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Dogs & Rabbits - can they live together?

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There are two schools of thought that are always going to happen on threads like this, the same as they do on every "Cat & Rabbit" or "Dog & Rabbit".

The 'Can' and 'Should'.

Just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you SHOULD.

Just because you CAN have dogs and cats living with rabbits in tandem, doesn't mean you SHOULD.

Just because 1 user CAN and it works, doesn't mean every member CAN and SHOULD.

So basically what works for one might not work for another - up to the individual then and what suits. Common sense really. :D
 
I think its up to every individual to make their own choices and not be preached to about the choices they make.
Lots of people including myself have multiple pet households and as long as no risks are taken then thats fine. :D

I don't think anyone has preached, I think people have just answered the OPs question.

Essentially, the only responsible way to make a choice when it comes to something like this is to make an informed choice, so the OP has see 'for' and 'against' and gotten advice and words of caution and dos and don'ts and stuff, so will be informed. Whatever choice she makes will be her own :)
 
So basically what works for one might not work for another - up to the individual then and what suits. Common sense really. :D

Entirely this, 100%.

Weigh up the risks, get the pros and cons to the situation, and act upon that information.

I certainly wouldn't feel able to do it, with the information i've been provided with but thats my choice.
 
Then you simply don't let the two interact. It's not rocket science. You're over-thinking it.

Deciding to let them interact is totally up to the owner because only they know their dogs. Personally I don't let mine interact, I just don't have any need to, but I wouldn't worry about my maltese hurting my rabbits if I did. They never react aggressively to other animals, even though one of my cats thinks it's funny to attack the maltese (he jumps them and holds them down on the ground, usually while biting them). But they still love the cat and never bite him back. Actually my mom will look down sometimes while walking them in the yard and realize the cat is on top of them again, they don't even yelp:lol:

I doubt Riley or Puppy would ever hurt them either, its just not in their nature to. They've both interacted with the buns a bit, years ago, mostly. Years ago I would take Izzy, one of my old rabbits, riding in the car (he was one of the few rabbits that liked car rides) with the maltese and Riley and they would all sleep together. Teddy is the only exception, he's a bit unpredictable. I don't know how he'd act, he's never been around anything smaller than a cat. Obviously I'd never let him interact with them.

There are people on these very forums who have had rabbits die because they accidentally left a door slightly ajar.

If you don't have a dog already there is no point in taking the risk. You don't need a dog, it's just what you want. It's not what the rabbits want, it's not in their interests.

But I guess that's the sort of society we live in now, people just do what they want, whenever they want. You can't convince anyone that what they are doing is a bad idea until they see the dead rabbits for themselves.
 
There are people on these very forums who have had rabbits die because they accidentally left a door slightly ajar.

If you don't have a dog already there is no point in taking the risk. You don't need a dog, it's just what you want. It's not what the rabbits want, it's not in their interests.

But I guess that's the sort of society we live in now, people just do what they want, whenever they want. You can't convince anyone that what they are doing is a bad idea until they see the dead rabbits for themselves.

While I agree with you that you can NEVER be too careful, I feel you are insinuating if you have rabbits you are irresponsible if you have a dog!
This I can not agree with.
Accidents do happen in all walks of life.... Its up to us as the carers for these animals to make sure they DONT happen. That is not to say we can not have dogs/cats/rabbits/birds etc etc....
My first pet is and always has been a dog.... that did not mean I couldnt get a cat..... and that did not mean I wouldnt give homes to rescue rabbits that otherwise would have ended up goodness knows where.
All my pets are loved, and above all happy.... and certainly not at risk.
 
See these 2 below... I was paranoid for months & would not take the chance of them meeting. Ozzie has a pen in the living room & Dylan came to accept him being on the floor on the other side of bars.

I must stress here that Dylan is an extremely gentle dog, unusually submissive. I have had him for 12 years & have seen him find a tiny baby bird that had fallen from it's nest. He came over & got my attention, took me to the bird & just wagged his tail. He is scared of cats :oops: However I still wouldn't let him & Ozzie be out together for at least 2 months. It took a lot of patience, as i needed them to be ok in case Ozzie ever escaped. Dylan was initially jealous of the bunny. Quite natural- so whenever he went over to the pen & was calm. I would make a fuss or treat him. I never forced contact. When visitors came, they has strict instructions to greet Dylan first & ignore the cute new bunny for a bit. All my efforts did pay off, they are friends now but i don't leave them unsupervised & I wouldn't consider it if Dylan was a hunting breed. Hope this helps :)
 
My dogs interact with my bunnies with no problem,they are bought up to respect the rabbits.

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Please click on the video below to watch Tess with my Baby wildy.



 
My dogs interact with my bunnies with no problem,they are bought up to respect the rabbits.

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Please click on the video below to watch Tess with my Baby wildy.




How lovely to See...
Like you say.... all about how theyre brought up.... :thumb:
 
Those pictures are lovely! :love::love:

I was worried because Dylan hadn't been used to having another animal here. We didn't plan to get Ozzie, he just came along :wave:

Ozzie seems to have NO fear at all! He wouldn't survive 2 mins in the wild. He jumps on Dylan without a care in the world. Dylan occasionally licks Ozzie's head, which usually causes an excited binkie. It's very cute but even now i wouldnt go out & leave them together just in case.

It is very funny when I get up in the morning, I open Ozzie's pen & say "ok, all boys into the kitchen" & Dylan trots in there with bunny scampering along next to him!
 
Right now, I have a 25kg EX-RACING Greyhound sat on my lap. I also have a Frenchie hopping about the floor in front of us.

Sammy, my greyhound used to be an incredible racer - coming in 1st and 2nd in most of her races. Many would assume she would be very prey driven. Maybe so, if she was out in a field a caught sight of something but, I've never seen her behave that way even when we have been out and she's been off the lead.

I have a house full of rats, gerbils, a hamster, cats and buns. Whilst I wouldn't let the rats out when the cats were in the same room, I'd let Sammy.

Sammy and Bramble, our French Lop used to live in the living room together. At night, Bramble would go into his NIC cube house and Sammy, into her bed.

I also have a Dutch and a Harlequin, much smaller than a Frenchie. Again, they have lived indoors too.

I see no problem with having a dog and having other animals. It completely, 100% depends on the dog whether it's a puppy or an adult rescue.

I've also had a King Charles and a Cocker Spaniel around buns. Both dogs again, were incredible. Both were brought up around buns and other animals from pups.

My next door neighbour even had a rottweiler (sp?) who was fine with our bun hopping about our garden.

I maybe wouldn't go for a dog who was bred to be highly prey driven but then, my best friend has a dachshund with ferrets so you never know!
 
I just hope you don't find out the hard way that you can't read a dogs mind and you don't actually know what's going on in their heads. No matter how much you think you "know" you pets you never actually know what they're thinking. The people who have a baby mauled by a dog always say they can't believe it because the dog was as good as gold.
 
I just hope you don't find out the hard way that you can't read a dogs mind and you don't actually know what's going on in their heads. No matter how much you think you "know" you pets you never actually know what they're thinking. The people who have a baby mauled by a dog always say they can't believe it because the dog was as good as gold.

I know my dogs are 100% safe around my rabbits.As I said they are taught to respect my bunnies from a young age.They are also 100% safe with children.Have you had a dog which has killed your buns Stator?
 
I just hope you don't find out the hard way that you can't read a dogs mind and you don't actually know what's going on in their heads. No matter how much you think you "know" you pets you never actually know what they're thinking. The people who have a baby mauled by a dog always say they can't believe it because the dog was as good as gold.

Could I just ask Have you ever had a dog?
 
My dogs interact with my bunnies with no problem,they are bought up to respect the rabbits.

100_4237.jpg


100_4271.jpg


Please click on the video below to watch Tess with my Baby wildy.





Fabulous pictures and video, just shows that with the right care and attention animals can live together in harmony, well done Maizey for understanding your animals

Treat animals with respect and you will get respect in return
 
I just hope you don't find out the hard way that you can't read a dogs mind and you don't actually know what's going on in their heads. No matter how much you think you "know" you pets you never actually know what they're thinking. The people who have a baby mauled by a dog always say they can't believe it because the dog was as good as gold.

Oh, I think I know my dog well enough to know that there isn't a bad bone in her body. She's not even inquisitive of the buns, she's more wary!

I think it's totally wrong to assume that ALL dogs have it in them to attack buns or other animals. It's like suggesting that ALL cats will attack bunnies or ALL dogs will attack cats.

I see children and dogs as different... I won't leave Phoebe alone with Sammy as I know Phoebe could do her some serious damage even by accident and Sammy could catch her with her claws quite easily or knock her over.

I will bet my life on Sammy never, ever hurting any of our animals.
 
I just hope you don't find out the hard way that you can't read a dogs mind and you don't actually know what's going on in their heads. No matter how much you think you "know" you pets you never actually know what they're thinking. The people who have a baby mauled by a dog always say they can't believe it because the dog was as good as gold.

There are always signs a dog does not suddenly become dangerous. Sadly the signs are ignored or not understood.

There are dogs leading the blind, hearing for the deaf, autism dogs sleeping in a child's bedroom, the child is also anchored to the dog to keep them safe, and seizure alert dogs who alert people to a seizure and stay with them during the seizure all are 100% reliable, but it takes a person with knowledge to assess the dog and its suitability.

ETA a dog should never be left alone with a child or small animal
 
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There are always signs a dog does not suddenly become dangerous. Sadly the signs are ignored or not understood.

There are dogs leading the blind, hearing for the deaf, autism dogs sleeping in a child's bedroom, the child is also anchored to the dog to keep them safe, and seizure alert dogs who alert people to a seizure and stay with them during the seizure all are 100% reliable, but it takes a person with knowledge to assess the dog and its suitability.

ETA a dog should never be left alone with a child or small animal

My cats run about the house during the night and therefore can be alone with our dog. I see no problem with this. Bramble has also been left alone, albeit in a pen but still, again I see no problem.

I don't agree that dogs should never be left alone with small animals or children. The only reason I don't leave Phoebe in the same room as Sammy alone is due to Sammy's size - she could knock Pheebs over quite easily. If she was a smaller dog, I'd have no problem with it.
 
Was just telling the OH about this thread and he reminded me of our incident a few weeks back.

OH let Sammy out the back for her before bed wee. When he tried to get her in, she refused and was instead whining at him and spinning in circles. She normally always comes in straight away so the OH knew there was a problem.

OH went outside with Sammy and she led him up the back garden and started whining at the plants and the back shed. OH saw our two buns hop past and run under Sammy's legs.

Sammy had been outside for around 10 minutes. Our garden is small so anything could have happened. Instead, she alerted my OH to the buns and let us know they had escaped. She also led us to the place where they were hiding (somewhere I wouldn't have initially looked)

Just by this alone, I am sure that my dog would never hurt my buns. Instead, I see a dog who wants to keep our bunnies safe. She knows Pumpkin and Dexter as they have lived indoors with us and she sees them every day in the garden. She wanted to tell us they had escaped.

So, I don't think it's a case of hoping she'll never maul any of our animals one day. It's a case of knowing she won't.
 
I don't see why you should have dogs and rabbits in the same household. I have a cat and a hamster. Yesterday the hamster was on the cat's head.
With sense and training it can be a happy household.

I get every pet used to and exposed to the others. I think this is very important. The cat met the rabbits because she used to climb over my garden wall and drop over six feet onto the top of the rabbit hutch in a desperate attempt to get into our house. This was when she lived somewhere else. The rabbits were scared of her then, so I used to bring her back outside to meet the rabbits, stroking them both and talking baby talk to them. Every now and then I would encourage the cat to meet the rabbits without hurtling down beside them. Over time they got used to her and she got used to them. It's been a great confidence boos for Smoo. Grim has always been fine with every animal but Smoo was always scared of cats and would freak out if one walked along the garden wall. Now she is happy to let them.

And most importantly if there is an incident where they interact without intention I am fairly confident they're safe. Like the time I left the back door open and Grim came in. Holly was trying to play case with him but he's mostly blind so he couldn't tell. But the fact is no one was scared, no one attacked each other. I would never leave them unsupervised but if it happens by accident it's a lot safer. I introduced the hamster to the cat so if he ever escaped from his cage she was used to what he is. And the hamster and the chinchillas to the point where when the chinnies are having play time the hamster is desperate to play with them. :roll: :lol:

Once Cheech, my chinchilla escaped when the rabbits were in the room. I thought for sure Smoo would attack her and I panicked. But she ran up to Smoo and they cleaned each other. Few.......

If I had a dog I would keep him/her separate from my prey animals but I would introduce them in a very safe way until they were comfortable with the other's presence.
 
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