Rabbits and Dogs - Paw Talk

darkvixen77 · #1 09-16-2007, 10:48 AM

My friend owns a rabbit that I gave to her about a year ago. She had now told me that she might be getting a puppy and I am worried about the rabbit. My friend had a rabbit and when she got a dog the rabbit died of a heart attack. I am naturally worried about my rabbit so does anyone have any experience of keeping the two together and I tips I could give her because she is a bit wreckless sometimes and I dont want the rabbit to get hurt.
Thanks!

Cazsamps · #2 09-16-2007, 11:41 AM

If it's only a puppy she is getting she needs to train it to not go near the rabbit! There is no reason why she needs to keep them together but if the rabbit is about near the dog the dog needs to be taught to leave it alone!
I hope everything goes ok maybe you shouldnt worry so much it may all be totally fine! xx

**Dragonrain** · #3 09-16-2007, 12:26 PM

It depends on the rabbit - what's its personality like? Some seem to be frightened more easily.

If she wants to keep them together the key is to train the dog to be calm around the rabbit. A quite calm dog might be fine around rabbits but a hyper crazy puppy would probably scare them.

Zeus has seem my parents dog before and he was a little nervous, but not to bad - but their dog is VERY calm.

If it were me I wouldn't take any chances and would just keep them seperate. Is there a room she can put the rabbit in and keep the door closed so the dog can't get in? I would be worried about how the dog would react towards the rabbit. If it gets excited and stuff it could scare the rabbit, or it might decide that a rabbit would make a good chew toy, and that wouldn't be good!

kathydip · #4 09-16-2007, 07:59 PM

My dogs stay downstairs and my bunnies stay upstairs. The dogs shouldn't be going up and down stairs - it's bad for their backs.

But Andrea has a dog that LOVES the buns.

I think if the dog is brought up to respect the bunny it can be a wonderful relationship. People say kitties and bunnies should not be together but mine are all the time. Geez Teddy thinks Tyler is his girlfriend and he gets so excited every time he sees Tyler.

darkvixen77 · #5 09-17-2007, 02:23 AM

my friends rabbit lives in the garden though,

**Dragonrain** · #6 09-17-2007, 09:20 AM

Hmm...So would that mean that she wouldn't be able to keep the dog away from the rabbit?

I would think it would be good to keep them apart, at least until she gets to know the dog better - so she can better predict how he/she will react to the rabbit and maybe until the dog has some basic commands down so if it gets to rough around the rabbit she can tell it to sit or something without having to chase it aroud the garden.

kathydip · #7 09-17-2007, 09:32 PM

Is there a way to put a fence around the bunnies area to keep the dog out? Or keep the dog on a leash while outside?

darkvixen77 · #8 09-18-2007, 02:14 AM

I dont think she would, becuase she would want to play with it in the garden and she would think that the fence would be unneccesary because the rabbits not scared of her cat, but her cat is nearly 18 so it cant be bothered with the rabbit and I sont know how the cat will cope with a dog at that age.