Does the dog bark excessively?
Maybe try and keep the door to the room Ben is in closed, and maybe leave a fan or radio running to mask the noise (as long as that doesn’t bother Ben).

Our dogs never bother Moxie with their noise, but she is a laid back bun and she’s heard the dogs since she was 8 weeks old…

Posted By Benthebunny on 9/03/2016 4:29 PM

a relative is staying over and she has a dog. how do i stop ben freaking out from the barks?

  I wish I could recommend you something except for sending the dog home. I only hope this won’t traumatize your rabbit.

How is Ben with loud noises usually? Like hair dryer, or hoover or even tv and radio?

My two dont like my dog barking, but they normally address the noise as a warning-like when someone thumps a foot, they sit up check there is no danger and then continue on with what they are doing.

It took Yumi ages to get used to my hedgehogs though, they freaked her out something awful. I found that reassurance was key.
Try just rubs til he’s calm reinforced with a treat. She still has no idea what they are or their purpose.
What MoxieMeadows says is also really good advice. Other noise from a radio will maybe help push the dogs noise into the background for him.

Alternatively treat the source of the problem and actively discourage the dog from barking. Fill a spray bottle with water and spritz the dog when it barks-it wont hurt it, it’s just a good deterrent.
We used this with a dog that’s owner was getting noise compliants and it worked really well.

Be around him as much as you can to reassure him when it happens, otherwise keep doors closed in between to help dampen the noise. I found with my pair that they got used to Dory’s sudden loud screeches and squawks quite quickly, I think because they have each other they quickly realised there wasn’t anything to be afraid of.

“Stop the dog from barking with a juicy bone..”. or take him out for a walk to tire him. or prevent him from getting excited by simply ignoring him (then praise calmly when hes calm and in his bed)…. simple positive training for dogs.

My cousins have 5 dogs and they are all calm and only bark when the doorbell goes. They play without yelling !!! Lol.

That’s right, reward the dog for barking with a juicy bone Good one Vienna.

Good point though, is it possible to work on the dog’s barking to try and reduce it?

like everyone else said, just try to keep the dogs away from ben and keep him in a closed off room. I have 2 dogs that stay downstairs and the buns stay upstairs. every now and then if the door is open and they hear the dogs bark daisy will run to bun’s side and they will just sit still and assess the situation. if the dogs are barking at something I will close the door but usually its just a bark here and there and the buns will resume their playtime after making sure nothing is coming after them. if they really don’t like the noise they will just head back into their condo and wait it out. of course if you can get the dogs to stop barking that’s great, try telling the relative that she needs to calm the dog. make sure ben has his go-to hiding spot available so he knows he can run in there. I think as long as you don’t let the dog be directly around ben he will see it as more annoying that frightening after a while once he learns the bark is not followed by a big scary monster in his face!

When I brought my bun home, he came home to 2 chihuahuas. As anyone knows, those things are barking machines! Gitane (my bun) reacts every single time the 2 chi’s start yapping about something. BUT, it’s not out of terror or anything that is harmful or traumatic to him. It’s almost like he goes on “alert.” For example, if Gitane is eating, and the dogs start yapping, he will just freeze (even if he’s only mid-way chewing down the stem of a piece of parsley, which is actually SO adorable!) and his ears will go straight up. Then as the dogs calm down, Gitane does too. He’ll then continue eating, or doing whatever it was he was doing before he was so rudely interrupted by the rat-dogs! He’s just making sure that whatever it is they’re yapping about isn’t anything to worry about. I think as long as the dogs are not barking AT the bun, or acting aggressive towards the bun in any way, he/she will be just fine! I think it’s in their nature to react to such things since after-all, they are prey animals. Always remember, in their minds, the entire world is out to get them most of the time! 🙂