Dachshund and bunny

Question
I am in teh FFA program. I had to get a rabbit to show in the fair. I have a one year old miniature Dachshund. The rabbit is desensitized to dogs but my dog goes bezurk at the sight of the rabbit. I know that dachshunds are meant to chase rodents but is there anything I can do to stop this behavior? Or do I have to separate them?

Answer
For now, I think you should separate them - bunny doesn't need this kind of stress.  But, to answer your question, it is possible to teach your dog to leave the bunny alone.  It would require you to have great obedience control over your dog.  The exercise we use to teach this behavior is called "leave it" and there are many ways to teach it.  One way is described here: http://www.clickertrainusa.com/leaveIt.htm and here: http://www.clickertraining.com/node/57  This site has a "leave it" protocol, too, plus a series of free clicker training lessons for other behaviors: http://www.clickerlessons.com/leaveit.htm  If you think about it, herding dogs can be taught to lie down on cue, and stop dead in their tracks, despite a sheep dashing by them, so your dog can be taught to leave the bunny alone.  I would not leave them unsupervised when you are not there, however, as predatory instinct is very strong, usually engaged by the prey animal running, and hard to stop if you don't issue a cue early.  But, yes, it can be done.  I have an Aussie, and she will "leave" anything I tell her - but, that's because I started "leave it" training very early, and progressed in stages.  If she "left" the milkbone, she got a Charley Bear.  Leave a Charley Bear, get a soft treat.  Leave the soft treat, get chicken.  Leave chicken, get cheese.  Leave cheese, get liver.  Always raising the bar like that means that you convince your dog that "the human always has something better for me, so I will leave that forbidden object alone and look to my human".