I took my Kerry puppy to the "People and Pets " show at Western Park in Shropshire at the weekend to continue his socialisation.

Whilst there I noticed, with some surprise, a lady with a large rabbit on a lead (!!). Even more surprising, was that it was standing outside the ring in which there was a greyhound demonstration (!!!).

Well, the inevitable happened. A dog grabbed bunny and ran off with him. Of course the rabbit owner was very distressed. Fortunately, the rabbit survived and after examination at the PDSa looked reasonably ok, but I really wonder whether a dog show was the right place to exercise your rabbit ?

This is probably an easy question to answer ....

That reminds me of an account I read recently of a family taking their Guinea pigs to a busy dog park in the US.They proceeded to sit on the grass with a picnic and get all the guinea pigs out on the blanket  They caused mayhem and made a hasty retreat :rolleyes:

Some people are very strange

:D :D :D

Those two posts tickled me.  Some people live in little worlds completely of their own making :D

I had an idiot take their Ferrets out to the country Park on a busy holiday day when every dog that never gets walked regularly is there.  Why were they surprised and then stood in the river with ferret under jacklet when they got attention?

I suspect most dogs would come off far worse if challenging a ferret though. Willis wouldn't stand a chance. And is there a law saying other folk can't take their pets out just because its dominated by dogs? Just playing devils advocate here :)

Of course they're allowed to take their pets out wherever they like - it's obviously a risk they're happy to take. ;) :D

Shouldn't be a risk though really should it? I admit, *I* wouldn't take a rabbit out on a lead where there are dogs - but where was the greyhounds owner? There'd be uproar on here if a greyhound ran up and stole someones puppy off the lead... and it was a *pet* show?

Double standards? ;)

;) Not really. Puppies are neither prey animals nor vermin ... ;) ;)

Neither is a pet rabbit, on a lead :)

They're still food animals, though. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone's entitled to keep whatever pet they want - but it's their responsibility to keep it safe, physically and mentally. A prey animal will instinctively feel nervous in the presence of its natural predators, and taking a pet bunny in amongst dogs is tantamount to mental torture IMO.

Can't argue with you there. I feel the same with some folks dogs - so perhaps they shouldn't be taking them out either :D

:D

"A prey animal will instinctively feel nervous in the presence of its natural predators, and taking a pet bunny in amongst dogs is tantamount to mental torture IMO."

I disagree.  Not all 'prey animals' are nervous around what would be classed as their 'hunter' in a wild situation.  They're pets remember and many are brought up in home environments where 'hunter' and 'prey' live in perfect harmony :)  Take my old male dwarf lop bunny for example - he loved cats and dogs and wouldn't feel remotely nervous in their presence unless they gave him cause for concern :)  I used to take him for walks on a lead too but only round the street   Also, my Dad had a huge English White when he was a kid which used to sit in the drive and ward off any non-resident cat/dog - they never argued with him haha  A little off topic but it does bear relevance - we've got 2 black birds who have decided, in their infinite wisdom, to nest in a rather un-dense bush about 1 metre off the ground in our back garden.  We have a cat, next door have a cat and who knows how many more cats frequent our garden.  Our little girl pup also loves anything that she see's as a potentital playmate (bumble bees and birds included!).  These 2 birds are the tamest 'wild' birds I have ever known.  They've already lost 2 eggs that we know of - the smashed shells have been found on the 'path'near the bush by my young son.  They obviously need educating in the whole 'hunter' and 'prey' thing ;)

It really depends on the size of the rabbit in question and how dog friendly it was as to why the owners took it to the dog show in the first place   At a dog show you'd assume (or atleast I and probably many other non-dogshow familiar people would) that all the dogs would be controlled i.e. on leads/in crates at all times.  Therefore, how did this Greyhound manage to get at the rabbit if it was on a lead - lack of control by the dogs owner perhaps?

It's very easy for even quite a large person to be pulled over when a dog on a lead suddenly lunges at what is, after all, its natural prey. If the dog owner was injured, and was of a litigious frame of mind, they might even have a legal case against the rabbit owner ... but fortunately most people are more reasonable than that!

And as a little aside, all dogs are banned from all rabbit shows.

I didn't disagree that it wasn't the most sensible thing of the rabbit owners to do JG, I was merely pointing out that maybe the bunnies owners believed there was no cause for concern about doing what they did :)  Also I am very aware that any dog, when it bolts, pulls on the lead and the lead can slip out of the handlers hand, handler can be unbalanced etc etc again I was pointing out that there was a possibility the dog wasn't suitably controlled :)  Poor bunny though - it had gone for a lovely day out and *bam* ended up in the jaws of a Greyhound :rolleyes:  Lessons are learnt through making mistakes though aren't they and atleast no harm was done

>It's very easy for even quite a large person to be pulled over when a dog on a lead suddenly lunges at what is, after all, its natural prey

Last week, OH and I were walking the dogs on lead along our street. OH's dog had stopped to sniff while my dog and I walked on. OH and dog started running to catch up with me and my dog, OH's dog spots cat sitting in a driveway and lunged at it with such force that his collar broke!! Thank goodness the cat ran towards the house and not onto the road! Cat made its escape through the cat flap and dog was captured easily as he was sidetracked by the bowl of cat food by the back door :rolleyes:

Moral: if a 55kg dog decides to take off after 'prey', there isn't much anyone can do about it

PS. Recommendations for extra strong collars welcome....

>It really depends on the size of the rabbit in question and how dog friendly it was as to why the owners took it to the dog show in the first place

I disagree as to the size of the rabbit being relevant in this instance.  Some dogs will tackle prey larger than itself, deer, for instance. It doesn't register with the dog whether the prey is friendly or not.

As for the owner not being in total control of the greyhound, we don't know the circumstances of what happened.  If my dog was doing agility for example and she sniffed "Fee fi fo fum I smell a rabbit's b*m" I know given the choice of a hurdle or a rabbit what she would rather go for.  I think the rabbit owner was naive if not stupid to take a rabbit to a dog show.

They're probably the same people who can't see a problem with walking their in-season bitch or dog-aggressive dog in a popular dog-walking area. :rolleyes: Unfortunately 'common' sense is anything but!

LOL that is too funny!!!!! So sorry if I sound harsh, but this post cracks me up!

sometimes you just want to shake these people....

>sometimes you just want to shake these people....

Yes and No.  They live in happy little worlds where everything is safe and cosy.  The only problem they have is when their world coincides with ours, the real World. :D :D

yes..Lucy I agree but some people dont think about the consequences of thier actions.

I think its great that they want to take thier rabbit with them as so so many are left to die in hutches all around the country but .....a dog show where there is a possibility of even 1 greyhound ?????  :)

Any breed of dog is capable of killing and eating a bunny - if tiny little weasels can, so can a Yorkie!

unfortunately in this "cling -film- readymeal- prepared world" there are quite simply people who wouldnt even know that their rabbit was in danger from a dog..its typical of many people nowadays....not that they simply didnt "think", they simply didnt KNOW!

I used to walk my rabbit when I was younger. She was a danger to all dogs and would attack any on sight!!
Becky

You can't always drill out instinct.  My dog's recall is ok but nowhere near perfect which is why I cannot let her off lead anywhere near roads because if she saw a rabbit/pheasant/squirrel/cat she will chase it. 

I was at a show once and some people got VERY stroppy because they couldn't bring their unentered Yorkie in. Mind you it was a CAT show

where would we be without the terminally daft, eh? :D

the rabbit story reminds me of the day that my mother had visitors - this is rural northern ireland where you always have visitors, incidentally, and where my ma has land and umpteen animals - and part way through the visit, one of her guests went out to the car to bring their guinea pig in. apparently they wanted to take it out for the day so they've driven it down from belfast with them. however, they were now worried that it'd be getting some sort of separation anxiety if left in the car for much longer!

my mother politely pointed out that both her dogs have very high prey drives plus she wouldn't trust any one of the 5 cats either but if they wanted to provide her animals with an early supper then feel free! ;)

Please don't judge all people from Belfast by Roz's last post :D (We tend to take our small furries sight-seeing to places of cultural interest rather than visiting :P )

A rabbit on a lead would be the only type that my built-for-comfort-not-for-speed dogs would stand any chance of catching and, as such, the temptation would be far too great for them. Doggie equivalent of a ready meal :D

When my youngest Golden was a pup, he managed to open a rabbit hutch, CARRIED the rabbit all the way to the bottom of the garden, then laid down washing it. :D Rabbit totally unharmed when I found them!

On the other hand, a Malinois pup I bred opened a rabbit hutch at her new owner's, and when the owner returned the rabbit was like a jigsaw.

We had a beautiful Lop when we first got our pup.  The rabbit had the run of the garden and sussed the dog out quicker than the dog sussed the rabbit.  The rabbit would stretch out, looking totally chilled while the pup stalked and pointed, but the rabbit knew at just what point to get up a hop for safety.  Twice I saw the rabbit hop up behind the sunbathing pup and bite her bum and then run for safety. :D :D  By the time our dog got to about 8 months old I was getting a bit concerned about how things might turn but then the rabbit died anyway (totally unrelated to the dog)

Our Golden caught a wild rabbit a couple of months ago and when I caught up with her she was doing the same :rolleyes:  I also caught her playing with a frog in the garden last week again it was unharmed she was just nudging it with her paw to get it to jump.  Having said that I know what she can do to a stick or a bone and would never trust her with a small animal.  You'd think people would have some brains but they never cease to amaze me.

well, all i'll say is that, in my opinion, the rabbit owner deserved the upset....what an utterly ridiculous thing to do.

I hope it wasn't too distressing a sight for the onlookers!!

i liked to take my horse out. but i would not take it places where they are likely to be injured.
like \ motorway or an airport. its common sense. why would you take a pray animal where there are preditors. is is enougth to cause the animals to be distressed.i feel for the poor rabbit here. it was bad enougth when one of my cats followed me to the dog fields. at peak time you can have as many as 20 dogs running there.

luckily for me it was a quite day.
we met up with a friend who has a grete dane. who is luckly cat friendly. but by the time i realised my cat had followed me he was getting really cocky with himself runnign and playing with my dogs.:rolleyes:
cat is dog proofed by my dogs. but when  the grate dane came bounding over  he was a bit too cocky and lauched at the dog bruce lee style with sound effects. the look on the cats face as he was met with the legs of the greate dane and has he looke dup at the dogs face, you could almost here him swear!

luckily i pulled the cat (yes pulled)away from the grate dane who was loving the attention and quickly carried him home.
he complained all the way home , in an almost "let me at him" kind of state.

i was lucky of course becasue had it had been an un cat socilised dog , cat woudl of been dead in seconds.
im a lot more carefull now when i go out with the dogs.

cat has to be contained in a padded room, as he wants to follow me

Well, I can tell a horses and dogs story.  My friend had two mares with foals and new people moved into the next farm house and let their two big dogs run loose.  My friend called over and the dogs' owner said, "oh, they won't hurt the horses."  To which my friend replied, "It's not the horses I'm worried about.  My one mare is a very vigilant mother and she will kill your dogs."  No more dogs running loose.  It was true too, Chimes was a very anxious mother, and even for us to handle her foal was tricky.

One of my pups (now 10 years old) lives with people who breed Welsh section a and B ponies.

She is very careful to either keep ehr owner between herself and the horses, or to never get between mares and foals, has a very healthy respect for maternal instinct.

As foir hunting bunnies she learnt long ago that the stable cats were far more efficient than she and will mug them for their kills :D

Okay as we are talking about dogs and Rabbits. My uncle was a vet . They would look after the neighbours house and pet Rabbit when they went away. One time my uncle was just sat in his garden and his dog came bounding proudly  up to him with a dead white bunny in her mouth. My uncle ( being an animal lover and the local vet )  was especially horrified! He rushed next door and sure enough the neighbours hutch was empty. Being a vet ( who seem to think differently from normal people ) my uncle washed shampooed and blow dried the rabbit and put it back in the hutch to fake a pleasant and natural death. The neighbours returned and he heard a piercing scream! When he saw her she was as white as the rabbit. She said just before she went out her rabbit had died and she buried it!

Oh my lord, I nearly wet myself there

:D :D

RFLOL ! :p :p

shouldn't laugh but oh dear!!  Very funny!

That is such a funny story! Helps the day go with a smile, sorry to have a warped sense of humour but there it is.

well i am a book worm and i say that u copied it off a book called "The diary of a killer cat"
K D (Karens daughter)

no... but is it worth a read?    ..... it's a well handed down and a very old joke... I only know about three jokes...the other two are not not so tasteful...so we'd best keep away from chartting about budgies.  ;)

Note the greyhounds were working greyhounds, assumingly bred to chase and kill rabbits etc.  being a demonstration I assume dogs were off lead (or were the owners very fast runners.

If it wasn't hunting demo but racing demo, again te greyhounds are taught to run after a "hare" so therefor dog was only doing it's job. :)

I wouldn't like to take a rabbit personally to a show where dogs are...or where lots of people are.  Could be easily stood on :(

I have had a lurcher pick up one of my Pomeranian's at an obedience event and scrag it!!!  I was extremely upset, luckily for me and my dog, my dog survived.

This was a "pet show" so in my eyes the person with the dog should of been on the look out, but hey, who am I to say that.  I've never been to one!

when the owner returned the rabbit was like a jigsaw.  :D :D :D :D :D

Why do I have such a warped sense of humour???

I walk my dogs on the lead on the narrow country roads round here & I've lost count of the times there's a sudden lurch, a squeak & the crunching of baby rabbit bones. One dog is so scared that the other will get the bounty, she's rather swallow it whole

"crunching of baby rabbit bones"  oh my god!

> when the owner returned the rabbit was like a jigsaw.      

albeit a rather wobbly one?

and no anwen, you are not alone! ;)