beautiful dog

He is a beautiful lab – my friends in MA have had labs very similar and they are very nice dogs, but it is true that they are predisposed to hunt.

I understand your post, but I really must urge you to leave your bunny home for the weekend and get a sitter. Think of it this way, it is probably much safer to trust a human to care for your bunny than to trust a dog. This will not be the only time you have to travel over the next many years you will have Leroy, and it’s an opportunity to establish a good option for care for him if you need it. Some vets will board bunnies, which is a very good way to get the proper care. A weekend isn’t very long, so there’s very little harm that could come to him while he is entrusted to a person, but he could come to great harm from a dog who is excited. Your bunny may be terribly frightened even if they are kept apart. I wouldn’t want to put him through that.

Other dog owners may have better suggestions, but wish you would reconsider a sitter.

Can you just use one of the bedrooms for your bun? I wouldn’t want to constantly keep an eye on the dog 24/7 and it’s not worth the stress/worry. I would just try to set up a bun proof room for the weekend. My dog is only 10 lbs and he is still super curious about the bunny but he was turned off when I was holding him and Bun actually charged him lol. That took care of that issue. Wickett wanted to be picked up so bad and out of the area from that rabbit lol. And now we just got another puppy but she only knows of the guinea pigs and growls at them. After Bun showed how mad she was at the Pomeranian being in “her area” I just keep her separate and my door is always closed for her freely play all day in my room. But yeah, since getting your rabbit a petsitter over the weekend isn’t an option, I would just try to keep her in a bunroom instead of trying to introduce her to the dog when you are just there for a weekend.

I think it would be worth looking into getting a petsitter -try asking local rabbit rescues if any of their volunteers are rabbit sitters because those would be the most qualified candidates. Introducing a bunny to a dog takes a long time, and if someone was bringing a bunny to a new place to meet a dog for the first time, I would not even recommend any introductions for the first week until the rabbit gets used to the new place,so a week would not be a long enough time to get a bunny and a dog used to each other. I definitely understand your concern about a pet sitter, but I think that if you take the next few weeks to find a qualified sitter it would be the best option.

Where are you located?

If you must take your bunny I would suggest keeping the bunny in the cage if the dog is ever in the same room- and only have the dog in the same room if you are there.  You don’t want the bunny to run or show fright and trigger a chasing instinct from the dog.  Be sure to remain calm and do not show the dog or bunny that you are tense- since you want the dog feel that it is perfectly normal and OK for the bunny to be there.  If you have a cage that is on the floor- the rabbit might feel less intimidated if the cage is on a low table and the dog is not “towering over”.  My first cage for Cotton was raised and I think that can help with a feeling of security around cats and dogs- I can’t think of the right words to explain why- but not being on ground level can make them feel less vulnerable.

One of my dogs has caught wild rabbits out in the yard- and when they run he can not resist- even though he is actually not trying to hurt them- he is a herding breed- the shock of being cornered or poked (he pokes with his nose) can be fatal for bunnies.  We finally figured out a way for the bunnies to not be able to get thru the gates- so this no longer happens.  But Molson has never been aggressive or chased my bunnies- he KNOWS they belong there and they are not OK to chase/herd and he is more interested in checking under them for poo to eat than chasing or playing with them anyway.  (Most dogs LOVE to eat rabbit poo).  So if a dog has chased wild bunnies it does not mean that house bunnies will be an issue- but caution needs to be taken either way.

The ideal way to introduce a dog and rabbit is… S…L…O…W…L…Y… over the course of a couple months. Since you’re not going to be there for a couple months and the dog (GORGEOUS DOG, by the way!) is not a permanent addition to your home, I wouldn’t bother. Your bun and the dog may be stressed out knowing that the other is in the house, even if they never meet. Animals can sense if someone else is in the area. So I will ditto the pet-sitter idea. If you do end up taking the bun, he may be so stressed out/disoriented being in a new place, that he might not feel like exploring too much anyways.

Glad you had a nice trip home and things went well. Sounds like Leroy already forgot he was mad and returning to his normal routine! I love binkies and zoomies, they make you feel so good knowing the bunnies are happy!

I took Otto with me to my mother in law’s house and left him in a bedroom for the weekend. Her dog wasn’t able to get to him and didn’t even know he was there. Otto is a good traveler and settled in quickly and enjoyed his stay, but not all buns are that adaptable. If you do bring him, I would recommend him having a room to himself (in his cage area because the room will probably not be fully bunny proofed) and keeping the dog far away. Even if the dog doesn’t want to hunt Leroy, he will most likely want to play with him and a big hyper dog like that could cause serious injury.

ETA: I should read to the end of the post before replying  Glad everything went well!

Cuttteeeee puppy! American Lab. I have an English one who is chocolate too and looks around a similar age. She’s a sweetiepie and a troublemaker. I think she’s 8… still hyper– chases anything in the yard, has caught a live possum before (it play dead, luckily), chases ducks, chases the rabbits in the yard. Does fine with bunnies in the house.

Next time you take him you should try letting him do whatever he wants. I think it’s good for them– they’re so curious and bold when they’re given the opportunity to be (it’s like little kids… don’t need to be so overprotective… just make sure they wear their helmets when they bike/the dog is safe around the bun) I had a foster rabbit at college and I took him home over breaks– he did fine with my dog. I had the bun in a large cage (actually the dog’s old crate) in the corner of the kitchen. The dog went to the edge of the cage to sniff but the bun had enough room to get away until the dog calmed down. It didn’t take much at all– basically the dog just needed to be told not to go into the cage after she got used to him being around. The rabbit was fine hopping all around the dog within a day or two and by the end of the first week he was crawling all over her and chewing her (in fact, she would run away from him…)

Also, I took the bun to a big family gathering for thanksgiving and my cousin brought a kitten who hopped on top of the bunny’s cage and stuck her paws in to try to swipe.  The bunny periscoped up to see what was going on.