Oh help, my dog just got into the next door neighbours garden and killed their rabbit.

[Skyler]

What do I, can I do? They are naturally devastated and I am totally upset too. I have offered to buy a new rabbit obviously but understand this is totally crap and not the same . Help. What should I do?

i used to have a huge rotweiller that used to play in the garden with my two giant rabbits, unsupervised and he loved them. The bunnies used to nip at his legs and he did nothing but jump six foot in the air. Oh and the poor sap used to have to put up with the cats doing that kneeding thing on his back!!

Sorry, bit of a hijack - on the whole though, dogs and caged pets, not a good mixture.

Poor you. Poor neighbours. Poor rabbit. Poor dog who will be in the dog house today I expect.

Re dogs and rabbits: When our rabbits were around we never separated them from our dog. She is a soppy old lab, and (a) wasn't particularly by nature inclined to go for them, and (b) from the first day we brought her into the house as a pup she was told in no uncertain terms that she was NOT allowed to play with the rabbits. Depends on the dog's nature I would say. My parents have terriers and nothing on this earth could stop them from killing a rabbit if they got a chance - they are also lovely soppy old family dogs.

Right I have got back from a probably deservedly awful trip to the village. We got there to the Post Office to buy vouchers and dd1 decided she needed a poo so off we went to see if the library was open. Thankfully yes so we went in to sort out dd1. Next trip to the flower shop where dd2 did a huge poo in her nappy and guess who had run out of the house with no changing bag. I grab a card in the flower shop and try the Post Office again to get the vouchers. Long queue and badly behaved children (obv feeding off my stress) made sure that was hard work plus they couldn't find the vouchers or the cards. Then I get to the car to write out the Sorry card to open it up and see it is a Happy Birthday card. So off to the card shop where we find a perfect sorry card but dd1 knock over a necklace display while I am paying and we leave in a flurry of apologies...leaving the card behind. Get back to car and realise dd2's dirty nappy is now leaking over the pushchair. Put the children in car and realise card is left at the shop. Take split second decision to abandon children in locked car and run to shop to pick up card. Feel awful.
So I have written the card sincerely apologising and offering new rabbit plus vaccs should they want (thanks for that vaccs idea too), gave Mum the flowers and the daughter the card and vouchers and to top it off I then cried on their door step. FFS. I am not entitled to cry, they are. I thanked them for being so nice and have left it at that. I can't do anymore now apart from get DH to sort the fence tonight. You are right that the dog will try to get over again. What a horrible experience for my poor neighbours .

Ah, well done you, what a horrible stressful day. Perhaps you can find time for a glass of something whilst DH does the fence tonight. You have done/are doing everything possible and I don't blame you for having a few more tears

oh Skyler, you poor thing - what an awful day you are having. It does sound like you have a good relationship with your neighbours which is good. Have an early night with a bottle of chardonnay in the bath

Poo as retribution What a horrible situation, but look at you, you have been lovely. You have done the perfect thing in awful circumstances, you couldn't have done more. Have a big glass of wine tonight. Or now.

It's normal for dogs to kill rabbits, or indeed anything else small and squeaky.

You know why?

Dogs, despite their owners insistance on the opposite, are NOT members of the family, or the human race even! They are dogs, and dogs like to kill things with their teeth.

Normal dog behavior is to kill rabbits. Suppression of normal dog behavior is when a dog will consider a rabbiit a member of it's own pack.

A vet would laugh you out of the building for suggesting a dog is in any way aggressive for killing rabbits - it's like calling someone who eats lamb a baby killer!

skyler ,what a shite day you're having.You will laugh about this someday.

Boco-had to laugh at your dog getting prizewinning guinea pig.Sounds like a story line of Animal Ark!

And that came out a lot snidier than it should have done ... sorry

Thank you all. The neighbours are being so nice about it all (I thanked them for that too). We don't really know each other that well either apart from the occasional hello and now this .
I have just taken dd1 swimming and now DH is in B&Q hopefully sorting the fencing out. I do feel worn out by it all, so goodness knows how they feel next door . So dinner and an early night I think. The wine idea is tempting too....
I am afraid I agree that some dogs chase rabbits. It is in their nature and not a sign of aggression. She wasn't ripping it apart. She shook it I think like they do with toys as there wasn't any blood I don't think . I am worried about the impact of shock on the other rabbit that was in the hutch though... Oh dear.

Bananaknickers - i have two dogs, 2 cats and had 2 rats! needless to say that when i got home one morning my rat cage was open with sawdust everywhere! started looking for my rats and all i found was two guilty looking dogs and a tooth and several clumps of fur. i never found anything else as it seemed that the dogs had eaten the lot! i was bloody devastated as it was a horrid way to go and i loved my litte Quaide and Adam. weird how my dogs wnever eat any dead birds or mice my cats bring in yet they felt the need to eat my pet rats!
but it is nature i suppose and i will not be getting any little furries for a long time!

We have kept a low profile today. The other rabbit is still alive thank goodness and hasn't died of shock. Our dog is still skulking around looking upset and when let out into the newly re-enforced garden (with supervision) is not even going into the half of the garden near the poor neighbours fence. Good thing too. I am still feeling crappy crap crap so they must be feeling awful too .

Skyler,

Not quite in the same league but last year my neighbours dog got in our garden and chased the chickens. We were out and came home to very upset neighbours saying that the chickens had gone and they had spent hours searching for them with no luck. Luckily I did mangage to track them down later that day and they weren't hurt.

Neighbours came round with wine and choc apoligising again even though they knew chooks were ok. I haven't held a grudge against them and things are fine between us. I realise it was an awful accident which they were very upset by as well. Hopefully your neighbours will be the same.

You have done everything you can and I am sure your neighbours appreciate that. Awful thing to happen.

Thank you.

You have done everything you could - poor you. If you were my neighbour I would forgive you And what a rotten day, just to put the tin lid on it. Have some wine and try to stop feeling so guilty - your dog did what dogs do - and you've done your best to make sure that it can't happen again.

I lol'd at Boco's story. I am a Bad Person.

Skyler

You sound like a lovely person and this is a terrible thing to happen to you.

Dogs all have the capacity to kill.Obviously bigger stronger breeds are capable of more damage but I have had a few nasty nips of small breeds.They are animals after all and its easy to forget that when little fluffy looks like he would not say boo to a goose..

Saying all that though,if a dog came into my garden and tried to attack one of my pets I would bloody kill it.Thats my instinct!

Poor you Skyler, but you're doing everything right imo.
Re terriers & rabbits. We have a terrier and she used to cry to get into the run with the rabbit so they could play! And when the rabbit was in the house the dog would let him climb on her back and hump her. probably not normal behaviour..

hiya this happened to us,we owned the rabbit. unfortunately the rabbit, although badly mauled, did not die straight away so our neighbour paid the vets bill to have him put to sleep
naturally our neighbour was upset and mortified like you are,these things happen, im sure your neighbour will be ok about it in the end, unless they are complete idiots.

Thank you again. The neighbours have been wonderful. I know I have done as much as I can for now too. It is just so awkward isn't it? I still feel so sad for them. Anyway I am off for tonight. Thank you for your comments.