Anyone whose tackled housing buns with dogs.

[Tracybeakerisland]

The new rescue dog and the buns are not seeing eye to eye. The buns were all hard to home buns, Pumpkins eyesight is lousy, Treacle hates people and does bite the hand that tries to feed her. The two girls are french lop croses and are big buns need a giant hutch.

To make things work for all the rescue buns and dog I am planning a hefty upgrade for the buns. My old 8 by 15 run now needs to be replaced. I have about £1-2K I can spend on them plus the extra I saved for an extra giant forsham hutch.

I have had a look online for companies who make heavy duty chicken avaries that are fox and dog proof. I found this http://www.chicken-house.co.uk/acatalog/Large_House_and_Run.html#.U2JP_aKkPQY If I had a bun seperation wall added I could have a pair each end. The company will bespoke so it may be possible to have a hay and food store added behind the 'house' that I will ask to be adapted with a ramp suitable for buns. I am thinking of a 9 by 18 foot covered coop so the buns would have 9 by 9 foot each to rampage in. The forsham is raised off the floor on sturdy legs and

If I were to then an additional 4' fence around the run to reduce the sight of hopping buns would that be enough for the buns to enjoy.
Have I missed anything beofre I begin to place an order?

[Yeah -feeling guilty for turfing them out of the house. One reason is o I can keep the dog in the house when I need to pop out and the other was finding the huge holes in all the seat cushions of the sofa to say nothing of the missing skirting boards and ends of the old oak fire surround within 24 hours of moving the girls from the kitchen.:roll:]

 

[MinnieMouse]

Hi,

I just had a look at the link you posted. The product looks great but some of the reviews about the service provided aren't very good.

 

[parsnipbun]

If you want something bespoke with superb quality and excellent service I would totally recommend the ex forsham man now trading as granddad rob. Google granddad rob.

However personally I would say the smell and sound of the dog is always going to be an issue for the rabbits and The dog will always be able to smell the rabbits, and I would think hard about the combination and who was there first so deserves to have their home undisturbed

But I am not a doggy person so that's easy for me to say

 

[Bunnie]

i'm not sure how helpful this would be but...

my dog is actually scared of my rabbits she puts her ears down and runs away when i have them out and they are house rabbits as well, they live in the room under the stairs, my dog is a big white female german shepard almost 9 years old now and shes scared of all of the little pets we've had throughout the years, she started being scared becuase a few years ago we had some pet ratties and when stormie (our dog) was watching them run around in their cage her ear pocked through the bars a little and one of the ratties bit it and made it bleed she was fine but she has now been scared of all little creatures so maybe if one of your bunnies did something to show she was incharge?

 

[yamazumi]

However personally I would say the smell and sound of the dog is always going to be an issue for the rabbits and The dog will always be able to smell the rabbits, and I would think hard about the combination and who was there first so deserves to have their home undisturbed

But I am not a doggy person so that's easy for me to say

As long as a rabbit has no incredibly negative associations with a dog they have no reason to be bothered by them, it's about building up positive experiences.

I introduced my pup to my rabbits through their run when she was 9 weeks and only twice as big as them. They both got food to keep them occupied and when Rory's been chilling the buns have come out and Chaplin will happily hop around her.

These days Chaplin and Arthur are outside, and Rory is a 25kg almost fully grown lab, but when she comes to the side of the run Chaplin comes over for a sniff.

Chaplin will growl at me, she will bite me, but she is quite happy to hop over to Rory. Even Arthur, who is a little more timid will sometimes come over.

They're prey animals, I know they can be feisty but if a dog truly bothered them they would flee to the safety of their shed and not curiously come over. It's easy to tell when a rabbit is scared and I have never seen true fear from either of my rabbits around my dog, Chaplin has never been bothered and although Arthur took a little longer to come around he never seemed fearful, he acted like he acts with people he doesn't know. Chaplin once flew at a strange dog in my uni house. That's the only negative reaction I've seen her have to a dog.

 

[tulsi]

Our labrador x Jojo can sniff the rabbits through the mesh (double) and they ignore her. Our collie, Tass (who finds the rabbits very exciting indeed) only has to appear in the vicinity of their run and they hide.

That link you posted shows a huuuuge set up. Lovely. Parsnipbuns advice is good. I have looked at his website WOWSER.

Please post pics when you get it all sorted.

Edit to say that I now fence off the part of the garden where the rabbits aivary is so that they dont get stressed by Tassles.

 

[Tracybeakerisland]

Pumpkin seems to think its fun to watch the dog get misted by the garden hose. Pink is less keen as she dislikes cold and wet. Having seen how strong Pink is I think it may be best to opt for this kind of set up. http://www.robharvey.com/metal-aviaries.html

Have to admit the idea of something that would stop foxes and swops by the sparrow hawk family when they fledge is beggining to appeal more and more. I prefer to keep my buns away from the woodland at the top of year the garden is about to become jam full of baby foxes frolicking in the dappled sunlight and woodland flowers. There is a wire mesh fence between the top woodland garden and cultivated bits but even so I respect foxes get hungry and buns look yummy. Pretty sure I can request larger than the 5 foot by 15 foot size.

 

[Daniel]

I have two dogs and my rabbits are fine and even with the father in laws collie no issue.

Could you not block off the woodland with fences or something?

 

[JordanWalker]

I put my friend's rabbits in a hutch since it's the first time for my dog to have a new companion. I need them to get along with each other first before I let the rabbits hop around my house.

 

[Pablo2013]

I have 2 lurchers and 3 buns...no issues. I just did it confidently and some may say wrecklessly ...no careful introductions just as case of rabbits meet dog...dog meet rabbits...no issue buns rule the roost my dogs get climed all over by buns and if any of them approach Kryptos food dish he will charge at them :lol: I think if the rabbit has had nonnegative experiance with dogs there is no reason why the sight, sound and smell should worry them too much eventually...not everyones cup of tea but worked for me they are never ever left unattended though...maybe I just dropped VERY lucky

 

[Badger4920]

I have 3 dogs (2x whippets, 1 x dachshund ) the rabbits (I have 4) have never been scared. Initially when the dogs ran down ( they are fast!) they would bark at them, but rabbits didn't seem to care.

Now they pretty much ignore them, although Badger the miniature dachshund can be seen trying to stretch his tongue into the run to for rabbit poop