didn't get on? Would you have a solution? Are you prepared to make it work even if it means keeping them permanently separate if needs be?

I live on my own so I don't have to worry about someone else forgetting to shut a door or let Lucky out when the bunnies are out. When friends have been round and the bunnies are out I lock the conservatory and put the key in my pocket just in case!!

At the moment all is peaceful in my household and I have a good balance, the bunnies all have aviaries and get free range time in the garden once a week when Lucky is shut in the house. I love all my animals equally and believe they all get what they need.

This is my experience, I hope it helps you make up your mind.
 
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I was fortunate to live on a small holding growing up. Cats, dogs, horses, chickens, cows, goats. The only animal to get hurt by another was the chicken that a Fox got. Cats slept in horse stables, dogs did not chase anything. Animals get used to each other. I have rabbits and dogs. The rabbits are not scared of the dogs they stick their noses through the open run fence to say hello to the dogs. One dog is new and is being trained so he is not allowed unsupervised when the buns are in the open run. Dogs have been trained by humans for years to do tasks that are alien to their base nature, herd the sheep but do not bite, collect the game without biting, lead blind people, let the children pull ears and tails but dont bite.......... Yes we have to treat the combination with care and caution and like most things in life which some people seam to forget......... Some common bloody sense.....
 
yvette said:
I may get trifled, but Id like to ask, those who have dogs, do you trust them or do you just keep them away from your bunnies??

Are you not even a little bit worried that your dog would do any harm?? What about your cats??

I love my cats,absolutely adore them, and before now, they have been near the bunnies.Shared a photo taking, shared the garden, Ive even left the bunny door open so the cats could go on my bed, but in recent months, Ive stopped all of this.
I saw a disturbing photo.I also saw Patsy Cat give my Lost Lily a tap.That was enough for me to change my rules.
Would you change yours???

Im just asking.
Click to expand...

I don't have cats at the moment, I would be more concerned with cats than I am with my dogs because cats do not generally follow any commands. My bunnies are outdoors in a kennel and run, they only come out for supervised free range/exercise.
 
I don't know if I've just been lucky with my dogs (I've had 6, and currently have 3)

All of them have lived in perfect harmony with the rabbits and I don't worry about them free ranging together.

To put it into context, for the last 26 years I have owned rabbits and dogs, and I have NEVER had a single incident that has given me any cause for concern.
My dogs are really placid, and lie out in the garden with the rabbits freeranging. I have house rabbits that run around the house with the dogs.
Obviously when a new dog came home I spent quite a long time with introductions etc, and they were only allowed to interact under strict supervision once I was happy that the dog was pretty uninterested in the rabbits.

Little Joey (nethie who weighs under 1kg) has ran around with the dogs all his 11 years - he used to live with a GSDX (Tish) and a labX (Sadie).

None of the rabbits are worried by the dogs. A few of them were initially wary when I first had them, but got used to the dogs very quickly, and surprising they don't avoid the dogs in the garden, but mingle together as if they're one and the same.
Spike, my Shih Tzu, will seek out the company of Oscar, Ra and BB in particular, and he will choose to lie with them. Oscar will often run towards Spike to say hello. The other dogs, Sally and Frankie are generally uninterested.

I worry more about one of my rabbits making contact with one from another pair!
 
I have eight cats and eleven rabbits and they all live together in harmony. When I was at the vet yesterday with Apple I was talking to another customer who said one of his cats killed one of their rabbits:cry:

When the rabbits and cats go out in the garden in the summer it is the rabbits who chase the cats, not the other way around. The cats just climb a tree when they get fed-up. Pippa curls up with George and Gemma.

I know I am taking a risk but trying to keep them separate would be a logistical nightmare. I don't let the cats have unsupervised access to Mr Banoffee Pie (guinea-pig) even when he is in his cage as they could hurt him through the bars. They don't pay him any attention though but I wouldn't risk it as he is that much smaller.
 
I'm still in the 'just be careful' group and will always have whatever animals I want, regardless of the predator/prey thing, BUT I'm glad that I very rarely have let my rabbits near my dogs (and never anywhere near my yorkie Teddy) because things can happen in a second, before you have time to react. last night when we were walking Teddy grabbed Link's (my maltese) neck.

If we hadn't been there Link would be dead. I was up the road and when I heard the commotion came running back. my mom and brother were trying to pry Teddy's mouth open, my mom had her hands in his mouth, but his jaws were clamped shut. For such a tiny dog his jaws have the strength of a crocodile's. Finally my mom got his mouth open. I thought Link would be pouring blood but luckily he seems fine, we can't even find a wound. And he was such a good boy, not trying to fight back or anything. Link just stood there whimpering when Teddy had him. My mom must have been able to keep some of the pressure of Teddy's jaws off his neck (she got bit too) and I think Link's choke collar might have helped protect his neck too.

It was all so shocking. Teddy and Cody (my other maltese) have hated each other since they were puppies because they grew up together since they were 8 wks old and that can sometimes cause competition when they're the same size/sex. Teddy must have mistaken Link for Cody. He doesn't really like Link either but tolerates him. We always keep Teddy and the maltese separate but tend to walk close to each other on walks...not anymore. I know it's not Teddy's fault and he doesn't have the capacity to understand morals or complicated human emotions but still... it makes me mad that he would kill Link and Cody. Now I can understand why people get rid of pets that kill their other pets. It's hard to look at Teddy the same now. The other dogs are all so sweet (well, Cody would fight Teddy, but Teddy is the instigator). I'm very picky when it comes to dogs (I'm more of a cat person) and this is one of those things that makes me look at a dog in disgust.

I'm always really careful about keeping my birds and rabbits separated from the cats and dogs but this just serves as a reminder that you can never be too careful with keeping animals separated if you suspect they could react aggressively.
 
I don't have a dog but I do have 2 cats. 1 cat isn't fussed about the buns at all.the other will watch and gets chased by my boy bunny! I don't trust the bunny ;):p

Seriously though I do think it depends on the animals,how they are trained etc and i guess it's down to the owner and how they feel about putting them together. Everyone has different views and circumstances.
 
William said:
I'm still in the 'just be careful' group and will always have whatever animals I want, regardless of the predator/prey thing,
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But what would you do if whilst that was what you wanted, but one or some of your animals couldn't cope, or be happy with that arrangement? Like what I have mentioned about the smell of dog to rabbits, or what about if a dog/ferret was beside itself to get to the rabs because of instinct?
 
Sky-O said:
But what would you do if whilst that was what you wanted, but one or some of your animals couldn't cope, or be happy with that arrangement? Like what I have mentioned about the smell of dog to rabbits, or what about if a dog/ferret was beside itself to get to the rabs because of instinct?
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I would find some way to do it. I don't mind going out of my way to make everyone comfortable. If rabbits were afraid of the smell of the dogs I would move them to another room and if that didn't work I would move them outside. Maybe introducing the dogs to the rabbits (in a safe way) would let the rabbits see that the dogs are harmless. I've never had any problem with it with any of the rabbits I've had, my rabbits don't have any fear of other animals. Plus, since i already have dogs, any new rabbits I get will already be stressed out from moving to a new home so getting used to the smell of the dogs is just one more thing for them to get used to about their new home. I would mostly adopt baby rabbits, just because I prefer babies. Babies usually adapt to things easier so there should be even less of a problem then.

I don't think there would be too big of a problem with animals being beside themselves trying to get the rabs. There would be a closed door and a baby gate between the rabbits and dogs/ferrets so there's not much they could do. I mean, Hermione (my cat) learned quickly she wasn't allowed to hurt the parrots. She still tries to get in my room (she likes my button quail) but that's not really a problem since I've always kept my room locked just in case and I have a baby gate on my door so a cat can't slip through my legs. And the cats are always locked out of the living room (where the parrots are) when we're not home.

There's lots of precautions like that that we take and it's just second nature since we're so used to it. I've already planned out precautions I'll need to take when I get raccoons, foxes, and a genet and I probably can't get any for over a year or more from now.
 
Stator said:
They're not Pokemon, you don't have to have one of each.
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That was unnecessary and uncalled for:wave:

You have stated your opinion and others are stating theirs....neither has to agree with the other and as an opinion neither has to be correct. They should be civil though:wave:
 
Stator said:
They're not Pokemon, you don't have to have one of each.
Click to expand...

I think as long as you have the time/space/money you can have as many animals as you'd like :) If you have the space you should have no problem keeping animals separate, so it's not an issue.
 
I bet there are very very few rescues who wouldnt re home to someone who had a dog or a cat... (as long as housing was appropriate of course.)
 
littleboots said:
I bet there are very very few rescues who wouldnt re home to someone who had a dog or a cat... (as long as housing was appropriate of course.)
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Must say, when I had my home check for Roland, I was asked if I had children.
I no longer have ferrets as they died (had them years), but I had 3 ferrets at the time.Children can undo cages and this was a concern to the lady.
As I have no children, and I "seem sensible", I was allowed to rehome a bunny from the rescue.
 
mattyp said:
I like pokémon.
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Me too, I choose YOU Pikachu!

I do not wrap my animals up in cotton wool and worry about every little thing I do in life that might upset them etc.

I have 4 pets, all are happy. Yes, I am cautious about the rabbits being near the cat & dog but I am not going to restrict them because of the 'What Ifs'.

They are safe under my care, end of. :thumb:
 
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