How do I introduce a puppy to our rabbits?

[Deleted User]

We have two indoor buns. They are not bonded. One is a netherland lionhead the other is a blind wild rabbit that we rescued. Coney (the lionhead) is quite agressive and does not let us interact with him much. Connor (our wild rabbit) is very tame and loving. He hates to be picked up but lets us pet him and comes when we call him. Connor has free reign of the bedroom (my son’s room) and usually spends his days under my son’s bed. Coney lives in a bun apartment above Connor’s apartment. Coney gets time to come out and run only when Connor is locked up. They can never be out together, the fur literaly flies!

We just got a puppy (boxer labrador mix) last week. He has not seen the rabbits but has smelled them through my son’s door. We were trying to let everyone get used to each other’s smells. We never plan on letting Chuy (the dog) into my son’s room but just incase we want to make sure that he would not try to kill the buns. How do I go about introducing him so the rabbits don’t die of fright and he does not try to nibble on them? He is 12 weeks approx and is very puppy like. He nibbles on fingers toes ears whatever he can get at and loves to pounce and play.

I want all the pets to be safe. Introducing him to the cats has not gone well so far. Mostly because they keep beating him up lol

[KytKattin]

Make sure you either do let him into the room, or bring the rabbits out. He needs to be socialized with them in order to learn that they are a part of his family, not prey. I would start with your bunnies either in a crate or behind an x-pen (a real one for dogs, not the shoddy “small animals ones”), or maybe just locked in their cage. Curiosity is fine, and let him sniff to his hearts content, but don’t let him yip and get excited towards them. That is, don’t let him try to make them move. Correct him and remove him from the situation when his excitement escalates. Let him know that when bunnies are around it is time to be calm. Giving him a good play session before introduction will help. I am not sure what training you plan to do with him, but you could also set the bunnies up in the same room while you are training him to do his sits and stays, etc. It will be a two part bonus, as his training will be more solid against distractions, and the bunnies will get used to seeing him not constantly coming at them. Obviously start the training without the bunnies, but after 2-3 sessions around the same command (IE, sit) the bunnies could be brought into the same room.

[RabbitPam]

I don’t have experience with dogs living with bunnies and cats since I tend to avoid putting them together unless its unavoidable. That said, you already have the puppy so I will try to be helpful. I think a puppy needs a combination of diligent training and the knowledge of what is off limits in his home. That would take skilled obedience training, which I think would have a good chance with a young dog. I would contact a local dog obedience trainer, tell them your situation, and take on the expense of training the puppy beginning right away.

You are asking all the animals to overcome their basic instincts, and the puppy needs to learn never to open its mouth at the bunnies, and they need to learn they are safe. Keeping them separate and supervised is necessary, but if the puppy can be taught to behave around his “family” it will go better. Other members, like Kokanee&Kalhua, another forum leader, introduced a dog into a multi-rabbit home and was successful. She may have some good advice for you. If she doesn’t chime in here on your post you can email her via the Message Center.

[Elrohwen]

Your basic strategy should be to do it slowly and don’t go beyond the dog’s threshold. His threshold is the point where he’s so excited that you can’t make him pay attention to you again. So, start with the rabbits securely in a cage and the puppy securely on a leash. Bring the puppy in and stop while he’s calm and looking at the rabbits, then give him a treat (a clicker works well here if you’re using clicker training – I highly recommend it). When he can be calm at that distance (not tense, not whining, etc) you can move him a little closer. At each stage he needs to listen to you when you ask him to sit or lie down and he needs to be calm – if it’s so fixated that he won’t listen to anything you say, then move back a step. You might have to work on one distance for days or he might be able to get closer fairly soon (knowing boxers and labs I think it’s likely to take quite a while – both breeds are hyper as puppies and slow to grow up, so he’ll probably want nothing more than to play with the bunnies at first).

Just keep working on this slowly in 5min sessions (you can do a couple sessions per day) until he’s able to be near the cage and completely calm around the bunnies. At this point you can let him off the leash with the bunnies still in the cage. If you can get to this level I think you could trust that if he forced his way into the room while the bunnies were caged, he at least wouldn’t launch himself at the cage trying to get them out. The next step would be to let the bunnies out of the cage with the dog on the leash, but you might not want to go this far if you don’t plan on ever having them out together.

If your wild rabbit is really a cottontail, and not just a wild looking domestic bunny (I would guess the latter, based on his behavior) then be very careful. A cottontail has much higher prey reactions than a domestic bunny will, since it is bred into them to be afraid of dogs and other predators (while we have bred a lot of that reaction out of domestic bunnies). If he starts to react strongly then take the dog away. You can even work with the bunnies the way you do with the dog – let the dog get a little closer, then give the bunnies treats so they associate the dog with good things and only move the dog closer when they are calm.

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