Aggressive Towards Dog?

[a.rouse413]

In the past year or two, my 6.5 year old mini rex (Benny) has transitioned from an outdoor rabbit who came inside fairly often, to a complete indoor rabbit. He went through a lot of health problems this past year and I feel much better being able to monitor him 24/7. About a year ago, our 17 year old cat died, and my dog, Libby (11 y/o yellow lab) had a pretty hard time with that. We adopted our dog when she was a puppy, and she quickly learned that the cat ruled the house. Benny always had fun chasing the cat around but the cat didn’t really care for him. Libby has always been a big, sweet, ball of love so she would just sniff him, give him a big slobbery kiss on the head, and then eat his poop. She never tried to play with him but would never act negatively toward him. Benny would sometimes run up to her and sniff her or act a little playful, but never indicated any sort of dislike. Since the cat died, Benny has sort of become the alpha pet and started charging and honking at the dog whenever she tries to come into my room. My dog, who used to sleep in my room every night, now won’t even come close to my door and is very uncomfortable around him. They are both spayed/neutered and I can’t figure out what to do. I’m assuming this is all because the pet dynamics shifted a little, and since my rabbit is permanently in my room it smells like him and he’s territorial. Does anyone have any suggestions to help them get along again?

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Aggression is usually caused by fear. Most animals aren’t mean, and your bunny certainly isn’t hunting the dog. Maybe he felt more comfortable when your cat kept him in line?
I would start by adding some tunnels (you can get those fabric cat tunnel things), some hidey holes (again-cat trees are great for that) and maybe even some steps so your bunny can get high and evade your dog (to a windowsill would be great, mine love looking out windows)-in essence give your bunny lots of safety (though I know your dog isn’t a threat, Benny maybe doesn’t know that!) and escape routes, and dog free places -and I’ll bet you’ll see a big difference in his behaviour.

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