Puppy introduction

[kcomstoc]

 So Josh (my boyfriend of 3 years) and I move in August to a big 3 bedroom apartment that we will be sharing with 2 of his friends who are nice and don’t mind the bunny or us having a puppy. We won’t get the puppy until October and that’s if one of the 2 males that were born will have the personality that will fit our family. So it’s still a maybe on if we are getting a puppy at all (it will be a rough collie puppy 10 weeks old). How do I go about safely introducing him to my bunny? I know everything will have to be heavily supervised and that the first few months the puppy will just have to meet the bunny through smelling the cage (which will stay on the table for the bunny’s safety) and when the puppy is in his crate the bunny can get his exercise and go up to the puppy as he feels safe. How long do I do this for? Like I said nothing is set in stone and I might not be getting the puppy but I like to be prepared any suggestions are welcome and wanted

[Hazel]

Congrats on your future puppy!

As you already said, keeping a barrier between them (crate, bunny cage) is a good way to start, maybe even a leash for the puppy at first, until you’re sure he won’t go crazy or jump at the cage.

One thing I’d suggest is, tire the puppy out every time before letting him interact with the bunny. A tired puppy is a good puppy.

[kcomstoc]

absolutely and thank you…leashing him is a good idea just in case. is Caleb going to start marking even though he’s fixed? the puppy will be a boy and Caleb is a boy…

[Valkyrie]

I agree with Hazel.

It also depends on your puppy’s personality though. After one month, I started letting Chance poke his head into Merlin’s cage when I fed him and just kept my hand on his collar in case he tried to lunge. Chance is two now and although he would never intentionally hurt his bunny brothers, I still don’t let them have free range of the floor together. I just don’t want to take the chance that he will accidently step on Bromley or otherwise unintentionally hurt him. He is great with the cats and he and Gypsy even play fight – he is so gentle with her! But she can tell him when he is being too rough with a meow, tooth or claw. We don’t know exactly what his breed mix is, but he is a herding dog for sure (he herds EVERYTHING and has the bark and expressions) like your collie puppy. He is high energy and herders don’t fully mature until they are 3 or 4 so at 2 he is still very much a puppy at times. What we do though is let Bromley have free run of the couch and Chance is allowed to sit up there with him. Sometimes Bromley curls up beside him on the cushions, other times Chance crawls on the back of the couch with Brom! Most of the time though, Chance just rests his head on the back of the couch and naps while Brom cuddles his face.

Chance enjoying some bunny kisses. There is another pic of this on my profile.

I had a German Shepherd before Chance named Sarge who at his prime was 110 lbs. To him everything that was smaller than him was his puppy that needed his love, care, and attention. He would even nuzzle my finches and when one escaped that couldn’t fly, he just put his paws around it and laid there with it contained until I could come get it. He kept nuzzling her and licking her lol. I waited until he was three before I let them have free roam of the backyard together. Sarge had a few litters of pups though and as soon as they started walking I started letting the bunnies out to run with them so they would learn that bunnies are just funny their funny looking siblings.

[MoveDiagonally]

I would make sure your puppy has a good grasp of basic obedience and manners before doing too much bunny interaction. This isn’t to say they can’t be in the same area or anything. I would just make sure they’re separated by a barrier and/or leashed etc… Puppies get excited and could easily injure a rabbit on accident. I would be, at least, confident in your puppy obeying the “come” and “leave it” commands.

I’ve always discouraged my dogs from any attempts to “play” with the rabbits, I didn’t want them to think of them as toys or play partners. Any time either of my dogs would get too excited/playful with the rabbits I would have them lay down. Nowadays my younger dog pretty much lays down/belly crawls around the rabbits without being told. I call it her “bunny manners”, lol.

[kcomstoc]

lol wow thanks guys I love that picture of chance with brom so cute and what I hope to somewhat have and I plan on having the puppy do puppy classes, basic obedience, intermediate obedience, and advanced obedience so when he can do “come” and “leave it” reliably then I will do some puppy on leash in the same room and bunny running around thanks for replying everyone I’m very excited for the new addition and I know it will be awhile until they can actually play together nicely and gently enough. The puppy’s cage will be next to the bunny’s cage at night though is this a problem? do you think the puppy will keep barking at the bunny?

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