What breed should I look for?

[hadrianswallsycamore]

We lost our beloved girl in July. She was 14 and the light of our lives and my soul dog. I am starting to feel like I could think about a new dog but she was such an angel irs hard to think about what breed to go for. She was a collie sized collie husky cross who was a dream with other animals. We have a house rabbit. I am happy to continue to shut the dog out of the room whilst he has a run around for an hour in the evenings if needs be but our girl never reacted to him/previous rabbit or hamsters etc. I want a medium large dog, I would like a rescue older dog ideally but know this might be difficult with the rabbit. Also rabbit has a large run he is in usually in the day so he is around but behind a cage, ideally it would be good if the dog ignored him! My DP works from home so the dog would have company all day and our youngest is 13. Any thoughts? Any rescues I should look at? Thanks

Sorry for your loss. One to try is Many Tears. They are based in Wales but have fosterers all over the country. www.manytearsrescue.org Good luck!

I'm so sorry for your loss, there's no pain like it 😢

I'm biased I know but I would say a Labrador. We have an almost 10 month old fox red lab and she's an absolute joy.

There are two gorgeous adult rough collies on www.collielife.com for rehoming....sound lovely.

It may take some time to find a dog whose happy around small furries. I do see them turn up in rescue, but they will likely be in and out the door very quickly as it's very popular. They aren't ever a particular breed as tolerating small furries is more of a training thing.

My Chihuahua cross is great with my rabbits, but they're outdoor rabbits (with a huge shed and aviary, not just a hutch). I took her on already knowing she was happy around cats/chickens/ducks/horses so rabbits were no issue. She's the same size as them anyway!

Rough collie or Welsh border collie? Bearded collies are hard to train and lovable but loopy.

Avoid terrier breeds of any kind if you have small furries. They have a strong instinct to attack rodents through centuries of breeding for ratting.

You say that but I know someone with two Jack Russells living very happily with two house rabbits for some years now, pretty sure the terriers thought they were rabbits themselves. Obviously all interaction was still supervised. I have also seen a number of Staffie types up for rehoming who could live with small furries.

@bunnygeek I am guessing there are exceptions. I'm a Guinea pig Geek myself and not sure I could take the chance. Unless maybe the dog had been brought up since a puppy with the piggies! I do agree most Staffies are soppy as anything and very friendly.

I have a golden retriever and Guinea pigs - they all ignore each other. The pigs were here first and their cage is off the ground.
However when my friend's golden retriever comes to stay I always shut the door - she looks like she does want to retrieve them and I don't want the Guinea pigs to get stressed.

I guess I just need to keep a Helen eye on sites for furry friendly ones. I hope I see one I could fall in love with again. It feels like our girl has left an impossible hole to fill x