# Golden Puppy & Rabbit?



## jenspup (Jan 2, 2015)

We are adding a little Golden pup next month, and although we don't have any other cats or dogs, we do have a 1 year old Dutch rabbit. She's indoors and litter trained, but she does have her own area that we lock up at night and as needed. I've been assuming that we'll need to keep them separated, but then I see cute pictures with puppies and rabbits. Is there any way they could interact at all or terrible idea? We were throwing around the idea of eventually feeding raw, but we don't want to start with our pets.


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## kristasmith (Jul 16, 2013)

I think it's essential that they interact as soon as your bring your puppy home, given he isn't an older puppy. The socialization at a young age will get them used to being around each other, but as your puppy grows, and her playing becomes rougher, you'll need to watch their interactions together closely so your bunny doesn't accidently get hurt, possibly only letting them be around each other when your puppy is worn out.

There's no doubt that once puppy is older, with proper socialization, they will be able to cohabitate peacefully.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

We did not get a bunny until Brady was 3 years old. It was a Holland Lop. They loved each other. Brady would stay so still and let the bunny jump all around him. We never let them together unsupervised though.

MacKenzie is more prey driven, I would never let her within three feet of the rabbit when he was out. I don't think she would have purposely hurt a bunny, but she just does not have the gentleness that Brady has.


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## DanaRuns (Sep 29, 2012)

I raised a Golden with a bunny on a boat when I was in my early 20's. 

I lived on a sailboat. With a white bunny with pink ears and pink eyes. Then I got a puppy. I had AJ Bunny before Chelsea. AJ -- who got his name because the only thing he would eat when I first got him was apple juice -- was about four years old when I brought home Chelsea, an 8-week old Golden puppy. AJ lived in the forward stateroom of a 45-foot sailboat, with his litter box, his towel, his water, and his wooden carrot. AJ had the run of the boat, but the forward stateroom was "his."

I brought Chelsea home at 8 weeks, and she immediately bonded with AJ Bunny. AJ became her littermate. She wanted to sleep with AJ, cuddle with him, play with him, follow him around, do what he did, and be with him 24/7. It was so cute! The problem was...AJ didn't like Chelsea. AJ hated this intruder. Once, when Chelsea fell asleep in AJ's stateroom, AJ tried to kill her. How does a bunny kill a puppy, you ask? Well, they're not very good at it. AJ picked up his wooden carrot and repeatedly dropped it on Chelsea's sleeping head. When that didn't kill her, he tried to bury her alive in his blanket. It was hilarious. I was rolling and holding my tummy, with tears, watching poor little AJ Bunny try so hard to rid the world of the awful puppy!  But AJ eventually realized that he couldn't kill the puppy, and he settled into a kind of grudging acceptance.

All was good for a few months, and being young and naive I left them together all the time. But one day when I was gone and Chelsea was about four months old, she decided to show AJ some affection. She did it by licking him. And grooming him. And licking him some more.

The problem is that bunnies have very, very fragile skin, like paper machet. And unfortunately, Chelsea licked the fur right off poor AJ Bunny, and even licked a hole in AJ's ear. (Since AJ was a boat bunny, I considered putting an earring in it so he'd look like a pirate when it healed, but I came to my senses before doing that.) After that, they couldn't be together unsupervised.

Raising Chelsea with a bunny did something to her. It made her very gentle with small animals. And somehow -- I have no idea how she did it -- Chelsea was able to "make friends" with wild rabbits we would find on our hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains. She would see one, get as close as she thought she could, then she would lie down and be very, very still. And look at them. Not in a hunting, predatory manner, but somehow in a way that was non-threatening. She looked them in the eye and didn't look away. Every couple minutes she would inch forward a little bit. For some reason, many of the bunnies never ran. They let her get so close, and she would stick her neck waaaay forward until her nose was just an inch from the bunny, and she'd stay so still and just hold it that way...until the bunny would lean forward and touch noses with her. It was amazing. I saw her do it over, and over. She became The Bunny Whisperer.

AJ Bunny died while Chelsea was still young. He was a victim of clumping cat litter, which was a brand new product, and the manufacturer didn't realize that the dust became hardened like cement in little bunnies' delicate lungs. But being raised with AJ made all the difference for Chelsea, who went on to be a marine rescue dog, and saved people and animals who were drowning.

I'm sure there are a couple lessons in there, including some cautionary tales and some stupidity on my part. But I don't regret raising Chelsea with AJ one bit.


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## Anele (Dec 12, 2014)

And now I want to live on a boat with a bunny and a Golden. I loved hearing all of that, DanaRuns. So beautiful.


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## Harleysmum (Aug 19, 2014)

There are some things in nature that we can't begin to understand. Amazing story DanaRuns!


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## jenspup (Jan 2, 2015)

DanaRuns said:


> I raised a Golden with a bunny on a boat when I was in my early 20's.
> 
> I lived on a sailboat. With a white bunny with pink ears and pink eyes. Then I got a puppy. I had AJ Bunny before Chelsea. AJ -- who got his name because the only thing he would eat when I first got him was apple juice -- was about four years old when I brought home Chelsea, an 8-week old Golden puppy. AJ lived in the forward stateroom of a 45-foot sailboat, with his litter box, his towel, his water, and his wooden carrot. AJ had the run of the boat, but the forward stateroom was "his."
> 
> ...


Oh my goodness, what a fantastic story!! You could turn that into a child's storybook. 

I love the part with the carrot and blanket...almost made me spit out my coffee. Thanks for the laugh!! I'm glad that the clumping litter is a known hazard for bunnies, now. We use the wood pellets that you use in wood stoves. They completely eliminate the smell, and you top the litter box off with hay for them to munch on. They really are neat little animals.

Anyway, maybe I'll see how they do together, very carefully. It would make for some cute pics.

Thanks, everyone, I love this forum!


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## Moose15 (Feb 12, 2015)

What an amazing story DanaRuns! So heart-touching. Thank you for sharing!


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## Susan: w/ Summit we climb (Jun 12, 2014)

Now for a not-so-happy story about a bunny and a dog:

Some very good people bought a French Lop doe (11-12 lbs) from us. They also rescued (as I recall) a border collie mix, a truly wonderful dog. One day, they found the French Lop dead in the back yard, and the dog looking innocent. I don't blame the dog because he's doing what's natural to him, and I don't blame the people because they weren't expecting anything like this. I now know enough to warn rabbit-owners, although we no longer breed rabbits anyway.

Moral: separate your dog and rabbit unless they were young together.


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## Test-ok (Jan 15, 2015)

> Moral: separate your dog and rabbit unless they were young together.


I agree 100 percent..rabbits are rabbits and dogs are dogs.


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## jenspup (Jan 2, 2015)

I appreciate the stories and insight! We'll see....

Worse case scenario, we'll just have to let her hop around during walks or crate time.  My initial thoughts were that it wouldn't be a good idea, but sometimes animals can surprise you, as in Danaruns' story.


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