how to get a rabbit and three dogs to live with each other ?

hi everyone. i have a one year old outdoor rabbit, i also have three dogs that like to bark at her, i want my outdoor rabbit to become a indoor rabbit but first i have to get my dogs use to her and im not sure how. some people have told me that since my dogs are kinda older i wont be able to get them to like her, but i dont think the old saying, you cant teach a dog new tricks is not true lol. i was just wondering the steps to getting them to like each other. thanks

Hi Abigail,

We have four indoor dogs and a rabbit who arrived two years ago. There has been no fuss at all. Your dogs might be barking at her because they view her as an outside tresspassor. Have you tried bringing her indoors?

JodieKathleen said:

Hi Abigail,

We have four indoor dogs and a rabbit who arrived two years ago. There has been no fuss at all. Your dogs might be barking at her because they view her as an outside tresspassor. Have you tried bringing her indoors?

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hi jodieKathleen, yes she has been inside but in a room where the dogs cant get to her. i just fill that she would have a better life inside then she would outside. and also how hard is it to litter train them lol. thanks

Not all dogs can be taught proper behavior around a rabbit but many can. It depends on the individual dog and how obedient he is. With multiple dogs, it is critical that they see the rabbit as part of the privileged family pack. Bringing bunny indoors is a start. Right now they are privileged (allowed indoors) while the rabbit is not. That hierarchy needs to be changed for them.

I explain in detail on my site how I've taught my dogs what behavior is acceptable toward the rabbits. This can give you a starting point. In your case, your rabbit will need a very sturdy, dogproof cage for indoors since intros and training begin with bunny in cage.
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/introducing-dog-to-rabbit.html

There is also elsewhere on the site info on litter training,

Good luck and fingers crossed!

I wonder, how does the rabbit feel about the dogs? I hope it doesn’t mind them?

Asking, cos my buns are absolutely terrified of dogs, I get a huge reaction even bringing in the smell of a dog back home. I really would like a puppy one day, but it doesn’t like I’ll be getting one anytime soon

All the best!

thank you everyone, and also sorry i forgot to add this in but my rabbit seems to be getting cage aggression, i dont know if that will make it harder to get the dogs use to her. and is there any other way to jelp with it other then getting her spayed

Sorry for being an idiot here, but would you mind explaining what cage aggression means, please? What does your bunny do?

The thing with neutering/spaying female rabbits is so, that unless you are planning to keep her for reproduction, she has 80% of chance to die of ovarian cancer :/ So for females kept as pets it really is beneficial to neuter them for health reasons.

Intact or fixed rabbits can have cage aggression, though it isn't quite as common if the rabbit is fixed. Females can be particularly territorial and that's from where the cage aggression can stem.

A cage aggressive rabbit feels the need to protect her cage as her private territory. If a hand comes in (whether to bring food, treats, hay, whatever) the rabbit will attack the hand.

Zelda&Linky are correct that intact females have a higher chance of getting cancer by age 5.

My sunny bunny, Hazel, had a week or so of cage aggression when she was about 11-12 weeks. I was seriously getting anxiety every time I reached in to restock her hay, pellets, and clean her litter pan. She then stopped at about 13 weeks, and we got her spayed at 15 weeks. She’ll be 18 weeks soon, recovering well, and is quite a docile bunny. She can get a little skittish at times, but mainly in the morning before we let her out for play ~ at that time she doesn’t want to be bothered....she just wants to get her wiggles out.

Does your bun have any out-of-cage time at all, even if in a small fenced off, dog-free area in the yard? Aside from spaying, that could help with cage aggression.

As for litter training, do you place a litter pan in your outdoor cage? If so, it’s best to keep the rest of the cage floor free of “bedding” because if she doesn’t currently have a litter pan, then she views her whole cage as her “litter pan”

Our first bunny had a hard time with litter training, and that was my fault. She did have a litter pan in her outdoor bunny condo, but when we first brought her home, I didn’t confine her to her new environment for 36 hours. She had an outdoor condo on our lanai where she slept at night, and then she had a small indoor playpen downstairs for daytime. Both had litter pans. She did use both of them, but still had many droppings outside of the pan, and still peed on the outside of the pan when she was moody. This is probably because she had to get used to two separate environments, not to mention, our cat often jumped into her indoor playpen, so she had to place her “territorial drippings” throughout the perimeter of the playpen. This drove me nuts. But I understand why she had to do it.

So as you can imagine, your situation with mature indoor dogs, and now bringing a bunny into the situation....there could be some challenges, but with a little strategic planning, it’s not impossible to overcome. I know someone who already had a big dog, and then brought home a baby Lop bunny for indoors. They’re best buddies now. So you might have to get each dog used to the bunny one on one before bringing all three in with her, especially since right now she associates all their barks at her as aggressive. It could be stressful for her. But again, I’m sure some creative and strategic planning for her indoor space, as well as spaying, recovery, and her bonding with you, and then eventually one dog at a time could help.

my bunny loves my dog but my dog always seem to look at her like he wants to eat her. They have been indoors together and gone nose to nose but a cage is always put between them for safety. I would love to get them to be happy together but my dog is part beagle and they are supposed to be great rabbit hunters so I doubt that they could be together

thank you everyone. im really hoping everything goes well, im going to have one of my dogs meet her on the next warm day, and im hoping he likes her. should she be in her pen when they meet. or her outdoor playpen. i will have my dog on a leash as well and before they meet he will get a good walk so he is not so excited lol.

ok i just wanted to tell yall what is going on, it is cold over herr where i am so my rabbit was inside in her playpen and my dogs did great. i let them look at her and sniff through the door and my lab even started licking her ears lol they were being so good around her im am super happy cuz i really think this is going to work out. it will take a little bit of work for them not to act so excited when she comes in but im just so happy that they are not trying to eat her thanks everyone for all the help. and i will try and update soon

I just wanted to ask one more thing. my rabbits cage aggression is getting kinda bad. when I go to give her food or water she bounces at me and is know starting to growl. im not really sure what to do and im hoping this will not interfere with her meeting the dogs.

Maybe somehow associating food with your hand coming into the cage would help. Start with offering her a treat through the cage door first. Then when she’s occupied with that, take care of cage business. If she lunges again, slowly remove your hand and then offer another treat. Hopefully that helps?

abbigail10398 said:

ok i just wanted to tell yall what is going on, it is cold over herr where i am so my rabbit was inside in her playpen and my dogs did great. i let them look at her and sniff through the door and my lab even started licking her ears lol they were being so good around her im am super happy cuz i really think this is going to work out. it will take a little bit of work for them not to act so excited when she comes in but im just so happy that they are not trying to eat her thanks everyone for all the help. and i will try and update soon

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I'm glad things seem positive at the moment. But you need to be sure about taking things really, really slowly. It doesn't sound like you read my link (from the questions you asked). I think that link will be most helpful and could prevent a possibly irreversible mistake. The pen really is not the ideal way to begin introductions for several reasons (explained in link).

While being indoors is the correct place, it's actually best to begin with that dog-proof cage. (a pen isn't dog-proof) This dog-proof cage is really where the initial "meetings" should take place. After they've been taught how to behave around the caged rabbit, the first test begins. You need a safe place for bunny so you can "spy" on the dogs and see how they are when they don't know you are watching. It's far too risky to try this spying bit with just a pen.

Once they've all done well with the sturdy cage (as per link), it is also important (imo, most especially important when dealing with more than one dog) to have the dogs in the submissive, laying prone position when the time comes to let them interact without the pen. Leashes are not advised (explains why at that link).

I can't encourage you enough to review the link. It will tell you each step to take and how to know when to move on to the next step.

Blue eyes said:

I'm glad things seem positive at the moment. But you need to be sure about taking things really, really slowly. It doesn't sound like you read my link (from the questions you asked). I think that link will be most helpful and could prevent a possibly irreversible mistake. The pen really is not the ideal way to begin introductions for several reasons (explained in link).

While being indoors is the correct place, it's actually best to begin with that dog-proof cage. (a pen isn't dog-proof) This dog-proof cage is really where the initial "meetings" should take place. After they've been taught how to behave around the caged rabbit, the first test begins. You need a safe place for bunny so you can "spy" on the dogs and see how they are when they don't know you are watching. It's far too risky to try this spying bit with just a pen.

Once they've all done well with the sturdy cage (as per link), it is also important (imo, most especially important when dealing with more than one dog) to have the dogs in the submissive, laying prone position when the time comes to let them interact without the pen. Leashes are not advised (explains why at that link).

I can't encourage you enough to review the link. It will tell you each step to take and how to know when to move on to the next step.

Click to expand...

thank you for the link i just read it. next time the dogs meet it will be in her cage