I love my 5 year old German shepherd. Up until today i always saw him as sort a gentle giant. He's good with little kids as well as my tiny 4 pound chihuahua. A week ago, I came home to my back yard to feed my pet rabbit and discovered that the door to the hutch was wide open. I looked inside and he was nowhere to be seen. (It turned out my sister had played with him and left it open when she put him back) I checked all over the backyard in the bushes behind the shed you name it all over the neighborhood. He was nowhere to be seen. I was convinced he had escaped through a gap in the side gate and suspected nothing else. I collected my dogs droppings today after many days because it had been raining for several days. You could imagine it was very soggy. The rain did a little more than make an unpleasant task a little worse. In a pile of droppings I saw unusual amounts of fur and hair uncovered by relentless drops of pounding rain. My first thought was, it couldn't be, Jerry would never do this. Upon closer inspection, I saw a rabbit claw and bits of bone. From that moment, my heart sank. I thought how could he do this? I never saw a trace of blood on him. I always fed him enough, why would he kill and eat Coney? It's hard to imagine a dog as gentle as he could kill and eat a rabbit he had lived with for so long.How would your attitudes toward your dog change if he ate your pet rabbit?Your dog is still your dog. He does not know he did anything wrong. I think I'd have to fight being angry at my sister. She probably feels awful. Maybe she just needs to be supervised when she's handling your pets. I'm sorry this happened.How would your attitudes toward your dog change if he ate your pet rabbit?The first poster was right. Your poor dog has no way of knowing you had feelings for your rabbit. He just did what comes naturally to his breed. It does not mean he is mean or vicious. Please try to forgive your dog. He is probably sad that you are mad at him and he doesn't know why.How would your attitudes toward your dog change if he ate your pet rabbit?No. A dog doesn't know that a rodent is your pet. He only knows that it's either something to play with, or something to eat.WOW. I have a labrador and I've had her for 9 years. Three weeks ago, I got a guinea pig. If she eat him, I don't think I'd ever feel the same about her. I know she won't because about 5 years ago we had a rabbit. She slept with the rabbit. Sorry for your rabbit! But those dogs are hunting dogs so its only natural that think your dog did, what he did. He doesn't know what he did was wrong. If you do ever get another rabbit, watch your sister!It wouldn't change. I would see where i went wrong with how the rabbit was kept and secure. Its not the dogs fault for reacting solely by instincts. This doesn't make your dog a blood thirsty, killing machine, this makes your dog a NORMAL dog. Your dog is still a gentle giant as far as im concerned, he is just prey driven.
If you believe your dog will be out to harm another either human, or your other dog, you wouldve seen signs by now. Your dog cant help the way he was wired, with all this time of evolution and selective breeding. This breed is known to be highly prey driven, and still a great family dog.Its natural instinct. Dogs hunt rabbits in the wild he couldnt help it (id be more mad at my sister for leaving the cage open that at my dog)..Thats really sad to hear about your pet rabbit, im sorry your dog did that..But you cant hate him for what he is, a dog...Its his instincts...Try to forgive the doggie, he didnt mean to hurt you. He probably just saw the rabbit out and hunted it down...If I was in that situation Id probably be pretty mad at my dog too but id realize that it is his instinct to do that and he didnt mean to do anything %26quot;bad%26quot; he was just doing what dogs do..And he is nice to your little doggie because he sees it as part of the pack...Now you know you cant trust him with other animals like that...You have the right to be mad at your dog but dont stay mad forever, he loves you!To a dog a rabbit is food.
Sometimes you might get a dog who loves rabbits but then again, I still wouldn't trust them.
About a year ago now our next door neighbors dog jumped our fence and eat one of my rabbits, I hated that dog at first but then I realised it's not the dogs fault at all, it's the owners for not containing their dog, and mine for keeping my rabbit outside where it could get attacked.
I keep my rabbit contained and when I do let him out for his daily run it is in a puppy pen outside the dogs are locked inside and the rabbit is supervised.
