My dog won't peacefully coexist with our new rabbit...

[BlackVelvet]

Two days ago I adopted a very sweet and mellow lop rabbit (age unknown) from a friend of a friend.

I have a dog at home - a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. She is not aggressive whatsoever but has a mixed prey drive. I say mixed because she REALLY loves to chase squirrels and other animals sometimes, but at other times, will not even *notice* various animals on our walks (even if they’re right in her line of vision or right next to her). But she is overall a friendly and nice dog - very good/sweet with other dogs and small children. I think the issue is that she’s simply too curious/excited/energetic...and possibly just jealous.

When we brought the bunny home, he was sitting happily on my brother’s girlfriend’s lap. My dog was sitting on my lap and took a good few minutes to even notice that the bunny was there. Once she did, she started whining a bit. I brought her over to the rabbit and she sniffed the rabbit gently. The bunny didn’t like that and simply hopped right off my brother’s girlfriend’s lap - he didn’t run away. That set off my dog and she started barking. We removed both animals from the situation and I proceeded to put a blanket over the bunny’s cage. My dog slept in the same room as the bunny last night, she didn’t even realize the bunny was still in the house. I let the bunny out with the door closed to get a bit of exercise for a few hours. Once again, my dog was elsewhere in the house and didn’t notice.

The trouble began this morning when my dad suggested we try another round of introductions. Things seemed better. The bunny stayed calm, my dog stayed calm, but then my dog began getting overly excited again, so I thought I’d simply put the bunny back in his cage with the blanket. But this time my dog didn’t let it go and continued to look for the rabbit and realized it was in the covered cage. She began barking nonstop. I tried switching the cage from the top of my desk to the top of my dresser. It worked for a bit, but she realized again, would not stop barking and whining and trying to get to the rabbit. We finally had to put the bunny in the garage to get her to stop looking for it. (Don't worry, we'll bring the bun back in the house and in a different room once she forgets about it again, which it looks like she already has.)

I am dismayed at how this turned out. I don’t want to give up the bunny but am unsure if my dog will ever accept it. We had a Cavalier before who coexisted beautifully with our guinea pig at the time, but our current Cavalier just isn't cooperating quite as we'd hoped.

But given that she wasn’t outright aggressive (she was overall gentle with the rabbit, just got excited at one point), is there hope for her accepting the bunny eventually? I understand that we could never leave them together unsupervised; I just simply mean having the rabbit in his cage without my dog going nutty. I am willing to hire a trainer if it would help. Also obviously willing to find the bunny a loving, more compatible home if it comes to that as well. Advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Preitler]

Patience.

My experience with dogs is limited, but I had 2 foster dogs here this year, each for some weeks. One did know rabbits, and didn't care, the other learned quickly, I tried to not participate in his exitement, destract him with giving treats (having him yearning for treats) - with the (free range house) rabbit right beside him, also getting treats. I think sharing a positive experience is a good way.

Whatever way works to show the dog that there isn't a reason to be exited may help, like reading a book with dog on your lap and rabbit right beside, the novalty will wear off quickly.

None of the dogs did actually interact with the rabbit, they pretty much ignored each other, but I had them both standing on their hind legs side by side with Herr Hase for treats.

 

[Blue eyes]

Before discussing how to get the dog on the right track, let's start with making sure the bunny is ok. So far, from what I've read, the bunny has been in a fairly high-stress environment which isn't great. The first 2 days with a new rabbit should be totally hands off. Bunny should have a good 48 hours left completely undisturbed to give her time to get used to the new home - no petting, no taking out of cage. She may seem "mellow and sweet" but rabbits hide their stress well. What we don't want to happen is for her to get even more stressed by a barking dog.

Rabbits generally do fine with dogs. But some rabbits will learn to fear them. That is what we want to avoid. So what next steps are taken next will be critical. Even if the dog is taught proper behavior with the rabbit, it won't mean anything if the rabbit has since learned to fear the dog. So be sure that in all of this, that the rabbit is protected -- not just from physical harm, but from the stress caused by a dog barking or whining at it.

So, now to the dog. It is necessary for you to train the dog how to behave around the rabbit. This cannot be over-stressed. DO NOT just introduce them to "see what happens." You must be pro-active by actually teaching the dog what behavior is expected of him.

The following link on my website has step-by-step instructions for how to introduce a dog to a rabbit.
http://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/introducing-dog-to-rabbit.html

It is how I've done this successfully with a few dogs and several rabbits (over many years as they've come and gone).

Proper introductions are critical, so I'd suggest a total do-over. The first intros are made while bunny is IN the cage. You will see that step one will begin before bunny is ever taken out of the cage. Once the dog's behavior has met certain criteria, then you move to the next step. It is a process. Hopefully the instructions will be most helpful.

All that said, not every dog will accept a rabbit. Training is key, but personality of the dog may be too much to overcome. No way to know for sure unless the step-by-steps are followed (and not rushed).

Good luck!

 

[aprilrussell]

I had my sisters rabbit for a couple months when my GSD was 4-6 months old. She loved that rabbit. I never put the dog in the cage and let the rabbit out in front of it. First I put them both in their cages and put the cages next to each other, then I left the rabbit in the cage and let them(all three of my dogs) smell it through the cage. Within a couple days they were all fine. We went to the pet store yesterday that has lots of puppies, well my dog didn't want anything to do with the puppies, but she was kissing the bunny rabbit and wanted to take that home.

 

[Aki]

I have older rabbits, one being blind, who don't really care about being barked at or chased. I also have a young dog who likes to chase small creatures and already killed two mice in front of me. The rabbits have their own space, protected by a high metal baby gate. The dog can enter the place with me if he stays in a sit for a few minutes when I'm in the room and ready to prevent any trouble to occur but that's it. I would have loved for my animals to get along and interact (I had chosen a breed that was supposedly known for its low prey-drive for that purpose, but that was a miss in my case) but I felt my idyllic vision just wasn't worth the risk of stressing out my rabbits (who clearly have NO wish to interact with the big hairy carnivore) and worse, of provoking a potentially deadly accident.
If you feel like the dog is excited by the rabbit and that the rabbit is scared / stressed / unwilling to interact, I advise you against putting them together. Rabbits have weak hearts, stress can also provoke GI stasis and that's not even talking about what could happen if the dog catches the bunny (my dog likes to shake his stuffed animals REALLY hard and I'm pretty sure he would do the same with a living furry). For every cute photo of a dog and a rabbit snuggling you'll find on the Internet, you'll find dozens of dogs killing the house rabbit, sometimes completely out of the blue... So, I recommend the utmost prudence.

 

[Munha]

First, Blue Eyes has great advice and was helpful to me when I first got my rabbit! Much more knowledgeable about rabbits than I am, for sure! I do have a lot of experience with dogs though. I have retired racing greyhounds, a coon hound and a beagle - all hunting breeds with high prey drives. For at least a week, maybe two, I kept Esther (my bunny) elevated above their eye level in her cage. Everyone was curious and there was lots of sniffing. Anytime a dog whined or barked, they were removed from the room. She was never out of the cage when they could access the room. After a couple of weeks, I moved her down to their eye level and kept the same rules for a few days. After that, a very large ex-pen (about 100 square feet) was set up around Esther's cage and she was allowed to roam in her area but still, if dogs whined or barked, they were removed from the room. Now, several months later, everyone happily sniffs each other all the time, Esther tries to get the coon hound to groom her, and we're incident free! I never leave them unsupervised and confine them to different sides of the house when I must leave to be sure no one does any chasing, even if it's only for a minute. Like others have said, patience is key! Don't give up but it will take time and you don't want to make it more difficult for the animals or yourself by letting the bunny learn to fear the dog. Good luck to you and hang in there!