I know a few people who have house rabbits and dogs...

My aunt has a house rabbit and her GSD and little rescue dog never bother the bunny.
Also a friend who owns a pet shop lets the rabbits out and his dog (who will quite happily chase and kill wild rabbits) never goes for the pet rabbits.

I always said I'd have a house bunny when I leave home as I thought I'd be able to trust Takara with one, unfortunately, I've changed my mind.

I went to my friend's house who has a rabbit and took Takara with me. While I was holding the bunny, Takara (gently) got hold of his back leg and pulled him towards her.

I don't know what she was trying to do because I told her off and checked his leg (I couldn't go killing my friend's bunny now could I?!) but I'm not sure if she was just wanting to play with him... when she plays with other dogs, she does mouth but never bites and I'm not sure if this is what she was doing.

Does anyone else have bunnies and dogs who live in harmony and do they tend to play together?

In the past we have had two seperate labradors and rabbits and both sets have got on well. it is quite a sight to see a rabbit lying between the paws of a dog doing nothing more than sleeping! However when we introduced a new dog my male rabbit used to bully him by biting on his hind leg. I have also had a terrier but her attempts to play with the bunnies were too amarous for me to be comfortable with it.

Thanks sooz.

I won't be buying a rabbit until I know for definite, maybe getting her to meet other people's rabbits restrained!

I can't do with the whole rehoming animals it'd kill me and I wouldn't want to keep another rabbit out in the garden... if I was going to have one it'd be in the house!

Takara's very tolerant of pestering and will only warn off puppies who keep nipping her, she's never done anything more than that.

the problem lies with them seeing the rabbit as a plaything. those that regard it as another 'dog' tend to be more gentle. From my experience labradors are excellent with rabits but terriers tend to get carried away. I really wouldnt know about dallys though.

What about cats, do they get on with rabbits?

I cannot keep any small furry thing with my dogs, their breed prey instinct is too strong. i think the same could be said for a good few of the hound and terrier breeds too. i wouldnt risk it personally.

Let the dog see the rabbit.

Brude is very gentle with little fuzzy things (and frogs :roll: ) *pushes thoughts of guinea pigs to back of mind :rolleyes: *

Do you think Takara was just jealous that her mum was fussing another animal Lotti? (and does your mum know about this latest plot? :shocked: )

Forgot to add, age of the dog is very important, puppies are far too rough with rabbits but older more settled dogs seem to do well. As far as cats go, the two tend to ignore each other, rabbits are generally too large to be viewed as prey. however the tables are often turned with an intact buck chasing a poor kitty!

our cat used to be scared of our rabbits! :lol:

Dallies don't have high prey drives at all... they are true scroungers! Takara will watch a rabbit run past in the park and if she does break into a chase (not with the intent to hurt) she comes back as soon as I call her away. She's just not fussed!

Strix - I don't intend to get one while I'm at home my mother won't allow anymore animals in the house (although she's willing to help me breed Takara...)
It will only be in a few years time when I leave home!

I had a Boxer who hated other dogs (they didn't like him much either) but got along great with my rabbit and hamster! When the dog and rabbit used to share the garden they used to chase each other round it. The dog also used to lick him clean when he got the opportunity to do so.

When our hamster escaped from its cage and lived in the kitchen for a few days, until we found it, the dog didn't do anything to it. He even let her eat some of his food (he might have been oblivious to this all happening though, he was a bit dozy sometimes :))

some years ago when we lived in Kenya we bought the kids three rabbits, all was well with our colliex for about two months, one afternoon two of the bunnies somehow managed to get out of their run, dog and i saw them bobbing across the grass, dog chased them, ans despite my shouting and her usually excellent response, the prey instinct took over and she killed them both, all i can say is it was quick. We re-homed the other rabbit as couldn't risk it again. Not the dogs' fault, but we have never had bunnies since.

I have an old sheltie now but when he was a puppy he would share his bed with the cats and a bunny!!!
He loves all the rabbits we have (thats our own not the ones we board here)
When they come in the house he greets them and still lets them in his bed, often i will find a pile of sleeping animals and its differcult to tell them apart!!
however we did have an incident between our youngest kitten and a rabbit , the kitten tried to stalk her, the rabbit a french lop chased her all round the garden and now they are best of friends!!