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Rabbit getting used to a dog

22 9:54:57

Question
Hello,
I have a 2 1/2 years old lop rabbit living with me. We have a very strong relationship between each other.

Yesterday I took a homeless dog (6 months old, mix breed with high % of Shiba Inu) to take care of her. I live in a 3-room apartment, so before I let the dog in, I closed my rabbit in one of the rooms, so that he can't meet with the dog. But obviously he felt it and he began acting a bit stressed.

After the first night he became a little bit calmer, but not with his normal behavior. So do you have any idea how to proceed to calm him down and how to make him get used to the idea that we will have a dog friend and companion?

He is rather a very brave bunny, he used to meet my other dog in my home town (which lives in the yard), but only for a short time and he didn't have problems with that... But now I'm afraid he can get too stressed with the new dog.

I would very much appreciate it if you can give some advices on bonding rabbit with dog if you have some experience in that field :)

Thanks in advance,
Mira

Answer
I have been bought up with greyhounds, whippets and lurchers with rabbits

Obviously there must be caution with your dog as you do not know its temperament. Be aware that any dog can kill a rabbit with one bite.

You are best to introduce the dog to the rabbit while the rabbit is safe in its cage. This way if the dog acts badly the rabbit will remain safe.

As for your rabbit being wary of the dog this is only natural, more so in an apartment where the family is close knit. The rabbit being the first pet in the home will treat it as his territory and won't like a predator coming into it.

If the rabbit takes fright remove the dog and try again at another time.
short 5 minute intervals is enough to start with then gradually increase the intervals.

It is not wise in this situation to have the dog and rabbit out together. Rabbits can be extremely brave and decide to attack the cat or dog in this situation and become the worst off with injuries or death.

What you can do to give the rabbit more freedom is build a door frame out of wood and mesh it with 2cm x1cm wire mesh and connect it to the existing door frame with hinges and a lock so you can have 1 room as the bunnies quarters.