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Aggression towards dogs

Z

Zebbers 101

New Kit
Hi,
We have a bonded pair of neutered Lops who live free range in our enclosed garden. We also have two dogs, a lab and a mixed breed. All have lived in harmony until now (last two days). The female Missy has suddenly taken to chasing the dogs and nipping them, they don't retaliate but just run away into the house, as you can imagine its very stressful as we can't just leave the dogs out the garden as we always have. Temporarily we have had to put Missy into the hutch which we've never done before, they normally just pop in to the hutch now and again. I can't seem to find any advice, so ideas on how to deal would be really helpful, thank you.
 
I'm afraid I wouldn't leave dogs and rabbits unattended, you never know what might happen when instinct kicks in I'm afraid. I would recommend a large, secure run attached to the hutch so that the rabbits have at least 60sq ft of space.
 
Zebbers 101 said:
Hi,
We have a bonded pair of neutered Lops who live free range in our enclosed garden. We also have two dogs, a lab and a mixed breed. All have lived in harmony until now (last two days). The female Missy has suddenly taken to chasing the dogs and nipping them, they don't retaliate but just run away into the house, as you can imagine its very stressful as we can't just leave the dogs out the garden as we always have. Temporarily we have had to put Missy into the hutch which we've never done before, they normally just pop in to the hutch now and again. I can't seem to find any advice, so ideas on how to deal would be really helpful, thank you.
Click to expand...


Hi Zebbers and welcome to the Forum :wave:

Rabbits have all sorts of reasons for feeling threatened and therefore retaliating. They are a prey species and this would be normal - something may have spooked her and made her afraid that you didn't spot.

If you separate your rabbits regularly, keep an eye and make sure their bond doesn't suffer as a result, and if your Lops are free ranging in the garden, make sure it's fox proof at all times. Having dogs doesn't mean that a fox won't try and get in there :)
 
MightyMax said:
Hi Zebbers and welcome to the Forum :wave:

Rabbits have all sorts of reasons for feeling threatened and therefore retaliating. They are a prey species and this would be normal - something may have spooked her and made her afraid that you didn't spot.

If you separate your rabbits regularly, keep an eye and make sure their bond doesn't suffer as a result, and if your Lops are free ranging in the garden, make sure it's fox proof at all times. Having dogs doesn't mean that a fox won't try and get in there :)
Click to expand...

Thank you, garden is definitely foxproof, she's humping the male and showing dominance a bit more than usual, but they are still grooming each other and sitting and eating together as usual. She just launches for the dogs who are very cowed by her.
 
Thanks Zoobec,

They have been happily co-existing for a long time now. We bought a new hutch a few weeks ago and rearranged the garden,I'm wondering if it's this...could be a delayed reaction to the new hutch? I understand what you are saying about instinct but I don't think a run is the best idea, if they had a run that size then the dogs would have nowhere to go in the garden!
 
Zebbers 101 said:
Hi,
We have a bonded pair of neutered Lops who live free range in our enclosed garden. We also have two dogs, a lab and a mixed breed. All have lived in harmony until now (last two days). The female Missy has suddenly taken to chasing the dogs and nipping them, they don't retaliate but just run away into the house, as you can imagine its very stressful as we can't just leave the dogs out the garden as we always have. Temporarily we have had to put Missy into the hutch which we've never done before, they normally just pop in to the hutch now and again. I can't seem to find any advice, so ideas on how to deal would be really helpful, thank you.
Click to expand...

I would have a large secure hutch so they are not in the same area

Hope it helps :)
 
For safety sake, I would have a fences off area so when you intend to let the dogs out they can be put into the fenced area with their hutch.

How old is she and have they both been neutered?
I'm debating if it's possibly a hormonal thing. It could also be due to something that has happened between the dogs and rabbits that you've missed if they aren't always closely supervised when together.

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk
 
Hi,
They've both been neutered, the dogs are extremely placid and I don't believe anything untoward has happened while we not been there. She is about 3, it just seems that's she's suddenly decided the dogs are actually rabbits and need to be chased off!
 
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