terrier and rabbit

Question
We have recently adopted a one year old terrier. Before coming to us, the dog lived with four young children, two other small dogs, and a litter of puppies.
We also have a neutered, three year old Lop rabbit, who is litter-boxed trained and lives in a carpeted room is the basement.  The rabbit has an open cage holding his food and water. The rabbit is very relaxed, happily resting on the floor while the children play around him.  He loves all attention.
The problem is that we made a BIG MISTAKE and allowed the dog in the room with the rabbit.  Everything happened so quickly that I'm not sure which animal started running first. The rabbit was running wildly around the room, obviously TERRIFIED, making terrible noises that I've never heard rabbit make.  The faster the rabbit ran, the faster the dog ran.  The situation was completely out-of-control in seconds!!  We snatched the dog up and removed him from the room.  The rabbit didn't move for hours; although the rabbit had no visible injuries, we wondered if the rabbit was going to live.  My husband stayed with the rabbit for a while, comforting him.  The rabbit seems to have completely recovered.
The problem is that the dog knows there is a rabbit in the rabbit room.  He dashes to the door whenever he hears one of us going in or coming out. Even when none of us are in the rabbit room, the dog will sit for a long time with his nose pressed against the door.
We regret the situation we have created.  We would greatly appreciate any advice on how to now make the situation better.  We are NOT looking for ways to make the dog and rabbit friends; we do not wish to traumatize the rabbit further.  There is no reason that the dog and the rabbit need to be together.  How do we help the dog move past his rabbit fixation?  Is there a way for the dog to know the rabbit is off-limits for him?  We are completely without knowledge in this situation.  Please advise.
Many thanks for your time.
Mary

Answer
The simple answer is time.  If the dog never gets into that room, and is never "rewarded" for being anxious to get in to that room, then the behavior should extinguish somewhat, but to be honest, he can smell the rabbit ten feet away, so if that's what's triggering him, very likely it would take a lot longer.  However, training can help minimize his attention to that room.  My advice would be to learn to clicker train the dog.  You can then teach him a "go to your place" command that you can use every time you need to enter or exit that room.  The dog should learn that it pays off better to be in his spot than to go near that door.  Lots of work ahead for you;-))
You can use this free site to get started: www.clickerlessons.com
You can find a clicker trainer at: www.clickerteachers.net or at www.trulydogfriendly.com