Bunny and Dog

[Trishh]

My 105 pound German Shepard likes to chase my bunny around they like to play together like that but usually he runs and hides and i cant get him out even with treats. He usually hides underneath the side table in the living room and wont come out for anyway from 15 minutes to an hour or more at times. His body language doesnt seem like hes afraid of her but i was wondering if there was anything i could do?
I tell her to stop and tap her but i dont want to like be mean to her when she just wants to play but i also dont want my bunny (coco) to be afraid and scared because i want him to come out so he can play and so i can spend time with him, and so its easier to get him to put him in his cage at night.

[LBJ10]

What do you mean his body language doesn’t tell you he’s afraid? What makes you think he isn’t afraid? I’m curious because you said he hides after the dog chases him. That tells me he is afraid. Or at the very least he doesn’t want the dog to bother him. Some rabbits are afraid of dogs, some are not. If the dog chases them though, I don’t see how they could not be afraid. I would caution against letting your dog interact with your bun, especially since your dog doesn’t seem to know when enough is enough. This is a recipe for disaster. Your dog could hurt the rabbit, whether it is “intentional” or not.

[MoveDiagonally]

I don’t think you should allow your dog to chase your rabbit at all. It’s really easy for a dog to accidentally injure a rabbit and your rabbit sounds scared. Stress and fear can cause health issues with rabbits so I think this is something that really needs to be addressed.

Teaching a dog appropriate times/places/and people to play with isn’t mean. It’s not any different than teaching them not to chew on things/jump on people/etc… I would work with your dog and teach him/her that bunnies are NOT play partners. What kind of obedience training have you done with your dog?

[NewBunnyOwner123]

That needs to be stopped ASAP. Bunnys do not like to be chased. Especially by a large dog. Train your dog that’s its unacceptable to chase bunny. Period. The very fact that bunny is hiding under the table and won’t come out is his body language that he’s afraid.

You aren’t being mean to her, you’re providing boundaries for her so both species can coexist. If you keep allowing her to chase bunny she will soon figure she can do whatever she wants with bunny and her prey drive can kick in. Put your dog in her place and set boundaries.

[MoveDiagonally]

I found this article/Q&A with advice on how to curb cat chasing it could be useful for you as well.

http://www.petfinder.com/dogs/dog-problems/dog-chases-cat/

[NewBunnyOwner123]

Have your shepherd lay down when bunny is in room and make her STAY. If she wants to see coco, she needs to learn to STAY. I had a shepherd and when I first brought my bunnies home he got excited and jumped up every time a bunny would zoom by. I trained him to get DOWN and STAY. It was the only way he ever interacted with the bunnies. Eventually the bunnies got curious of Bear because he wasn’t a threat to them. They didn’t run away from him, they approached him. Please, don’t allow this to go on any longer. Set boundaries and MAYBE you will have a coexisting household. 

 

 

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Your bunny is scared if she hides under a table and won’t come out for treats, while your dog means no harm, that doesn’t matter to your bunny when he’s frightened.
You don’t need to be mean to your dog to stop this; You need to teach your dog some commands, like ‘no play’ ‘settle’ and ‘down’ and in the mean time they don’t ‘play’ together, but you could leash your dog and let your bunny out. Absolutely don’t allow any chasing. Teach your dog to settle down and be calm and your rabbit will begin to investigate.
This is very easy to address, and will take some time to settle your dog and stop her attempts at play but it’s essential you do so. A stressed scared rabbit is going to get sick from stress, or hurt herself trying to escape. And it’s not a nice way to feel.
Your dog is obviously gentle so you really don’t have too much to do here-good luck!

[Trishh]

My dog is a good dog and i do get her to stop, its not like i allow her to do it trust me. His ears dont go back but i do know hes scared because hes hiding. Ive only had coco for three days now so i mean everyones still getting use to everybody and i was just wondering if you guys had any other suggestions on what to do but you all have pretty much said what ive been doing. So thank you anyway!(: i apperciate your input

[Trishh]

Thank you! Atleast you understand where im coming from with a shepard lol ill try what you suggested tomorrow. She does lay still sometimes and watches him like you said but other times she jumps up. Ill let you know how it goes, they are still getting use to eachother ive only had coco three days now so its going to take time. I just wanted others input and ideas to help and yours did so thank you!!

[Trishh]

Alright thank you! Ill keep working with them and im sure things will get better shes just curious about coco like you said.

[Beka27]

Your bunny is still way too new to be interacting with your dog. Your bunny doesn’t even know you yet after only a few days. When working towards a coexisting household, the bunny should be nowhere near the dog for at least 2-3 MONTHS while you work on your relationship with the bunny. The key to building trust with rabbits is to move sloooooooow… Almost painfully slow…

[Sarita]

I agree with Beka – give your rabbit some time – she’s only been with you 3 days and no one is saying your dog is bad – they are just saying that it is a bad idea for your rabbit at this point because she is obviously frightened.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I have to agree with Beka and Sarita.

Please be very careful with any dog/bunny interactions. We have heard of several cases here on BB where dogs have frightened bunnies to death just by chasing or sniffing them. Bunnies are prey animals and that should always be on the mind of their caretaker. Also, dogs want to play and can get carried away and injure the bunny. Again, not because they are bad, just because that is normal play action for a dog to get super excited.

[Valkyrie]

Only 3 days?! Way too soon to let them interact on that level. I also had a 100+ lbs German Shepherd coexist with my rabbits, but I would never let chasing happen. After the rabbit started to see my dog as a friend and sought out his attention, then I would let them out together. But my shepherd was trained to lay down whenever a child or a smaller animal was around. After my bun started crawling on him, he knew it was appropriate to stand up and start herding him with his nose (his favorite activity). If you want to have the bunny out with the dog in the room, you will have to keep the dog on a leash to prevent it from chasing. One chase can kill a rabbit. My shepherd thought everything smaller than himself was his puppy that needed his love and protection, but I would have never thrown a new bunny into that situation. Coco needs to learn that your dog is not a threat from the safety of his own cage first. It doesn’t matter if your dog is “good” or not because Coco doesn’t know that. After he starts running to the side of the cage to meet your dog when he walks by, then you are ready to put Coco on your lap and let them interact that way. After that you can have Coco free and your dog on a leash. Running free together is a long journey away. I’m sure your dog is sweet, just like every shepherd, but you can’t ever let chasing happen and Coco needs to get to know his surroundings better.

I have a 2 year old 70 lbs mutt that I have had since he was 10 weeks old. I had a house rabbit before he came along. I still don’t let them free on the floor together; their playtime is limited to the couch right beside me. They love each other and groom and cuddle non-stop, but at 2 Chance is still too clumsy for them to safely play together. It would just take one stumble for my rabbit to be seriously hurt and my pooch heartbroken. And he knows how to be gentle. He and my kitten play fight all the time and he regularly lets her win (he pretends that her pounce was very successful and dramatically falls over so that she can pin him).

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