How do I make my bunny and my dog get along?

[shasbun]

I have two pets-  Shasi (bunny) and a Sunny (dog). At first, they’re great together, but then Shasi makes Sunny hyper by moving suddenly or Sunny scares Shasi by making a sudden movement. Right now, my bunny is free roaming in my room. When the weather’s nice, I let Sunny out in the backyard and let Shasi roam the entire house. I would love to get them to the point where they can both roam the entire house freely.

How do I get them to get along? Thanks in advance everybunny! All help is greatly appreciated.

[Bam]

I agree it depends a lot on the personalities of both the dog and the bun, mostly the dog. I’ve had a dog and rabbits, but the dog was 3 years old and had had quite a bit of obedience training before the first rabbit came. She was a GSD, a breed where obedience has been selected for.

What triggers most dogs is rapid movement. You must be able to stop your dog from acting on rapid movement from your bun. There must also be places in your house where the bun can go and the dog absolutely can’t follow, although this will not help much if your dog is determined and/or vocal.

[snowballsmomma]

Hey shasbun – First of all, your bun in your pic is so adorable!!

So I can’t say I have had this situation before, but I have read a lot a stories about bunnies and dogs together and how they can be a worrisome mix.  Unfortunately, some dogs like to rough-house, and bunnies are prone to being anxious creatures that can have heart attacks at the drop of a hat.

Of course there are some dogs and bunnies that do get along, but I think a lot of that has to do with the temperament, size and behaviour of the dog.  It sounds like Sunny is more an excited dog, which does not bode well with a rabbit.  I’m also not sure how big Sunny is.

I think at this point, I would greatly recommend only allowing the dog and bun to interact while supervised.  It may also take some work, but you can possibly “train” Sunny to be more obedient, and once Sunny is more obedient to commands, you might be able to allow for a little more free interaction.

If you haven’t read it before, this article may help you:

Do Rabbits and Dogs Get Along?

[shasbun]

@Bam thanks! I’m trying to train him to not react to rapid movement from Shasi.

@snowballsmomma- thanks! I think he’s adorable too! And no, I didn’t read that article before and it was really helpful.

[Hazel]

Agreed, your bun is adorable! 😀

[Author]

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