My bunny plays with my Rottweiler, I think?

[Cricketke]

First off, I am new here. I am also a new bunny owner as my daughter showed up one day with her rabbit, Sophie and all of her belongings. It is a really nice cage for her with an attached run area, but as a single bunny, she is lonely. The first thing she does when we let her out of her cage/run is trot promptly into the living room and pee and poop on the dogs bed! Then she will go back as many times as we allow it and do it again and again. But Sophie has seemed to take a liking to playing with our Rottweiler mix, Lucy (also a dump on Mom and Dad by same daughter) (but we wouldn't trade her for anything, lol). When she is playing Sophie makes some strange "huffing" noises. I need some of you bun experts to tell me if this is playing or Sophie is mad. I wouldn't want to stress her out but she starts this every time we go out to sit. Sophie was purchased from a pet shop and not only do we not know her history other than she was returned twice before my dtr got her, but we don't know how old or anything else about her. Note: I live in the country and have 5 acres, I don't put her out in a pen as we have coyotes and other animals that would love to eat
her.

 

[Rykat]

Hi. I'm new as well Proud owner of 2 bunnies, 2 guineas, 3 gerbils, 1 hamster and 2 rottweilers.

My answer to your question is Lucy is definitely playing, or wanting to play but I don't think Sophie is completely happy. There maybe some element of play there but her behaviour to me seems more 'aggressive'/'fearful in parts of the video.

 

[xbject]

I do not own a dog so I don’t know much about dogs but the bunny is definitely not playing. I can clearly hear the bunny growling (when my bunny does it, it kind of sounds like a bear noise) this is very stressful for the bunny please keep them away from each other. At one point in the video I saw the dog almost grab the bunny but since the bunny is basically fighting back, the dog can’t. When I saw that my reaction was “oh no!” Please keep them separated for the sake of the bunny. EDIT: I watched the video again and the dog is clearly going for the bunny’s back to try and grab it but the bunny is putting up a fight. THIS IS VERY STRESSFUL TO ME, A BUNNY MOM, NOW IMAGINE HOW STRESSFUL IT IS FOR THE RABBIT.

 

[Blue eyes]

YIKES!! No. The rabbit is scared and defending itself. Just watched the first few seconds of the video and could see that. The dog thinks this is a new toy to play with!!

This is, without question, totally stressful and threatening to your rabbit.

Please don't allow your dog to do this. Yes, your dog wants to play (he is doing the "puppy bow" asking the rabbit to play), but it is imperative that you train your dog as to what behavior is acceptable around the rabbit.

 

[Blue eyes]

Posted quickly above as soon as I saw this. Now I'll add more detail. I do have dogs and rabbits and they do get along fine. However, they had to be taught what is acceptable. Dogs play like... well... dogs. They "play fight" because they are predators. Rabbits do not see this as play! They see it as threatening. So it is up to us to train the dog as to how they are permitted to interact with and treat the rabbit.

I have a page on my website where I explain in detail and with progress photos just how I introduce my dogs to rabbits. (I've done it both ways-- a new rabbit to a dog, and a new dog to a rabbit.) Rather than re-type it all here, I'll just link.

 

[zuppa]

Have to agree with all said it doesn't look like she's enjoying attention and she's looking rather scared. Maybe you can train your dog so they can play together but I wouldn't let them 'play' as shown in this video

 

[Cricketke]

This was the only time I have let this happen. Lucy wants to play but I usually pick Sophie, bunny, up to keep her safe. When we go outside, I try to keep Lucy in the house. I have to supervise Lucy and correct her when she plays so rough. She does sit by the cage and Sophie doesn't seem to get phased by that so I think she is feeling safe in her cage. Thank you for the advise. I sent the video to my dtr and she said Sophie was just playing and I was questioning it. I will work on training with Lucy to teach her how to interact with bunny. Blue Eyes, thank you for the link.

 

[Butterscotch]

Omg that poor bunny! Thank you for asking for advice and looking out for that adorable lil bun! I have small 5 pound chihuahuas and my bunnies want nothing to do with them. I think it takes a lot of patience and training to get these two species to learn how to interact safely.