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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Can rabbits and dogs live together happily?

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    • Kat&P
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        Hi Everyone!

        Before we had Penelope we had a Basset Hound named Rosie, she currently does not live with us but will be moving back with us when we move to BC. As it is Penelope is used to being out of her cage whenever we are home and we do not want her to have to be in her cage because of Rosie. Does anyone have any tips/experience with this type of situation. Rosie was over for a visit and met Penelope for the first time on Halloween. Initially, Penelope was upset by Rosie being around her cage and started thumping her hind legs so i took Rosie out of the room. The second time around Penelope was not bothered. When we put Rosie on a leash and had Penelope hopping around, Rosie started trembling and was scared but then got excited and seemed to be more curious. we are not entirely sure where to go from here, any suggestions would be great!

         


      • Hazel
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          I love the costume!

          Yes, dogs and bunnies can live together happily, depending on their personalities. Does your dog have a lot of prey drive? Doesn’t really sound like it from what happened at their first meeting.  You will need to teach her to be calm around Penelope and to not see her as prey or a toy/play buddy. Our dog is totally calm around our bun, all she’s really interested in when he’s around are the poops he leaves behind.

          I’d start with her on a leash, laying down close to Penelope’s cage. Reward her for being calm, correct her if she gets too focused on Penelope. Even if she’s not trying to get at her, the “hunter stare” isn’t something you will want to allow. Basically, reward her when she ignores the bunny and is relaxed. When she’s got that down, do the same with Penelope running around the room. Reward any calm interactions between the two. Clicker training would work wonderfully in this situation, have you tried it before?


        • Kat&P
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            That is so reassuring to hear, we have really been worried about it. Rosie is very energetic and playful and so we are worried about her wanting to play with Penelope and accidentally hurting her. I have not tried clicker training with her at all but it is definitely something I will look into – thanks!


          • MoveDiagonally
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              Hazel – Ugh! Glad my dog isn’t the only one enamored with bunny droppings. O.o

              Kat – Does your dog have a good grasp on obedience training? Reliable with a “leave it” type command? If so, great! If not, working on it will help you out a lot. As with any kind of dog training consistency is key. Every time your dog tries to play with the bunny or is too hunter focused you want to correct them and bring their attention back to you.

              Another thing to note, even with a lot of training and good behavior they should never be left alone together. Best of luck!


            • LittlePuffyTail
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                From my experience, it depends on the type of dog. We had a Shih-Tzu and she was so good and gentle with all little critters; bunnies gpigs and Hammies. She was very loving and almost motherly with them. My mom currently has a west highland terrier and I’m pretty sure she would kill my bunnies if she could. When she comes over, I close up the bunny room but she knows they are in there and freaks out, obsessing about them.

                Terriers are probably the breed I would never trust with bunnies. They were bred as rat catchers and the instinct to chase small animals is very strong. Moms westie has killed a few birds. Hounds are also bred to chase and track animals but they are usually less hyper and aggressive than terriers.

                This is just some info for others wondering about dogs and bunnies who may be reading this thread.

                Any breed of dog, however, should be supervised very closely and introduced slowly. Bunnies have had heart attacks just from dogs frightening the bunnies.

                Always start with a leash and reward the dog for being gentle.


              • Elrohwen
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                  It depends a lot on the dog, as others said. From the way you described her, I think you’ll at least by able to have them live harmoniously in the same house. Whether they can be out together with the dog off leash is another thing.

                  My pup is still young and energetic, and for that reason alone he isn’t allowed off leash with the rabbits. We do work with him through an xpen though, and he’s able to watch them calmly. He’s a hunting breed so has reasonable prey drive, but nothing like terriers I’ve known.

                  We also did a lot of training with the rabbits to get them comfortable around him. Initially they were quite nervous, but now they will run up to the xpen and stick their noses through, and aren’t bothered by him barking or generally being annoying.


                • Kokaneeandkahlua
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                    You can train them, but you must also use your instincts and common sense-instincts that you aren’t rushing it and are paying attention to their behaviour and mood; common sense that you aren’t leaving them unsupervised (you don’t leave children unsupervised with dogs or cats, don’t ever leave your rabbits in the same situation).

                    I trained for my dogs relationship with my rabbits. He is a big hunter, -like sight, sound, smell -totally tuned for hunting. He was very intereseted in my rabbits and not in the right way.
                    We did a huge long program of desensitization for both (items that smell like each other are swapped to get them used to smells; letting them see each other in a non threatening environment-leash, gate etc), counter conditioning (it sounds counter intuitive to feed your dog around your rabbit when he’s interested in your rabbit, but it’s not, it makes them associate positive things with your rabbit and can help calm, in addition you can ask for basic commands-sit, down, stay-to break the focus and calm them), and just generally went very slowly.
                    My dog loves to come feed everyone with me, but when I let them out to run around, he says hi and leaves; they aren’t scared of him and he’s not chasing or excited about them. They just co-exist and I think it’s fairly ideal but it was a long hard process at first, and it’s continual work.

                    It can be done A basset hound is a hunting dog, so recognize her instincts may be problematic but you can train her


                  • Deleted User
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                      Hi! Henry was bought home to a family of (small) dogs as a baby. “HE” is now ‘top dog’ and they are ‘his’ gang, ha ha hah! When he was first introduced to them, he was licked to death (hope they weren’t tasting him????). My dogs are older, ranging from 7 – 13, not sure if age made a difference, but my Henry adores them. Sadly, my dogs do get over him, and make there way outside through the doggy door to get some peace from him. My only downer is – he’s attached to them more than me, sad face. Your welcome to have a look at my Henry/doggy pic’s on my profile, I’m sure you’ll have a great laugh?!?!? But YES!!!! Please take care – I’d hate for anything to happen to your bun (though I know it wouldn’t be intentional) and worse still – if your bunny turns out to be a toughy and picks on your dog! He he he heh…..
                      Give both Rosie and Penelope a pat for me….. Cheers.


                    • Kat&P
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                        Thanks for the all the info/advice everyone! I think Rosie will definitely need some more training, she is dopey, not the brightest pup and more playful than obedient. Penelope is extremely sassy though, I can see her picking on Rosie! I am glad to at least hear that it is possible!


                      • njbunny
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                          I think any dog can be trained to leave it. I have seen more then 1 episode of ceaser where he teaches a dog with EXTREME prey drive to leave it alone. That being said my one dog seriously went nuts when we brought home a cat. He was panting, whining, pawing at the gate, etc. If the cat even walked anywhere near him he would try to chase. It took time but we took it very slow and then they were best friends. We started with each animal on opposite sides of a gate. Any time the dog would get up or whine we would make her lay back down and told her to leave it. I would sit next to her and keep her in a down position. It was very difficult for her but she slowly got over the insane need to chase the cat. When she would sit quietly I would give her a small treat and praise her. As soon as she got up again or whined or made any type of advancement she was put back down and told to leave it. We then moved to a very short leash and allowed the cat to walk by. I had a tight grip on the dog (she was 115 lbs) and again made her go into the down position and reminded her to leave it. Every time she laid and was good I would provide a treat. Then we moved to actual sniffing of the other animal. So we would have our dog on leash and coax the cat to come near with some treats and allow the dog to smell the cat. I would be right there and as soon as she tensed up I would correct her and again tell her to leave it. Lots of treats again for good behavior. I have found that dogs will really only chase if the animal is walking away so any time the cat would be done with the interaction and go to walk away I would start feeding treats to my dog like crazy to distract her. Eventually after 3 weeks we got to the point where the cat could walk by without being chased. It took time, work and a lot of patience but it worked in the end. This would apply the same for your bun.

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                      Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Can rabbits and dogs live together happily?