I have a 9 month old border collie, who we got at about 9 weeks old. He’s a gorgeous dog, but he wont ever be allowed contact with the rabbits as it stands.
Border collies are crazy smart, but also insanely neurotic, once they fixate it is so hard to retrain them, and herding breeds are apparently a very bad idea with small animals (whoops!)
Despite multiple attempts at introduction and a lot of patience, and professional input at various stages, his ‘drive’ makes it impossible for it to work.
On the upside, it makes him amazingly gifted at things like fly ball and agility. (As the trainer we talked to phrased it “the better the working dog, the worse the pet” )
Despite doing everything by the book, our BC simply wasn’t suited to dealing with small animals safely.
We decided to stop interaction before the rabbits became an obsession (we had a sharp learning curve with the cat, with whom he is firmly obsessed) and we just keep them away from each other right now. There is a chance that as he matures he’ll calm down, but as he is now, he’s far too much energy for rabbits.
Im not trying to sound negative, but do be aware that even with doing everything properly there is a chance it wont work as planned-this type of interaction will be down to your rabbits and the type of border collie you have! So just to be aware that having a plan B might be a good idea!
My other dog is a border collie x springer spaniel, and she is an angel around the rabbits, although she met them when she was 5 years old, trained, and past the puppy exuberance by that point so it was a much easier introduction.
I really wish you the best with it!