[paul311311]

My wife and I own a mini-rex rabbit, and have for several years. We are looking into getting a dog and are trying to see if anyone has had sucees with socializing the two species. Does anyone own both? If so what breeds are they and what degree of interaction do they have? We're not looking to leave the two unattended, just wondering if there is a breed of dog that is less inclined to be interested in chasing/snacking on the rabbit. All I see in my other internet searches is limited info and the occasional horror story. And advice or experience you can share is appreciated.

 

[chriley58]

We have three dogs and a netherland dwarf rabbit. Our dogs are an australian shepherd, border collie mix and a cocker mix. Of the three the one most apt to want to chase the rabbit is the cockapoo. He doesn't hurt him, he just likes to chase him. The australian shepherd is great with the rabbit and when the rabbit was little he used to jump on the aussie like a stool to get onto the couch. The rabbit will also chew on the aussies nails. The border collie mix has no real interst in the rabbit at all and is actually a little afraid of him.

The rabbit stays in my daughter's room during the day with a shutter style half gate across the door. The rabbit doesn't jump over the gate and the dogs don't even attempt to go over the gate to get to him even if the rabbit is on my daughters bed where they can see him over the gate.

All we did to socialize them was put the dogs in a down/stay and let the rabbit move around them. Rabbit was a baby when we started this. We also have a guinea pig and the dogs are the same way with the guinea pig.

Obviously something with a high prey drive wouldn't be good with a rabbit. I also wouldn't want a hunting breed with the rabbit - although we did have a yellow lab with this rabbit and she had no interest in him at all. They can co-exist peacefully.

 

[ThoseWordsAtBest]

I may be unpopular here, I'm just not inclined to risk it. There is no reason for dogs to interact with rabbits or vice versa. One of my mutts I know would be fine, but she is still a dog.

 

[Maggie Girl]

Take it from me, DO NOT GET A BEAGLE. Mine would probably give up a whole meal if he could just have 5 minutes with a rabbit. A whole meal!

 

[upendi'smommy]

I may be unpopular here, I'm just not inclined to risk it. There is no reason for dogs to interact with rabbits or vice versa. One of my mutts I know would be fine, but she is still a dog.

This.

Rabbits are very fragile and can be very easily hurt even ACCIDENTALLY by the dog. I feel it's one of those things where even if it's going well for a while, eventually something's going to happen (I hope that makes sense). Even a rabbit friendly dog can accidentally hurt a bun in play or even just stepping on them.

That being said I have a rabbit and three dogs, the bun and dogs are kept separate at all times. My bun gets out of cage time while the dogs are crated and she is caged when the dogs are out.

 

[eeloheel]

Rabbits are very fragile and can be very easily hurt even ACCIDENTALLY by the dog. I feel it's one of those things where even if it's going well for a while, eventually something's going to happen (I hope that makes sense). Even a rabbit friendly dog can accidentally hurt a bun in play or even just stepping on them.

That being said I have a rabbit and three dogs, the bun and dogs are kept separate at all times. My bun gets out of cage time while the dogs are crated and she is caged when the dogs are out.

Agreed. My dog loves my rabbit, they groom each other through the cage bars quite affectionately. Even then, I would not allow them out at the same time. Rabbits are very fragile. We had a rabbit die from fear when lightning struck close to home. Their spines are extremely fragile, a dog could kill a rabbit just by leaning over on him a bit or accidentally kicking him.

The only situation would I would even momentarily consider this is if the rabbit were equal in size to the dog or larger, but even then, just sounds like a bad idea.

 

[jess4525]

Take it from me, DO NOT GET A BEAGLE. Mine would probably give up a whole meal if he could just have 5 minutes with a rabbit. A whole meal!

I second this. I have a beagle mix who just recently got a hold of a rabbit. It wasn't a pet rabbit, but still. Unfortunately, it was not a good outcome.