We just rescued a small dog from the pound. She seems to be part lab, part ridgeback, she weighs about 50 pounds. My problem is we have a pet rabbit who lives in our back yard, and is free. We also have 2 other dogs who have no problem with the bunny. This new one thinks the bunny is the enemy, and when she sees her she goes into full alert mode, and chases him whenever she can.
I've tried taking her out on her leash with a choke collar, and petting the bunny at the same time, and she seems fine with it, just sits there nicely. I pet her when I do it, and tell her good girl.
This seems to work at the moment, but then she'll spot him in the yard, and randomly take off after him.
He has ways to get out of the yard (and get back), and he has places to hide, but I don't like playing this cat and mouse game. I want the dog to learn, and i'm looking for ideas to help speed up the process.
Answers:
your dog is small prey aggressive. the good news is, she can be trained to accept your bunny. the bad news is, if the bunny lives outside, how will she be able to distinguish your pet from a wild rabbit? she can't. in order to remedy this, you may have to move your bunny indoors or keep it in a hutch while the dog is out. you can still train a dog to accept you bunny. you need to teach the "leave it" command. this needs to happen in a professional setting. i do not recommend going to the bigger pet stores for this. you need a qualified, professional trainer who has many years of experience. do not waste your valuable time and money on someone who is only well intentioned.
i work with greyhound rescue. those dogs have been bred for thousands of years to hunt! prey drives varies in degree. my greyhound lives very happily with our cat (and visits my mom's 4 cats all the time). he had a moderate prey drive and, with consistency, was trained to accept the cat in a couple weeks. the grey's that are very high prey drive go to homes with no cats, smaller dogs, or other smaller critters.
TRAINING IS YOUR ANSWER! :)
I'm not sure but train the dog quick, one of my co-workers had 2 bunnies and her dog killed them both!! Poor bunnies!! Poor co-worker was so traumatized!
Awe man you got problems.labs are retrievers, maybe the owner before taught him to do that, you see I have two dogs They're shepherd/st. Bernard and we have wild rabbits running around and they always catch them..you should contact the dog whisperer cause this isn't going to go away on it's own, the choke collar doesn't work? wow you've got a lot of work to do, I'm sorry
If your dog has a prey drive, that's instinctual. You can't train out instinct. You CAN however, take her to a gentle training class where you teach her to listen to you and your commands.
A choke chain is not necessary and can actually harm your dog. Use a gentle leader or a sighthound martingale instead, and take her to training classes ASAP. Petsmart and Petco classes can actually be fabulous, and the right price.
And know that you can never leave this new dog in the backyard with the rabbit without your complete control and supervision of the situation. Remember, your dog is faster and more agile than you are, so never let down your guard or take her off the leash while the rabbit is there. This means for the rest of her life. Prey drive cannot be removed. It can be 'handled', but at any given time, she may slip back into her instincts.
Good luck to you.
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