Bonding Adult Bunny with new puppy

Huxley_Is_A_Rabbit · Jul 28, 2020

Hello everyone! This is my first post, apologies if its in the wrong section.

I have a 5 y/o mini lop called Huxley. He is a house Rabbit and has free run of the living room.

We recently acquired a Cockapoo Puppy, 8 weeks. We are working to bond the Puppy and Huxley and I am looking for advice on how best to do this as I understand these next few weeks are critical in the process.

So far, the puppy is very scared of the bunny which I think is a good thing for the moment but I believe this will change. Based on how things are going, we are confident the puppy will learn to be gentle with the Bunny and see it as the dominant but it's the other way round that I'm concerned about. The rabbit currently shows very little interest in the puppy but when they are closer, you can see the Rabbit is more on edge. He spends more time hiding under furniture that he did but he also stills flops and is eating and drinking normally - so not terrified.

Does anyone have any tips on specifically trying to get bunny more relaxed and at ease around the puppy?

I understand this may never happen and we would be lucky just to be a situation where they ignore each other.

Thanks so much in advance x

Liz47 · Jul 28, 2020

Hello and welcome to the forum

I would work on rewarding the puppy when s/he is showing calm behaviours about Huxley, and distracting the puppy if they are getting over excited/vocal around Huxley which may spook him.

I would never allow them to be in direct contact with eachother however, as obviously they are still predator and prey. Even if the puppy grows up 'respecting' the rabbit, a puppy playing could easily harm a rabbit and obviously they have very different body languages etc.

I have a small dog and rabbits and wanted my dog to be calm around seeing the rabbits although he would never be in actual contact with them. He's good, and will largely ignore them if he can see them through their run and they are relaxed around him. I have actually had to split my trio of rabbits and at the moment have one free range in my kitchen, she is separated from my dog by a dog gate with attached mesh and whenever we are not in the room the kitchen door is also closed so there's no way either could get through. My dog has never shown any bad behaviours near the rabbits and he is almost 14, however I don't trust him as the rabbits running and binkying could get him excited and possibly want to chase etc.

mismatchbunnies · Jul 28, 2020

Liz47 said:
Hello and welcome to the forum

I would work on rewarding the puppy when s/he is showing calm behaviours about Huxley, and distracting the puppy if they are getting over excited/vocal around Huxley which may spook him.

I would never allow them to be in direct contact with eachother however, as obviously they are still predator and prey. Even if the puppy grows up 'respecting' the rabbit, a puppy playing could easily harm a rabbit and obviously they have very different body languages etc.

I have a small dog and rabbits and wanted my dog to be calm around seeing the rabbits although he would never be in actual contact with them. He's good, and will largely ignore them if he can see them through their run and they are relaxed around him. I have actually had to split my trio of rabbits and at the moment have one free range in my kitchen, she is separated from my dog by a dog gate with attached mesh and whenever we are not in the room the kitchen door is also closed so there's no way either could get through. My dog has never shown any bad behaviours near the rabbits and he is almost 14, however I don't trust him as the rabbits running and binkying could get him excited and possibly want to chase etc.

I agree with this completely. Bonding in the rabbit sense of the word is not realistic in most cases (I’d argue a rabbit can only ever be truly bonded to another rabbit or human in some cases). However, tolerance can be achieved and even affection to some degree. Although, as already stated, NEVER leave the bunny and dog together alone as at the end of the day, dogs are predators and rabbits are prey, so the dog’s instincts could kick in at any second often without warning. Any training should be done with caution and extensive research, but I have seen cases of a free roam rabbit and dog living in the same house (obviously separated without supervision), however what I’m saying is it is possible in some cases. Just please remember that rabbits are fragile in every sense of the world, both physically - one dog bite can kill them, and emotionally as rabbits can die of shock or a heart attack.

Huxley_Is_A_Rabbit · Aug 10, 2020

Thanks so much for your responses.

I'm glad to report that they seem to getting on quite well! The Cockapoo (Luna) is still wary of Huxley but wants to get to know him, she gives him the odd lick every now and again and runs away. Huxley meanwhile is much more relaxed around her. He rarely changes what he doing if she is around and is quite happy to be licked every now and again!

Obviously we are aware that it's early days and that Luna's outlook may change so we are and will remain very vigilant and cautious until she's significantly older!

Pets mum · Aug 10, 2020

Pleased it's going well so far, and really hope that continues for Luna and Huxley x

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