Dogs & Rabbits - can they live together?

My boyfriend used to leave his rat cage open and his rats would venture out to play with his dog (collie cross). He'll sometimes play with my rats too and is very gentle with them. I'm sure he'd be fine with rabbits but as my rabbits haven't really had much experience with dogs we're not going to bother trying to introduce them. They are outdoor rabbits and sometimes it feels like they thump at every little thing so I can't see them being happy with a dog. I have photos of one of my rats picking bits of food out from the dogs teeth and a video clip of the dog trying to nuzzle the same rat (she was a bit small to be effectively nuzzled though). He's also had rats cling onto him when he stands up and he's quite happily walked around the room with the rat sat on his back.

If we were every to get another dog I'm not so sure we'd risk an introduction, I was fine with the current dog playing with my rats given he'd been fine with animals before but as selfish as it sounds I'm not sure I'd want to try introducing a dog to an animal that was mine.

jas is a 5 1/2 months old, she's a border collie. Jas is my ohs mum and dads dog, she is never left alone with the buns but isnt shut away from them now as it just made her too stressed and anxious being shut in a room. We have trained her to be around them and have treats at hand. she is very good with them and snuggles up to yuki but I would never leave them alone.

Its not impossible as you can see from the lovely pics below but it will be quite hard finding the right dog, breed alone will not tell you, it can guide you but they are all individuals. My samoyed is the gentlest creature in the whole world, my mums tiny mini poodle is a savage killer (if you're small and fluffy!) my others dogs do mostly ignore the buns and pigs but i would never trust them to have direct contact hence the rabbits never free range.

Also something can turn a dog that is normally ok, i noticed this when i used to have chickens, all the dogs had been perfectly fine with them until one day Doris got stuck and was flapping her wings and making a right noise, the dogs whole persona changed, it was like flicking a switch and turning on the prey drive :shock: They didn't do any harm but i could see it in their eyes.

alio71 said:

Click to expand...

Bea & Floss said:

Its not impossible as you can see from the lovely pics below but it will be quite hard finding the right dog, breed alone will not tell you, it can guide you but they are all individuals. My samoyed is the gentlest creature in the whole world, my mums tiny mini poodle is a savage killer (if you're small and fluffy!) my others dogs do mostly ignore the buns and pigs but i would never trust them to have direct contact hence the rabbits never free range.

Also something can turn a dog that is normally ok, i noticed this when i used to have chickens, all the dogs had been perfectly fine with them until one day Doris got stuck and was flapping her wings and making a right noise, the dogs whole persona changed, it was like flicking a switch and turning on the prey drive :shock: They didn't do any harm but i could see it in their eyes.

Click to expand...

Your big dog is the spitting image of my evie ,do you know what type she is ? x

traceymadigan said:

Your big dog is the spitting image of my evie ,do you know what type she is ? x

Click to expand...

Not my photo I was quoting alio71

the problem here is that you have no idea how YOUR bunnies will react to a dog (any dog) - and once you have the dog what will you do if one or more of the buns is terrified?

Some of my buns are so alarmed by dogs that they 'freeze' when a friend comes round who has a dog (she doesnt even bring the dog she just smells 'doggy'). They used to love her as she used to bunny sit for me but now they freeze and then run away.

I think you just have to use common sense. I hear a lot of people say things like 'I can't have a hamster/bird/etc, I have a cat/ferret/high prey drive dog' and I always find that a bit weird. It's not hard to keep a door closed. I guess I've always been used to it though, having grown up with multiple species I was taught very young to be careful with the birds around the cats, etc.

The only situation I would find difficult is a high prey drive dog because I have cats that free range the house, and I plan on having other species that would also free range the house. I would love a husky one day (which can sometimes go after cats) but if it got aggressive towards the cats and the other animals that couldn't just be shut in a room, that would be a problem. But it's not difficult with rabbits as long as you're okay with keeping them in one room and keeping the door shut.

traceymadigan said:

Your big dog is the spitting image of my evie ,do you know what type she is ? x

Click to expand...

The brown and black one Molly is a german shepherd x border collie Er and I now need pics of her twin :lol:

Will try get one later for you ,they are all on my old lappy ,how old is molly ? Evie i 11 ,she went blind overnight 3 years ago ,we have seen all sort of specialists but nothing can be done ,she is happy enough though and has a friend my staffy poppy .Both of my dogs love the small pets ,i have skinny pigs "hairless guineas " and poppy licks them all over lol

Dogs can kill rabbits it one bite. All it takes is for one misunderstanding to turn the nicest dog into a defensive biter and then you have a dead rabbit. Rabbits and dogs do not know how to communicate. Rabbits will often give each other a little bite to say "hey, get out of the way". A dog won't understand this.

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?329241-WARNING.Prey-and-predator-pet-mistake.
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?324145-OMG-!!-Bloody-dog-just-got-hold-of-my-bun-(

Getting a dog just because you want one is putting your wishes ahead of the safety of your rabbits.

Stator said:

Dogs can kill rabbits it one bite. All it takes is for one misunderstanding to turn the nicest dog into a defensive biter and then you have a dead rabbit. Rabbits and dogs do not know how to communicate. Rabbits will often give each other a little bite to say "hey, get out of the way". A dog won't understand this.

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?329241-WARNING.Prey-and-predator-pet-mistake.
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?324145-OMG-!!-Bloody-dog-just-got-hold-of-my-bun-(

Getting a dog just because you want one is putting your wishes ahead of the safety of your rabbits.

Click to expand...

:thumb:

parsnipbun said:

the problem here is that you have no idea how YOUR bunnies will react to a dog (any dog) - and once you have the dog what will you do if one or more of the buns is terrified?

Some of my buns are so alarmed by dogs that they 'freeze' when a friend comes round who has a dog (she doesnt even bring the dog she just smells 'doggy'). They used to love her as she used to bunny sit for me but now they freeze and then run away.

Click to expand...

This is where I stand with it too. I believe that you can have them sharing a house, although I personally would never let them interact, but the smell or prescence of a dog can be terrifying for a bunny. It would be no life for them to live in terror.

What Graham L said (and quoted - thanks for finding those threads!)

Do you know someone who owns a dog that is calm around small furries? You could then see how your buns react and if they are bothered. :thumb:

Stator said:

Dogs can kill rabbits it one bite. All it takes is for one misunderstanding to turn the nicest dog into a defensive biter and then you have a dead rabbit. Rabbits and dogs do not know how to communicate. Rabbits will often give each other a little bite to say "hey, get out of the way". A dog won't understand this.

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?329241-WARNING.Prey-and-predator-pet-mistake.
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?324145-OMG-!!-Bloody-dog-just-got-hold-of-my-bun-(

Getting a dog just because you want one is putting your wishes ahead of the safety of your rabbits.

Click to expand...

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.

I have 2 choclate labradors and they adore the bunnies!

they will lie in the sun with them, and clean them etc, they are sooo soo gentle with them! In the summer Crunchie free ranges in the day, the dogs just don;t bother with him,

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.

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.

GrahamL said:

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.

Click to expand...

very well said! :thumb:

you know you animals! every animals is different! for me, I keep the dogs out of my room, as my Matilda is scard of the dogs! Shes not botherd by the cats aslong as their not in 'her' home, but she is really scared of the dogs, so fo that reason i keep them seperate!

but crunchie is totally fine around the dogs, isn't phased one bit, and the dogs are used to him and the cats etc, but each rabbit is different, Smartie tends to race around the garden, and one of my dogs will 'chase' him, so for that reason when Smartie is free ranging the dogs stay in, its all about knowing how and who reacts to what, rolo and daisy arn't botherd by the dogs, Albert well Albert is scared of everything, so they don't mix

you know you animals! every animals is different! for me, I keep the dogs out of my room, as my Matilda is scard of the dogs! Shes not botherd by the cats aslong as their not in 'her' home, but she is really scared of the dogs, so fo that reason i keep them seperate!

but crunchie is totally fine around the dogs, isn't phased one bit, and the dogs are used to him and the cats etc, but each rabbit is different, Smartie tends to race around the garden, and one of my dogs will 'chase' him, so for that reason when Smartie is free ranging the dogs stay in, its all about knowing how and who reacts to what, rolo and daisy arn't botherd by the dogs, Albert well Albert is scared of everything, so they don't mix

Click to expand...

Exactly, it's about knowing your pets and reacting accordingly. :thumb:

Everything isn't black and white. I see a lot of blanket statements made here about dog/cat/rabbit households. It'd be a shame to steer rabbit owners away from owning predators just because they have rabbits when everything should be fine with the right precautions.

I plan on owning lots of predators and prey one day, like foxes and raccoons, that would be much more difficult to keep away from rabbits, birds, etc but with the right precautions I know it would be perfectly fine.