Binkies and Barks! How to Introduce Rabbits and Dogs: Selecting the Right Dog

Disclaimer: Many breeds of dog and bred to hunt rabbits and other small animals. Introducing a dog to your rabbits can be risky. The purpose of this series is to mitigate risk as well as find ways in which you can control any risky situation.

This series is based upon my experience of introducing my dog to my rabbits. It is also written from the perspective of someone who had rabbits and then introduced a dog. They have been successfully introduced and now happily live alongside each other. If at any point you are not comfortable with the introduction, you should put an end to the encounter. It is important that you are comfortable and confident during situations that your dogs and rabbits are interacting.

I have never introduced a puppy to our rabbits, only rescue dogs, and this series reflects this. Many of the steps in later installments will crossover.

So you want a dog, but you also have rabbits that live inside your house? You don't have to chose between one or the other, you can have both, and they can live happily side-by-side. I've seen it with my own eyes, our Lurcher, Pixel, lives happily alongside his bunny buddies, he bows to them and plays as they binky about. But before you rush out into the street and bring in the first dog you find, there are two points I want to make, that might seem oddly contradictory.

Know your breeds

Dogs are bred to fulfill certain roles, a Border Collie is bred for herding, Dalmatians were coach dogs and Greyhounds were bred to hunt rabbits. You need to know what every breed was meant to do before you can consider whether they are going to be suitable to live with rabbits. If you want something easy, look into what breeds are considered cat friendly, these will often overlap with dogs that are also rabbit friendly. You should avoid anything that hunts by sight, such as Greyhounds or Whippets, and you should also avoid Terriers as they tend to grab and shake small animals. Also consider carefully the size of the breed, rabbits are small and some dogs are simply huge in comparison.

While every breed has the potential to harm rabbits, some breeds are more closely associated with hunting than others. Many places won't consider rehoming these breeds to rabbit owners, we were turned away from a Lurcher rescue centre in Kent because they refused to consider a household with rabbits. I think they were perfectly within their right to do this, even if we might hold different philosophies in this respect. I am a firm believer that dogs can be taught to do anything you want them to, dogs are not dictated completely by their breed.

While selecting the right breed can be very important to rabbit-dog relations, I believe the most important thing is to select the right dog...

Know your dog

Imagine this, you go into a rescue shelter and you are looking for a dog that could live with your rabbits. There are currently five dogs held by this shelter:

1. Greyhound-Labrador
2. Greyhound-Deerhound
3. Border Collie-Australian Cattle Dog
4. Whippet-Mix
5. Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier-Mix

I would forgive you for thinking that of those breeds listed that only one would be suitable for living with rabbits, number 3. But the breed of a dog is not the only defining character of their temperament. Every dog is unique and different, and while the temperament of a specific breed will give you a good insight into their likely behaviour, it is not the be all and all. These are all dogs I have owned:

1. Tina- She was an accomplished and deadly rabbit hunter. She would not have been suitable for life with rabbits.
2. Lorcan- He was an amateur hunter at best, only ever catching a couple of rabbits, if any. He could have been trained to live with rabbits, his size would have been the only obstacle.
3. Poppy- She was Tina's partner in crime, ferreting out the rabbits and pushing them toward Tina. Despite this, she has had positive interaction with our rabbits and given further training would be suitable to live with them.
4. Pixel- Our current mutt is perfect with rabbits, and unlike his dominant breed, has no prey-drive whatsoever.
5. Scally Wag- This old girl was the softest dog you could ever meet. Absolutely no threat to rabbits.

So of the five dogs listed above, only one would have been unsuitable for a rabbit household.

The point I am trying to make is if you have rabbits, and are looking to get a dog, then talk to the shelter you are rehoming from and they should be able to offer suggestions. There are certain traits that you are looking for. When looking for a dog, we asked whether the dogs were considered cat safe, if they were, we considered them to be safe for rabbits (when discussing Pixel they told us he never even bothered with cats). Battersea even offered to do a controlled introduction of the dogs with our rabbits, something everyone should consider if the shelter offers this option.

What you need to know is that you need to spend sometime with the potential dog. Get to know what they are like, walk them, play with them, and interact with them. Many centres encourage people to take the dog home after one visit, no matter how tempting this might be, do not do it (advice I would give even if you don't have any other pets). Go away and think seriously about the dog's personality. How will it relate to your rabbits? Multiple visits are key to getting to know any potential dog. Before getting Tina, Lorcan and Scally we visited them three times, and for Poppy we visited twice (this is without owning rabbits). For Pixel we visited twice, with a total of 3-4 hours of contact with him before deciding that he was suitable.

Things to takeaway from this:

• Consider potential breeds to look for/avoid.
• Get to know the dog. 
• Visit the dog with your rabbits in a controlled environment if possible.
• Do not rush the process.
• Talk to the rescue centre.
• The safety of rabbit and dog is the most important thing.

Next time: Binkies and Barks! Bringing the Dog Home