Week 5

It's been 3 weeks already! I choose not to chime in the last few weeks because there wasn't much progression. Well, let me rephrase that; there wasn't much visible progression. I'm sure in both Kozi and Buckwheat's minds, a lot of things have changed.

By now, Kozi spends most of time outside of his crate. The downside to this? Buckwheat spends less time in the living room! Right now, both animals cannot occupy the same space, so Buckwheat is forced to stay mostly in the bedroom.

Our children's safety gate finally arrived! Living in Japan it was hard to find an affordable gate, so we ordered one. Anyways, it came in today and we immediately set it up. Both Buckwheat and Kozi were immediately interested. I think at first there interest only went as far as the gate. And then they realized there was another animal on the other side!

This experience actually went better then expected. Kozi did not get over excited. He payed a little more attention to Buckwheat then previously mentioned, but not enough

Intro

3 weeks ago Sachiko and I decided to bring home a 3 month old Shiba Inu puppy. The problem is, we have a 8 month old Netherlands Dwarf mix bunny! How are we suppose to get the two to live peacefully together? It's going to be a long and interesting journey, but we're up for it.

Please join us as we explore integrating an energetic Shiba puppy into the life of a spoiled mischievous bunny. We are making no assumptions, except that it will take persistence and patience. We want to share our experiences with others who are trying to cohabit a puppy and bunny. Please share your experiences as well!

Jason and Sachiko

Week 2

This week, we let Kozi out of his crate for a few hours at a time. During this time we put Buckwheat in the bedroom. Also, if we weren't home, Buckwheat stayed in the bedroom (or his cage) . We didn't want to take the chance of Kozi getting out of his crate (although very unlikely).

Sachiko and I really didn't know where to start with all this. Everything we had read about dogs and rabbits cohabiting together involved older dogs, already trained basic obedience. Kozi is just a pup! We have to teach him to listen to us before we can even think about letting him near Buckwheat. So there's going to be a lot of trial and error here. Not to mention a slow process. Normally this process is slow, but with an untrained puppy, we have slowed our walk to a crawl.

As far as bonding goes, we didn't do much this week. We kept both separate from each other. I would let Buckwheat smell my hands after just petting Kozi, and vice versa. Buckwheat might stop in front of Kozi's crate while passing by just to check out the scene. But as I said last week, Kozi doesn't pay much notice.

So this week is short. We are still letting everything soak in. One thing we make sure of though is to give Buckwheat the same attention he received before Kozi arrived. We don't want him to feel like he's been replaced! If you have any questions or comments, give us a shout!

Jason

Week 1

This first week was not very adventurous. When we got home with Kozi last Sunday, Buckwheat's cage was in the living room. Before we went to bed, we ended up moving his cage into our bedroom. We didn't want him freaking out by the new smell of a new puppy, just 10 feet away in his own crate.

The next day, we decided to let Buckwheat out into the living room while Kozi was in his crate. Buckwheat was definately nervous about the new addition. He would inch himself close to the crate, but never within 2 feet. He did a lot of sniffing... Kozi did a lot of ignoring. We wanted Buckwheat to feel like, although there was an intrusion into 'his' home, we didn't want him to feel like he was getting replaced or that his freedom was being taken away from him. Infact, we probably spoiled him a little bit too much over the next few days. He left him out of his cage for two days straight, restrained to our bedroom while we slept.

We feel that, actually, this two day freedom helped him get use to Kozi being in the home. Since Kozi was kept in his crate for the first week, there was no need to fear Kozi. By the second day, Buckwheat felt comfortable roaming around in the living room (the first day he pretty much lounged in the bedroom). He even felt comfortable enough to relax and lay down in the living room.

During this whole time, Kozi didn't even recognize Buckwheat's existence. He was more interested in looking out for approaching feet in hopes he would receive some more attention.

Next week, Kozi will be let out of his crate for an hour or so at a time. Meanwhile, Buckwheat will be stuck to the confines of our bedroom. We don't want to rush things too fast! It will be awhile before we let the two come face to face with each other. Kozi is a young, energetic puppy and needs a lot of obedience training before we will trust Buckwheat's safety with him!

Thanks for reading! Please post your comments and questions so that other can learn from our experiences!

THE CAST

Kozi: The Energetic Puppy


Buckwheat: The Mischievious Bunny


Jason & Sachiko: Intrepid Pet Owners