Introducing bunnies and dogs

I am planning on moving into my boyfriend's house, but am concerned about my 3 bunnies. He has a basset/beagle mix with a habit of killing squirrels, gofers, and other rodents (never a rabbit, but maybe because he hasn't had the chance yet!)

We will have a room just for the bunnies, but god forbid the door be left open by accident one day and the dog were to get in. Does anyone have advice on how to introduce them, or has had experience doing so? I should also mention, the dog is a VERY bad listener...he's calm and doesn't get into trouble, but he also isn't trained with the basics (sit, stay, come, etc.)

I don't have a lot of experience with the breed of dog your bf has but I have a Brittany Spaniel (Dixie) and she is very hyper and playful. My dad and brothers take her hunting for pheasants and she is obsessed with squirrels lol When I got my first rabbit 4 years ago we had the rabbit in a cage in our house the first day and Dixie went crazy and her nose turned white from sniffing the rabbit! I then moved my rabbit outside in my backyard and introduced Dixie to my rabbit. When Dixie started getting aggressive or playful we would sternly tell her NO and she soon realized that she cannot mess with that rabbit. I don't know exactly how I trained her to get used to my rabbits but now I have 3 rabbits and they can roam free with her in the house or outside and she won't touch them. She still hunts and the other day she killed a wild rabbit

I think she sees that I handle the rabbits and understands they aren't predators. When I take my rabbits out of their cages she just sniffs them a little and walks away but if my rabbit tries to jump/climb on Dixie she growls a little and like walks away. It's weird, she like keeps her distance from them because she knows she might hurt them? IDK. This is just my experience. This probably won't help but usually dogs will hurt rabbits because they feel they are a predator so just train your dog not to

Every dog is different but u should be able to train your bf's dog Good luck!

I'm not sure about introducing them other members with dogs & buns can better guide you with the intro. But I would make sure that the buns stay in your room. Have a good cage to lock them in when you are not going to be there. I would also suggest a baby/child safety gate to be put inside the doorway of your room & when you are leaving the room/house close & lock the baby gate closed & then close your room door. This will give your buns a little extra protection should someone open your door while you are not home to supervise. Try to think of every way to protect your buns should they ever get out or the dog get in. Wishing you & your buns the best with your move & the dog housemate.

It sounds like you are going to need to take great care with this. Even with the door closed, what if you go to open it and his dog manages to push past? I would definitely get a baby gate as well for added security. You could put it right by the doorway, or even several feet back from the doorway (if it works like that in a hallway or something) so then you can close the baby gate behind you before opening the room to the bunnies.

Are your bunnies going to be free-range in that room or in their cages most of the time? I would highly suggest trying to train the dog to sit and stay before attempting any introduction with the bunnies. You need to be able to keep the dog's focus and reward him for sitting still.

Baby gate for sure on the outside so there is a barrier when the door is closed or open. They work well for us.

We let our husky meet our bun through a closed door. He wasnt allowed to even see her but just get use to her smell the first couple of days. He then graduated to smelling her through a baby gate with my husband on one side and me ready to scoop my bad rabbit up in case the dog got frisky. Only for a few minutes a session. Once he graduated to walking past the gate with out stopping to investigate her he got to meet her face to face on a leash. He would dart at her and my husband would tell him no and make him sit. Pretty soon he simply got over that. When we got two other rabbits he gave them a cursory sniff and that was it. The rabbits pretty much ignore him now. He loves my little bad rabbit though and will growl at me if I get too stern in my lecturing of her. If they're out in the yard he stays out there until they come in. I like to think it's to keep the hawks at bay but who knows? With a higher prey drive dog like your beagle he may never get use to them and you could never fully trust him. Take baby steps and make sure there are two barriers at all times between them.

I wouldn't chance it if the dogs have that much prey drive and no training it is a horrible accident waiting to happen. They make pressure baby gates that automatically swing shut, they are thin enough to allow the door to close but provide a second defense if the dogs were to push past. Better yet if they are going to have free roam of a room get a couple 42" tall x-pens for dogs they are 16' long so they could be attached to the wall or anchored to furniture. If you cant attach them to anything buy a couple and hook them together they have step through doors. I say baby gate and an x-pen/s. Keeping the door shut is going to build drive for the dog to really want to get in there if you could keep the door open with safety measures in place it might make living with the dog more tolerable and avoid the dog damaging the doorway trying to get in or seeing the buns might just be too much for the dog to handle, it could go either way. But if it is a jumper I wouldn't risk it with a baby gate and having them confined behind and x-pen. Good luck.

Edited to add: that dogs hurt rabbits because they are prey, you are dealing with a mixed breed dog that has been bred to hunt that has high prey drive. It's an instinct it cannot be trained out. My sister has a Jack Russel Terrier, I would never risk letting her get near my rabbit, ever, just to see "what if" they were to come into contact. It may or may not ever happen, but I certainly would not set it up to find out.

I wouldn't recommend introducing them! I have a Beagle mix who has killed small animals, and attacked my older out door Bunny (huge accident, and it was horrifying!).

I now have an indoor bunny who has her own room! She is caged when I am not home, as I am paranoid about the door. What I would do if she was free range in the room is have a baby gate blocking off access near the room, as well as some sort of barrier, maybe NIC cubes made into a small wall, to block off inside the room. Just in case!

If your bound and determined to introduce them, I recommend giving the bunnies a blanket that the dog has used and giving the dog a blanket that the bunnies have used. Have a baby gate seperating them in a hallway or room, put the dog on leash and see his reaction. You should know right away if it will work with the dog by the way he initially reacts.

We can allow our dogs out with the bunnies as long as my Beagle mix is leashed.

dog on leash, bunny in pen, treats in hand. reward dog for looking at you or looking anywhere but at the bunny, correct dog for pulling or whining at bunny. keep working on this till dog chooses to ignore bunny, then move closer and start from scratch. it will take lot of persistance with such a mix but it can work. I have 2 free range bunnies, 8 dogs and no problems

Thanks everyone for all the advice!! I will certainly take the introduction slow and with caution. While I wish they could roam the whole house, I would never trust Buster alone with them even if he does get used to them. So, they will have to settle for a small bunny oasis Once I start I will let you all know how it goes!

Small bunny oasis for the win! :thumbup

I want to add that high prey drive breeds most certainly CAN be introduced to bunnies safely. my JRT is awesome with my buns, I used to have a lurcher as well who cuddled with my buns. my most difficult dogs to make bunny safe was my retreiver..she was so bad I had to resort to a shock collar and avoidence training; and one of my ACD x pups, she still has to be managed (just told to leave them alone) that pups littermate however is best friends with both bunnies, they play and snuggle. just sayin that breed matters little, its the dog and training that count.

I have a purebred Beagle, and a Lab/Border Collie living with my rabbit. My dogs both ignore the rabbit and lack interest in him(while he's in the cage)... But if you try to take the bunny out of the cage with my Beagle right there, all bets are off. He wants to be right there, nose shoving my rabbit around, licking him. NOT appropriate or safe behavior in my opinion and totally not worth the risk, so my dog is crated or outside when my bun is out of the cage. It took approx. two weeks for my dog to lose interest in the bunny while in the cage, and took plenty of rewards for walking away when asked to do so.

With a dog that has a history of KILLING prey animals, I WOULD NOT RISK IT AT ALL. Especially if he lacks proper training. I do fully believe dogs and rodents can live peaceably, even cats and rodents. HOWEVER, I do not feel it is worth the risk of introducing them without a cage or door in between them when the dog has that kind of history. Also, please don't rely on baby gates. I have several, and my dogs can both clear them no problem. My Lab pup doesn't, but my Beagle will jump a four foot fence if he has motivation like a bunny to chase. I also would not trust the gate to stay mounted between a dog with prey drive and a prey animal. A friends dog once bulldozed into my baby gate so he could get into the other room, and there were no other animals there, he just wanted in the other room too.

When I rescued Philly I had no idea how he would react to smaller animals. He was dog friendly and cat friendly, but that's different than "pray" animals. I had my two Dutch bunnies, rats, and mice at the time. He is a Pit Bull and an adult at that, who I doubt was properly socialized since he was an abused stray pickup. Well what I did was keep him away from the smaller animals at first. He did see the bunnies on accident for the first time the day I brought him home and he freaked out, so I made the actual introduction to them very slow. I put a leash on him and a muzzle a week after getting used to their smell (cages covered so he can sniff them but not see them). I used favorite treats and his clicker (my dogs are clicker trained). I waited till he was calm and then rewarded him for the appropriate behavior. I moved from him seeing them in the cage, to letting them lose so they can come up to him when they feel comfortable. Any crazy behavior (barking, yelping, jumping, etc) he would be removed from the situation without any vocalizing. When he regained himself he would be allowed back in, and once again only appropriate behavior gets rewards. He was allowed to sniff them up close, and rewarded each time. Once he seemed appropriate muzzle came off, than slowly after the leash came off, than he was free to spend time with them while supervised. Now he sleeps with my Flemish Giant and my old Dutch mix used to cuddle him and groom him. Take it VERY slow! My guy took only a few hours, some dogs may take longer depending on their personality, pray drive, and so on. They say Pits tend to have a high pray drive like beagles but every dog (no matter the breed) is different; this coming from a professional dog trainer.

Hope I helped you some!

We had a Whippet when I was a kid that was so gentle we could put birds and hamsters on top of her head, and she didn't even care. Even with breeds that are designed to hunt small game, individuals can vary. However, Liz had no track record of killing prey animals. Since your boyfriend's dog is a known hunter, I wouldn't even risk an introduction. And scent hounds in particular have notoriously poor recall and aren't exactly famed for their obedience once they've located potential prey. It would be VERY hard to call them off a scent, or intervene in a kill for that matter.

Below is what I've written elsewhere in explaining how I've introduced my dogs to my rabbits. If I can, I'll attach some progress photos as well. Remember though that it is true that certain dogs, based on their breed, will simply have too much genetic disposition to overcome. Their prey drive will just be too strong. Yet there are still many breeds of dog that will accept the rabbit(s) as part of the family pack.

(My computer isn't allowing me to embed the better pics I have of this in progress. I'm stuck with using the attached links.)

[FONT=&quot]The way to begin introductions is through the cage. The dog is permitted to come up to the rabbit's cage and sniff around. Usually, curious bunny will come nose-to-nose with the dog while separated by cage. Doggy is not permitted to bark.
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You talk to doggy to let him know to be "gentle." As you monitor his behavior, you'll know when to take the next step. You can sit by your dog while you let the bunny out, making sure he stays down allowing the buns to approach as they desire. By down, I mean that he is laying completely submissive on his side with his head also on its side on the floor.
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Again, keep a close eye and keep doggy down during this phase. Eventually, you allow him to be in a sitting position, then gradually he can stand. You will know by your dog’s reaction and the bunny how things are progressing. [/FONT]