Koda wrote:

itsjosieb wrote:

It would be nice to have a discussion with someone who did it rather than purely read about it as I have been doing, but I guess not many here have done this.

Bingo. My dear, you keep asking the same question over and over again. People respond in the same way. Then we go through the same cycle and you sound like a defensive broken record.

The bottom line is this: if people on here had done what you are asking, you'd already know about it. The fact that people haven't means two things: 1. Most people don't own huskies and rabbits. 2. People who do don't even bother to socialize them to the point that you are hoping.

You are also ignoring the only advice that you have gotten because you think people aren't listening to you. Yes, we understand that the two are aware of each other's existence. Contrary to popular belief, we CAN read However, those who have offered advice have said the same: keep exposing them. Expose them more and more. Do not wait until Ezio is 6-9 months or it's doomed to fail.

Just because you are exposing them to each other via cage/crate, that doesn't mean you are exposing them. What the members are suggesting is expose them to each other more freely and more often. Keep doing it. Keep correcting Ezio. Keep repeating until the message sinks in.

Lastly, my piece of advice that I am going to add... be honest with yourself. It's a lie and a horrible disservice to yourself and your animals to claim that "the rabbit is never in danger" and "you won't allow it." You're wrong. Exposing the rabbit to your husky IS a danger. I understand and appreciate how much you are controlling the situation and I would recommend and expect no less. However, just having the two in the same home is a danger. Huskies are notorious for breaking loose from crates, snapping leashes, slipping collars, overpowering people to get what they want. Animals are unpredictable. As much as we try to control the situation, sometimes it's just not possible.

What's my reason for bringing this up? Don't sit here and act like there is no danger. Doing so will only lead to disaster. Accept how dangerous it is. Face it. Realize WHY it's dangerous. Then start your training. Only until you accept all the things that can go wrong with a situation, can you actively work to prevent it.

I've merely been trying to address everyone's concerns. The "defensiveness" probably stems from the automatic negative response I received. I appreciate the few people who gave valid advice like I asked for. I am taking those responses in and have been doing as they suggested. I haven't been on a forum in years, so the influx of responses (particularly ones I felt were rude) have been a bit overwhelming.

Can I ask an honest question? Why do you feel it's a negative response when someone says "I don't know. It's not something I would ever risk doing."?

I am the first person on this forum to call someone out for being an asshole... look at my nickname... I received it for a reason And yet, I don't feel that anyone was being negative, condescending, or judgmental. It seemed like people were just giving their honest reaction.

Two things... think about it. If people only spoke up when they had something to add about ways to accomplish your goal, you'd either get frustrated that no one responded and felt they were ignoring you... or the forum would be presenting only one side of an issue.

We should all try not to project our fears and insecurities (that someone will judge us or tell us we can't do something) onto people's responses. Because I didn't really see any responses that were out of line or rude.

Well I have never had my huskies around bunnies, I have had experince in watching someone introducing a bunny to an older dog.

I had a dwarf bunny growing up, and we also had a sheltie and a collie. The collie could have cared less, but my sheltie had killed wild rabbits before, so we were worried. Our sheltie was six at the time we got our bunny. I was about 12 at the time, so my parents did the training,

They started out with someone on the couch with the bunny, and someone on the other side of the room with the dog on leash. At first the dog was totally fixated on the bunny, but after a few weeks she got to the point where she would ignore him. My parents gradually moved the dog closer until they were at the point where they could sit on opposite ends of the couch and ignore each other.

At that point, my dad made a BIG mistake, thinking the dog was going to be fine, so he let our dog sniff the bunny's rear end. BAD idea! The dog bit the bunny in the butt. Bunny had a small puncture wound, but with some antibiotics from the vet, he healed up fine. I was so mad at my dad for "trying to kill our bunny"!

After that we got a basket muzzle for our dog that she had on whenever the two were out at the same time. My parents would put the dog on leash while the bunny ran around the room. My parents also really worked on the leave it command with the dog at this time.

After what seemed like forever, something seemed to click with the dog, and she would no longer lunge for the bunny. They eventually stopped using the muzzle. They would just use the leave it command when the dog seemed to be sniffing the bunny for a little to long. Things kept gettiing better from there, eventually it got to the point that the two would lay by each other and sleep.

This whole process took over a year. I think it also really helped that our other dog loved our bunny, so the bunny was not afraid of dogs. If the bunny was reactive I'm not sure if it ever would have worked.

Would I try this with my current dogs, no. They kill rabbits in our yard on what seems like a regular basis. Honestly, I'm not sure how I would plan to introduce a dog and bunny, but above was how my parents did it. I'm sure they might have done other things as well, but I'm probably not remembering everything they did. Bottom line, with time it is possible, but be aware (and it sounds like you are) that your bunny could get hurt. I suppose your dog could get hurt too, some bunnies bite pretty hard!

I felt judgement when I honestly didn't expect it, to answer Koda's question. "If you care about your rabbit, you won't try to do this." felt very rude. Obviously I care about Gimli or I wouldn't have posted at all. I have already explained this and I am very tired of feeling judged tonight. Some of the comments felt condescending to me. I haven't been on this forum long enough to know how each of you speak to each other, so it's very easy for intentions to be misunderstood online. It has nothing to do with "insecurities" or "fears" because I don't have any that even apply to this conversation. Not sure where you got that from? That seems pretty judgemental to me, but apparently everyone here is being an angel and I've lost my mind.

Yeah, at first I thought they haven't even seen eachother yet! lol. But that's good that they are kept near one another. I would still probably move a little further with the training sooner though. And obedience classes will be great too. Notice Siku's down-stay in the one pic. She's practiced 3 min si-stays and down-stays at class and her training comes in very handy with the kittens. Oh and a big one is teaching "gentle mouth." At least with Siku. I've worked on that since she was 6 weeks old, cause we got her too soon and that was a big concern. So she now knows how to mouth something, but not bite down with any pressure. She will mouth kittens a litte, though we tend to yell at her for it, but she is very gentle when she does it.

BTW, using a muzzle sounds like a really good good idea! Those basket ones would work great for your situation.

itsjosieb wrote:

I am very tired of feeling judged tonight.

How is that not a fear or insecurity? Feeling judged. If it didn't matter to you (it weren't a concern, it weren't a fear), it wouldn't matter if you felt that way, right? That's all I'm saying.

And for what it's worth, no one said "If you care about your rabbit, you won't try this." She said "If you care that much about your rabbit, I wouldn't try it. It's not worth the risk to me." That is an opinion. She said she wouldn't risk it if the rabbit meant that much to her.

However, please watch your tone. You're taking everything everyone says as an attack against you. Sarcasm and snarky will get you nowhere

itsjosieb wrote:

I felt judgement when I honestly didn't expect it, to answer Koda's question. "If you care about your rabbit, you won't try to do this." felt very rude. Obviously I care about Gimli or I wouldn't have posted at all. I have already explained this and I am very tired of feeling judged tonight. Some of the comments felt condescending to me. I haven't been on this forum long enough to know how each of you speak to each other, so it's very easy for intentions to be misunderstood online. It has nothing to do with "insecurities" or "fears" because I don't have any that even apply to this conversation. Not sure where you got that from? That seems pretty judgemental to me, but apparently everyone here is being an angel and I've lost my mind.

I wouldn't say any of us are angels, but we aren't jerks and we don't think you are either. We just want you to understand WHY we are opposed to it. And yeah, Eddy (sp?) is right, we just don't want to see at tragedy develop.

I can tell you love Gimli. That isn't even a question. You aren't stupid, but I don't want you to be naive either. No one is being rude, we all want both animals to be happy - but we don't want something bad to happen, because it CAN happen, no matter how careful you are.

SaraB wrote:

Yeah, at first I thought they haven't even seen eachother yet! lol. But that's good that they are kept near one another. I would still probably move a little further with the training sooner though. And obedience classes will be great too. Notice Siku's down-stay in the one pic. She's practiced 3 min si-stays and down-stays at class and her training comes in very handy with the kittens. Oh and a big one is teaching "gentle mouth." At least with Siku. I've worked on that since she was 6 weeks old, cause we got her too soon and that was a big concern. So she now knows how to mouth something, but not bite down with any pressure. She will mouth kittens a litte, though we tend to yell at her for it, but she is very gentle when she does it.

BTW, using a muzzle sounds like a really good good idea! Those basket ones would work great for your situation.

Yeah, obedience classes have been something my husband and I have been agreeing we need to do. They're helpful and with the bunny situation they could be even more helpful. I never considered a muzzle, but it definitely could be a good tool. I will bring that up to my husband for sure. Thank you for the input.

Rabbits are prey animals. They can go into heart failure really quick when frightned.
I had 2 bunniesd when I was a child. They both died when they encountered the neighbours dog. Thew dog did nothing. TRhey didnt have any bite marks or anything on their bodies. They just simply died of fright. It was at 2 seperate instances.

I think waighting unti Ezio is older is a not so great idea. He will be a teenager and more likely to do things out of spite. You tell him not to bite the bunny...
I think you could get you and your partner to sit down one hold bunny one hold puppy with a whole load of high reward treats. Start with just walking around the house holding bunny while puppy is tethered or something.
Get him used to bunny being inside, used to mum and dad showing bunny loves.

Slowly graduate to a sitting postion where bunny in in someone's lap whilke puppy is held/leashed by the other, it's even a possibility to muzzel puppy during these early days to prevent any nasty encounters happening out of curiosity or excitment.

When puppy is behaving how you want him to, give rewards. Reward for sniffing, reward for sitting placidly, reward for everything that you want him to be doing while bunny is around.

I do agree with what alot of other people have said. But I can see that you really want to try this.
I think it's nieve to think you can prevent anything from happening that you would NEVER allow anything aweful to happen to bunny. But realistically even just trying this is dangerous.

But, I can see you're determined. I'm not going to stand in your way
Good luck to you and bunny

I care about being understood and getting my thoughts out in the right way. It isn't insecurity. I'm not sure how this is even relevant to the conversation. This is about my puppy and bunny, not about me. I felt a few people had "tones" with me, so I didn't kiss anyone's ass. That's not me. I also wasn't being a jerk, just trying to make sure people understood exactly what I was hoping for and how much thought I have put into this. I hate being misunderstood and felt judged because people did not understand or read everything I've already explained, yet they were saying what I'm working toward is not the best idea.

I understand WHY people are expressing concern. I wish it would have been expressed in a better way, but I do get it. But you also have to understand that this is something I am going to work on regardless of the people telling me not to.

itsjosieb wrote:

I care about being understood and getting my thoughts out in the right way. It isn't insecurity. I'm not sure how this is even relevant to the conversation. This is about my puppy and bunny, not about me. I felt a few people had "tones" with me, so I didn't kiss anyone's ass. That's not me. I also wasn't being a jerk, just trying to make sure people understood exactly what I was hoping for and how much thought I have put into this. I hate being misunderstood and felt judged because people did not understand or read everything I've already explained, yet they were saying what I'm working toward is not the best idea.

I understand WHY people are expressing concern. I wish it would have been expressed in a better way, but I do get it. But you also have to understand that this is something I am going to work on regardless of the people telling me not to.

Girl. Chill. For crying out loud. My comment about insecurity/fears was to NOT read everyone's comments so negatively and just read them for what they are: expressions of opinion.

No offense, I'm tired of your defensiveness about the issue. I get wanting to be understood and hating being misunderstood. It's probably one of my biggest flaws. But you are digging yourself a deeper and deeper hole by continuing to think that I'm being this seriously judgy and condescending person. I didn't say you were insecure. I said don't let fears or insecurity (your fears of being misunderstood) stand in the way of you actually understanding what people are trying to say. By your own admission, that's exactly what you did. And all I did was try to advise you not to do that.

Melissa mentioned a key thing...you really need to be good at reading your dogs body language. It's imperative that you know when your dog means business. Willow has a high prey drive but lives peacefully with my cat. She has been exposed to an unknown cat and the difference in her body language was worlds apart! The good thing was, I was paying attention and noticed it immediately. If I hadn't, I have no doubt in my mind that cat would be dead now. The constant exposure and the corrections at the right timing will be vital in how successful you will be. Never let your dog get to focused on the bunny. You mention he watches the bunny in the cage. Is it an intense focus or a casual watching? You need to know the difference and correct the intense focus. I also like the tip you were given of the muzzle.

I feel like you've just been trolling me. At least other people were expressing concerns for my rabbit's safety. You, on the other hand, have just been nitpicking my replies trying to explain myself to you, which was clearly a complete waste of my time. Be tired of what you want to be, but this is something I posted trying to get advice and you felt the need to nitpick me. You're allowed to leave this conversation any time you want. I was only trying to get my own thoughts across so you'd understand. How can I not be defensive with how you're talking to me?

You're seriously detracting from the conversation and making it difficult for me to properly appreciate/thank the few people who have been kind enough to give me helpful advice.

itsjosieb wrote:

I feel like you've just been trolling me. At least other people were expressing concerns for my rabbit's safety. You, on the other hand, have just been nitpicking my replies trying to explain myself to you, which was clearly a complete waste of my time. Be tired of what you want to be, but this is something I posted trying to get advice and you felt the need to nitpick me. You're allowed to leave this conversation any time you want. I was only trying to get my own thoughts across so you'd understand. How can I not be defensive with how you're talking to me?

Because you're on a forum, and as the forum owner, it's my job to make sure that everyone acts appropriately so that we can actually get to the crux of the issue. Continuously being defensive doesn't solve anything (as you so aptly pointed out). I'm not trolling you, I am doing what I always do when someone starts posting snarky and sarcastic comments to members who are expressing an opinion.

And no... I can't leave the conversation whenever I want. I'm an Admin. It's my job to read these threads and make sure they don't get out of hand. I know you're new. I know what you were trying to do. It's my job to help you get your answers with the least amount of friction possible, which is why I focused on your response after offering the only advice that I could.

My head is just spinning from the continued negativity. I would appreciate it if you'd at least leave me be. I did nothing to you to deserve nitpicking of every reply I post. By all means, keep reading, but I haven't been mean and I haven't broken any rules.

Ironically, it was never my intention to be negative, even though you perceived me that way.

I think we both agree that this continued conversation has no place in this thread and will continue via PM if necessary. The intended lesson (for everyone, not just the OP) was simply not to feel threatened or attacked by a difference of opinion on an internet forum. Capisce?

I'm happy to move on from this with no hard feelings.

I dont have time to read every reply on here, I am a busy person, but in all honesty, YOU asked a question and your not liking the answers and your getting defensive over it. I had two guinea pigs die, one of a heart attack because of one of my dogs, He didnt even ATTACK IT. He played with it and it got literally scared to death. Just because someone isnt spitting out what you want to hear does not make any one here the bad guy. I have not so far seen anyone that was trolling you, all of us here are animal lovers and do not want to read a topic weeks from now about your rabbit getting attacked or killed.

I respect your decision, but if something does go wrong, please understand that we tried to voice our opinions. I was going to spare you of this story, as it's not a nice one but if it gets my point across, I'll say it.

My dad used to own a husky, and he used to own rabbits, ducks and many other animals as well. The husky and rabbits were indoors. They had the husky since he was a puppy and knew that he would have to be gently introduced to the bunnies. The bunnies had free run of the house before the husky. Remember, this is the 80's and he didn't have the Internet to warn him. The pup did extremely well in the long run and went years living civil with the bunnies. There were never allowed out at the same time, but the bunnies were gated from time to time in the basement where nicki couldn't get to them. If they were ever away from home, the bunnies were put in a separate room, door shut, in their cage.

When my dad came home one night, the door was relatively destroyed and the cage had been bent to hell and three of his bunnies were dead. I don't think I need to go into detail. It's the reason my dad still has an aversion to MY huskies, even now. He knows it was his fault, but he lived 3 years with the husky before this happened.

This reasons why I am against it. Take it for what it's worth. Think "that will never happen to me" but huskies can eat through most things, including doors and dry wall...don't believe me? There is a thread dedicated to the messes we have found our huskies create.

My brothers bunny was here for 3 days and I was a nervous wreck the whole time and they were even in a cage, in the basement, in a closed room. Delilah met him once when we cleaned the cage and she was my good girl, but I know what she and all dogs are capable of. So sorry if I seemed rude, but I don't want to her another story like that.

MetalMama wrote:

I dont have time to read every reply on here, I am a busy person, but in all honesty, YOU asked a question and your not liking the answers and your getting defensive over it. I had two guinea pigs die, one of a heart attack because of one of my dogs, He didnt even ATTACK IT. He played with it and it got literally scared to death. Just because someone isnt spitting out what you want to hear does not make any one here the bad guy. I have not so far seen anyone that was trolling you, all of us here are animal lovers and do not want to read a topic weeks from now about your rabbit getting attacked or killed.

Couldnt agree more.

This is exactly what happened to my rabbits when I was a kid.
I accused my dad of eating them, only to find out on my 16th birthday (8 years later) that they had heart attacks and died from the dog next door.

MetalMama wrote:

I dont have time to read every reply on here, I am a busy person, but in all honesty, YOU asked a question and your not liking the answers and your getting defensive over it. I had two guinea pigs die, one of a heart attack because of one of my dogs, He didnt even ATTACK IT. He played with it and it got literally scared to death. Just because someone isnt spitting out what you want to hear does not make any one here the bad guy. I have not so far seen anyone that was trolling you, all of us here are animal lovers and do not want to read a topic weeks from now about your rabbit getting attacked or killed.

No one will read anything like that. I'm tired of talking about linguistcs, so yours will be the last I reply to unless it's actually about the core topic of the thread. People can disagree all they want to, but I'm still going to do what I'm going to. I felt some comments were rude and that's why I got defensive. Not because they disagreed. I only know my animals and I'll figure it out.

I sincerely appreciate all the helpful input I've recieved from a few people through this. And I do apologize if I misunderstood anyone, or did not express myself the way I meant to.

I think many people are misunderstanding and interpreting things in way too personal a manner. So mine shall be the last.

Any questions can be directed through PM to admin/moderators.