We adopted a rabbit from the RSPCA for my daughters birthday. We have two westies, one male and one bitch. The male who is 10, is completely alright now about the rabbit and the novelty has worn off seeing it in its cage. However our female dog who is 5 is still really anxious that the rabbit is there. Before we got the rabbit we put the cage in the front room to get them used to it being there. So we did all we thought we could prior to its arrival.
Our female dog, Beth, is constantly jumping up and yapping at it and is her focal point everytime she goes in the room. I have watched Ceasar Milan and tried some of the basic tecniques there, but she is such a persistant little mut that it wasnt working due to the fact I feel of the second dog and also that I have to run a busy household. I then tried 'its me or the dog' techniques used in that series. It worked well for a couple of days but now she isnt even bothered about the treats anymore !!! At the moment, I am wearing a bum bag with her lead thread though it so that I can keep her under some form of control and use treat rewards when calm in the room where the bunny is. The thing I want to know is that how do I tell if the dog is being fear aggressive (as sometimes she doesnt want to go in the room but then sometimes she cant wait to get in there!) or dominant agressive (she is a 'bolshy dog anyway). ANy advise how to handle this or do would be appreciated. I have no intention of getting rid of the rabbit or my dogs, as I know she can be trained to overcome this. I just dont know how. She is a very strong willed dog by heart so this needs to be taken into account if you can.
I arent sure weather to keep Beth in the room when she is making a fuss or to remove her staright away from the room if she starts fussing. This is really why I need to try and figure out if she does want to be inthe same room as the rabbit or not because if I take her out when she starts yapping then she has won if she is yapping to avoid been in there !!!
Our female dog, Beth, is constantly jumping up and yapping at it and is her focal point everytime she goes in the room. I have watched Ceasar Milan and tried some of the basic tecniques there, but she is such a persistant little mut that it wasnt working due to the fact I feel of the second dog and also that I have to run a busy household. I then tried 'its me or the dog' techniques used in that series. It worked well for a couple of days but now she isnt even bothered about the treats anymore !!! At the moment, I am wearing a bum bag with her lead thread though it so that I can keep her under some form of control and use treat rewards when calm in the room where the bunny is. The thing I want to know is that how do I tell if the dog is being fear aggressive (as sometimes she doesnt want to go in the room but then sometimes she cant wait to get in there!) or dominant agressive (she is a 'bolshy dog anyway). ANy advise how to handle this or do would be appreciated. I have no intention of getting rid of the rabbit or my dogs, as I know she can be trained to overcome this. I just dont know how. She is a very strong willed dog by heart so this needs to be taken into account if you can.
I arent sure weather to keep Beth in the room when she is making a fuss or to remove her staright away from the room if she starts fussing. This is really why I need to try and figure out if she does want to be inthe same room as the rabbit or not because if I take her out when she starts yapping then she has won if she is yapping to avoid been in there !!!