I previously owned a staffy, and loved his intellegience and loyalty. He was easy to train and very friendly & sociable with people and dogs, apart from the small yappy type!   Due to changes in circumstane I now have less space and although a staffy would be my ideal choise I'm not sure my accomadation would be suitable.
I now live in a ground floor one bed room flat with my own small contained garden. I have two pet rabbits who live indoors for 6 months of the year, they have a dog flap and are very friendly. I live in the country and have wonderful walks available practically on my doorstep.
I would welcome any advise regarding a choise of breed which would interact happily with the rabbits, not require too much excercise on a daily basis, but still enjoy long country walks. A maximum of 3 days a week it would eventually need to be able to be left for upto 6 hours at a time, (without attacking the rabbits) though initally at puppy stage I could keep this to 4 hours twice a week. Ideally a short coat and small in size. Temperment and intellegence (trainability) is important. Though I have the time to put socialising and training in place.
Thank you in advance for your advise.
Camclough

If I had a smaller house/garden and couldn't have the dogs I do have it's be a cocker spaniel for me :)  small, good natured, fun, friendly, trainable.....

CKCS, but I would not be leaving anydog for six hours a day without a dog walker or someone coming in to walk or give them a run in the garden.

Bev

I think you're being a bit unrealistic to want to leave any dog free unsupervised with 2 rabbits and would definitely invest in a crate.  Or a hutch - can't the rabbits be shut up when you're out?

A maximum of 3 days a week it would eventually need to be able to be left for upto 6 hours at a time, (without attacking the rabbits) though initally at puppy stage I could keep this to 4 hours twice a week.

Cavalier would suit in every way except the coat, BUT you couldn't really leave a puppy for 4 hours I'm afraid as it would make house training impossible.

I am going to say Tibetan Spaniel is a perfect choice ;) , although their coats are quite long it's quite easy to maintain. Another choice would be Boston terrier. Sweet (not yappy at all) small dogs that love everyone.
As for your working hours...... I think it depends on how small a puppy is. I got mine when he was around 4 months and he was okay alone for around 3 hours. If it's a smaller pup, then I'm afraid they have to go out to potty every 2 hours or so. Unless they're sleeping. I reckon if you play with him loads and he's really tired then he will in fact sleep.
As for a grown up dog, being left alone for around 6 hours shouldn't be a problem. Here in Europe most people work full time and we actually do own dogs without any problems. Grown up dog (if used to it) will sleep most of the time and when you're back you'll have the rest of the day to play with him and entertain him. As I noticed, you have doggy door, so that is even better. He/she'll be able to go out and do her business any time he/she wants to......

Oh and I forgot one thing. Some people mentioned dog walkers. That might work, specially with the puppy. I would consider someone you know though...... I'm not particularly comfortable with a stranger coming to my house at all. :(
I myself never liked dog walkers anyway, as I want my dog to know who the owner is and not be confused with all the strangers taking care of him. But that's just me ;) . If I go somewhere I simply leave my dog with my relatives where he's very happy and relaxed.....

What about a French Bulldog?  Smaller sturdy, not quite as energetic, and very loving and good sens of fun.

anything but a daschund :d  !!!
wat about a pug?