Our Bunny Was Attacked by Two Dogs

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Our little Netherland Dwarf was meditating peacefully in the back yard yesterday evening when two neighborhood dogs jumped the fence and decided to “play.” Fortunately, I was working in the room right by the back door, which was open, and I heard their tags jingle. I ran out immediately and shooed the dogs away. They were good dogs, really, and went all friendly and happy to see me. My daughter came out to help me show them the way back over the fence, since they didn’t seem to get the idea. Good, but not the sharpest teeth in the dentition.

While my daughter held the collars, I phoned the number on the tag and left a message with the owners that their dogs had gotten out. Meanwhile, bunny unwisely left the shelter of his burrow. The dogs bolted and one of them caught him up in its mouth. We screamed at them, grabbed them, got bunny away and escorted them very unceremoniously out of the yard as "Bad dogs! Go home!"They were not bad dogs, of course, they were just being dogs, but I felt it necessary to impress on them the unacceptability of their action.

Our poor bunny…! We got him out of his burrow and found his eyes
were damaged, not bloodily so, just not setting right in the sockets (one bulging out, one skewed sideways). Mercifully, our vet was at his office and a five minute trip down the hill got bunny the medical attention he needed. He is currently
recovering in the kitchen, watched over carefully for signs of internal injury and scheduled to revisit the doctor next week for a follow-up. He seems okay, but he may be grinding his teeth (a sign of pain), and I’m not sure he isn’t “crying”. He makes a kind of low, huffing sound.

My husband is very pessimistic about ever giving bunny the run of the back yard again. He says once a dog has located a prey animal it will return, no matter what kind of fence you put up. He bases this on a childhood experience he had with a chicken run and an eight foot fence. Does anybody know if this is absolutely accurate? I don’t want bunny to have to live the rest of his days in the hutch, except for the meager hours when he can be directly supervised. :frowning:

We went over and spoke to the owner last night and he admitted that, though he has a perimeter fence to comply with the law against unleashed animals, the dogs have a habit of digging under it and getting out. He keeps trying to fix it so they can’t. He says they are not vicious dogs, and I agree. (I think if they had intended to kill the rabbit, the rabbit would be dead. But the rabbit cannot safely play the game they want to play.) I hold no animosity towards him or the dogs, but I am very anxious this not occur again and I am afraid to let my bunny out in case it does.

Anybody got any advice?

(I have to be at school all day today and may not revisit this thread till evening, but rest assured I will be grateful for any input.)

2

It is the dog owner’s fault- what if it had been a child the dogs attacked? I am a dog owner and I have a fenced yard, and my dogs are still supervised when they are out - fence or not. The dogs and what they do are my responsibility. If the fence is not keeping them in, he needs to do something else to contain his dogs.

It is sad that your bunny can’t run loose, I don’t let my cats outdoors for the same reasons. Is there any way you can modify your fence so dogs can’t jump it?

I’m glad your bunny made it through the attack, I would be worried sick.

3

How about a floorless hutch? We had one when I was a kid, its four sides and top were chickenwire framed with wood. It was probably handmade but I’m not sure. Somthing simliar though strong enough to withstand dog attack would be good to cover your bunny when he’s outside. He would have the benefit of being in a hutch but still have grass & soil under his feet.

4

i’m sorry to hear of bunny’s injuries. i hope recovery is swift and easy.

my pet bunny (sniff-sniff) was an indoor bunny. in cage when we were out, out of cage when we were home. he was a good cuddler, and loved sitting next to you in a chair. perhaps your bunny could be an indoor bunny, with supervised outdoor visits?

5

Thanks for the good wishes, everybody. The floorless hutch idea is a good one, thank you, Jeff. We may go with that in the end. While he’s still on his meds, he’s outside in his raised hutch at night and allowed the run of the kitchen during the day. I wish I could bring a turf of sod in for him! Mr. Hawk will not permit an indoor bunny, I’m sad to say. So we must just make his outdoor habitat as safe as possible.

6

I feel bad saying this:

My former housemate had a dog who would escape and try and ‘play’ with other animals (the school down the street had a little farm with chickens and bunnies) The dog killed chickens on more than one occasion and did indeed return to that area. I am not ready to say your husband’s experience is “absolutely accurate” but my personal observations are similar to his.

I hope Mr. Bunny is recovering nicely.

7

I’d build a hutch such as Jeff Olsen described. I think those dogs will come back at every opportunity.

Also, hawks and owls will attack a rabbit, as well as any cats that happen to wander by. Be be sure to include the chicken-wire top on the hutch.

Hope your pet has a full recovery.

8

You’re welcome. I figured that would be a way for bunny to be happy and still be as safe as possible. I can’t remember why we had such a thing, it may have been a holdover from when my oldest brother was raising ducks. He and a couple of my sisters also had rabbits but they were in a proper four-compartment vertical hutch at the back of our property.

9

I think the last time we used the floorless one was as a home for a baby possum.

10

I though of something. If you decided to use my suggestion, you probably need to make the top out of something stiffer than chickenwire. A sheet of plexiglass with a bunch of holes in it should do but make sure the gaps between the holes are too wide to fit in a dog’s mouth. Same goes for the joints where the top meets the sides.

11

My bunnies are indoor bunnies, and I have bunny harnesses and leashes that I take them out on in the summer.

I would be really uncomfortable leaving them outside if I wasn’t supervising.

I hope Mr. Bunny makes a full recovery - the Boys and I are sending positive bunny vibes.

12

OH no! I’m so very sorry. I hope he has a speedy recovery.

(((((((Hugs and nose rubs to your bunny)))))))))))

I have two (recently 3) house rabbits and have litter trained them while they’re out and about in our home. It took a while, but it worked and the cats even like hanging out with 'em.

I hope your bun bun heals well. Poor little thing. It’s so pitiful when they’re in pain b/c they don’t “say” much…like you said, just teeth grinding.

Isa and Lina (& now Oliver) are very happy as house rabbits. I would highly recommend keeping your bun inside…

(I find I have to constantly monitor them like I would a child, they can easily get into trouble, especially outside.)

Give him old boxes to climb in and out of and newspaper to nibble on.

My dh even made them a hollow, carpeted tube that they rest and run about in.

I will say prayers for your bun.

For some suggestions (you probably know of this already)…search on Houserabbit society.com

((((((bunny hugs)))))))

13

Boscibo

Just because a dog would injure a bunny does not mean that a dog would injure a child…

My dog would at least injure a squirrel if she got ahold of one, but would never EVER injure a child… when it comes to small mammals, dogs can’t help themselves…they either want to play with it roughly or kill it.

14

Jeff, I appreciate the suggestions on the hutch. Reflection on the idea has presented extra problems.

Our bunny has always had an outdoor hutch but he has not lived in it for four of the last five years. When he was tiny, we only let him out with supervision. Cats were a problem, yes. Once he was grown, he and the cats reached an agreement (I have seen him chase one out of the yard. He is not a neutered bunny and he is fiesty about his territory, though so mellow with people even the vet remarked on it.) Anyhow, he spent his days about the yard, which is small, contained on three sides by masonry block wall and on the other by the house and 2-foot-high fencing that Mr. Hawk sunk into the ground so he cannot dig out. After a several weeks of industrious construction work, bunny let us know how ridiculous he thought it was to be confined to a stupid hutch when he had created a palatial three-room condo under the wood pile (living room, drawing room, and basement rec area) complete with three exit/entrances, a balcony and a raised lanai. So we gave up chasing him and he has ruled The Kingdom of Bunny in peace until the recent terrorist attack.

The upshot is, we could build him a covered hutch over this burrow area he has fashioned, but it would have to be dug into the ground pretty deep to insure he wouldn’t dig out of it. Also, if these dogs are escaping by digging under their fence, what’s to stop them from digging into the hutch, covered though it be? This thing would have to be sunk several feet deep. I do wish we could keep him inside, but my husband won’t allow it. And I won’t allow him to be shut in a hutch all day. The bunny, I mean. I am seriously considering shutting the husband in there.

Re: other comments:
We haven’t had a problem with flying predators in the last four years. 'Io and Pueo are both endangered species and I have never seen them around where I live. I suppose it’s possible.

Bunny used to go for walks in the park on a leash. It was okay, but he is very used to his casual freedom at this point.

Houserabbit web page is wonderful. Yes, we knew of it.

And Jeanie, for the record, I agree. I would have no qualms about putting down a vicious dog, but a dog that chases a rabbit is not vicious, it’s just a dog. These dogs have a cat for a housemate, who predated them, and they get along fine with her. She is perceived as part of their pack, as are humans. But rabbits are toys, and as I said, this one can’t play the game they want to play.

We heard the jingle of tags along the street last night as someone walked their dog by our house and the rabbit, sitting in his box in the corner of the kitchen, thumped loudly. He is healing well and doesn’t seem to be in pain anymore. Many thanks for the continued good wishes.

15

Poor bunny :frowning:

This is exactly why my bunny stays indoors, and only ventures outdoors on a harness. That, and the 2 freaking feet of snow still on the ground (he’s a spoiled rabbit, and the concept of keeping himself warm is way beyond him :slight_smile: )

16

Yeah, I know, but it seems like the dog owner was making excuses when his dogs got out and attacked ** SparrowHawk’s** bunny. My point was no matter who or what the dogs attack, it is always the dog owner’s responsibility - it won’t matter if they “tried to fix the fence” to keep their dogs in (and it sounds like these dogs made a “habit” of it, per the OP), it is a poor excuse.

I didn’t mean these dogs might attack a child, just how flimsy that excuse would be if the dogs had injured a person/child. Bah - I just hate excuses period - do or don’t, there is no try.

17

You’re correct on the first point, Boscibo, but definitely not the second one.

A dog is a hunting omnivore selectively bred to be a companion animal for humans. Everyone knows that humans bred dogs to hunt with. Everyone also knows that rabbits were until recently considered food items. Some people still hunt wild rabbits for food. Some people still use dogs to hunt wild rabbits.

Just because my dog chases mice, rabbits and birds, doesn’t mean he would hurt a child. Hell, just because he chases cattle doesn’t mean he would hurt a child.

18

Sorry about your bunny–

But BBJ, you can’t say “never”.

My sister had two Chows. Their neighbor’s rabbit was killed by their dog, ripped apart. They were fenced in but I don’t know how they got out. Jumped out maybe?

Anyway that is not the point. My sister said they wouldn’t hurt human beings. Bullshit. I was standing on her porch one day and one of those bastards bit my thigh. It was unprovoked. I can tell you it provoked me though, and I slugged that dog between the eyes. It stayed away from me after that, but you can never predict what a dog will do. Never.

19

Actually, you can never predict what your dog would do. To a dog, a small child IS a small mammal. To a dog, an adult is a large mammal. Dogs see things in black and white: You are either part of their pack or not; you are either above them in the pecking order, or not. Beloved family pets have been known to kill newborns, and kids are attacked in their own homes by their own dogs. This can occur with any breed, at any time, small or large.

Any dog might attack a child, at any time. You just never know.

FWIW, I agree with the others who have said that the dog might go back to the yard where they attacked the rabbit. I have observed this type of behaviour in my own and other people’s dogs.

And I agree that the dogs were hardly being bad. They were just being dogs.

20

In most cities, dogs running loose are a no-no. That is my point. From the OP, it seems there is a law against loose dogs, thus the dogs should be confined at all times, and not left loose to chase people’s pets. That is why those laws are in place. Accidents may happen, but from the OP it seems the dogs’ owner either didn’t care, if he knew his fence was breachable and the dogs got out.

I’m not saying these dogs could attack a child, all I’m saying is they did cause some damage and the owner should be held accountable.