Bonding Rabbit with Dog

[Bailey]

I currently have a 1.5 year old Holland lop named Harley that I love dearly! I am getting a new roommate in a few months who has a full grown dog (lab/pit mix of some sort… she’s not really sure). The dog is very active, hyper and disobedient at times. I am worried about the stress and physical well being of my little bun. In the apartment we will be sharing, I will have my own room connected to a walkthrough closet and a bathroom (plenty of room for him to binky around!). Currently my bunny is cage free and has full range of my apartment. With the move, I was planning on introducing Harley to my bedroom, bathroom and closet ONLY. He wouldn’t be allowed upstairs or in the hallway leading to my other roommate’s bedroom.

My plan was to never even introduce Harley to the dog. I would only be living in this apartment for about a year, so I don’t think that a bonding process or even introduction would even be necessary. Harley would be locked in my area at all times, with my furniture and belongings that he is already accustomed to. While I am gone the dog would be locked in my roommates room, and I would keep Harley behind my bathroom door. That way in the event that my roommate forgot to lock up the dog, the pup would have to get through my bedroom door and bathroom door just to get near Harley.

I think this is a legitimate plan, but I am still most worried about the overall happiness of my little boy. Will he know that there is a dog in the house even though he isn’t exposed to him? I am worried that Harley will be able to smell and hear him causing overall stress. The last thing I want is for my bunny to life in a state of fear for an entire year. Any recommendations, or even stories would be appreciated before making this transition! I just want the best for my little guy, even if that means not going through with the move. Please be honest!!

[Cocoa]

Here is my experience with two bunnies and a goldendoodle and a cockapoo. My bunnies had to be inside the first weekend i had them because it was too cold. On the first night, we only let the cockapoo be loose. He walked over to their cage, wondering what was in there. Then my two bunnies ran to the side of the cage to say hi. They have a large cage and lots of hiding places if they get scared. They adjusted to him very quickly. The next day, we let the goldendoodle meet them. The same thing happened, except that my dog gave Cocoa a big kiss. Now when i hold my bunnies, my big dog likes to come say hi and try to groom her. Cocoa is totally fine when they bark but Lily still freaks out a little bit. My big dog is very rough when she plays, so whenever my bunnies are running around outside of their cage i put the big dog inside or tie her leash to the table. The little dog pretends they aren’t there. He doesn’t like it when some one gets attention and he doesn’t so he has shoved them off my lap so he could have attention. My dogs are 8 years old and 3 years old and i have had them both since they were puppies so i trust them. I wouldn’t let them near my bunnies if i didn’t know them well and trust them. To answer your question, he may know that there is a dog but once he adjusts to the scent he should be fine. Lily was scared of the big dog at first so we kept her away from Lily. Within a week, Lily had adjusted to her scent, and sometimes seeing her. After about two weeks, she didn’t care if my dog was right next to her. Both of my bunnies will try to hop onto the big dogs back when she is laying down to try to get to the treats. I hope this helps

[Serenity]

Hello Bailey!
There shouldn’t be a problem as long as the pupper is locked away from Harley. In the event of an accident (as unlikely as it sounds, you can NEVER be too careful when it comes to rowdy doggos) you should find something that he could escape into that the dog can’t get in. For instance, when I got my newest bun she was VERY small and sometimes bullied a little by the bigger doe. I cut her a little hole in a box that only she could fit in to and it saved her loads of fear.
Maybe something similar to this? I don’t know HOW it could work but it’s an idea.
I used to dog sit a lot and my bunnies (two of which are painfully shy) didn’t even notice the big, dangerous dogs (german shepherd, mini dobermans and cockerspaniels) bounding around. As long as they didn’t come too close and kept to themselves the buns hardly knew there was a guest at all. I think Harley should be fine as long as he stays in your room and the dog is separated, the smell shouldn’t bother him. Good luck!

[sarahthegemini]

I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable having a large hyperactive disobedient dog in an apartment with my rabbit. You’d need to have a lot of safety measures in place. Gates, locked doors etc but even then you might still have a stressed bun. What if the dog can smell bun and barks and barks because he wants to get to him? I got my rabbits used to dog barking by playing barking videos on YouTube (I recently had to move from my house back to my mother’s – rabbits live upstairs, dog lives downstairs) so that could work but it’s hard to say. I think it only works for my situation because we have a separate upstairs and downstairs so they aren’t too close and mum’s dog is very obedient.

[Honeybunny]

Personally, my rabbit is a feisty one. I used to dog sit a lot and she would want nothing to do with any of them. If a dog tried to get too playful with her then she would attack. I want a dog one day and I already know that the bonding is going to take a long time

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