Disheygirl
Songster
We have five mini Rex - two parents, two bonded brothers, and a single brother who is just too alpha for the other pairs - typical of a male, but I hate that doesn’t have a mate. The boys are all neutered, and I picked up a three month old female for my single male a few weeks ago. She hadn’t been handled much, but she was a sweet bunny nonetheless, and was learning that people are good. I gave her lettuce for the first time and loved to watch her eat it - she grew up on wire, and her first time hopping freely in our sunroom was so much fun to watch.
Yesterday afternoon, I noticed that there was a fresh patch of dandelions in the front yard. Normally, when I let the buns outside, they are in secure Omlet runs. This time, since the dandelions were in the front and the runs in the back, I put she and the single male in dog pens (I had some in the garage - just the metal four foot transportable ones), which I covered up almost all the way so a random hawk wouldn’t find their dinner.
I was feeding the rest of the bunnies, who were maybe 30 yards away, when I looked up and saw one of the dogs running around the pens. I started jogging over towards the pens, yelling at him to cut it out, when all of a sudden, in her panic of him chasing them around the pen, jumped out. He grabbed her - she started screaming - I was at a full out sprint and yelling at him. It was like it happened in slow motion. He ran away from me about 60 yards, and I caught up to him yelled at him to drop her, and she was screaming the whole time. I picked her up - her eyes were half open like she was sleepy and her body was limp. I hoped against hope that she was just in shock, but after I laid her down in her cage, she died a few minutes later.
I have never felt more horrible or disgusted with myself. She was my responsibility and just a baby - I made a stupid decision to put her in a cage that wasn’t secure, and then I made a stupid decision to not have my eyes on the dogs. I can’t get the visual of him picking her up and the sound of her screaming out of my head. She was so scared. And as irrational as it is, I am mad at my dog for not stopping when I yelled at him before he scared her enough for her to jump out, and mad that once he had her, he ran away from me.
Yesterday afternoon, I noticed that there was a fresh patch of dandelions in the front yard. Normally, when I let the buns outside, they are in secure Omlet runs. This time, since the dandelions were in the front and the runs in the back, I put she and the single male in dog pens (I had some in the garage - just the metal four foot transportable ones), which I covered up almost all the way so a random hawk wouldn’t find their dinner.
I was feeding the rest of the bunnies, who were maybe 30 yards away, when I looked up and saw one of the dogs running around the pens. I started jogging over towards the pens, yelling at him to cut it out, when all of a sudden, in her panic of him chasing them around the pen, jumped out. He grabbed her - she started screaming - I was at a full out sprint and yelling at him. It was like it happened in slow motion. He ran away from me about 60 yards, and I caught up to him yelled at him to drop her, and she was screaming the whole time. I picked her up - her eyes were half open like she was sleepy and her body was limp. I hoped against hope that she was just in shock, but after I laid her down in her cage, she died a few minutes later.
I have never felt more horrible or disgusted with myself. She was my responsibility and just a baby - I made a stupid decision to put her in a cage that wasn’t secure, and then I made a stupid decision to not have my eyes on the dogs. I can’t get the visual of him picking her up and the sound of her screaming out of my head. She was so scared. And as irrational as it is, I am mad at my dog for not stopping when I yelled at him before he scared her enough for her to jump out, and mad that once he had her, he ran away from me.
I cannot imagine the amount of sheer heartbreak, pain, and horror you felt during that. Just reading that made me so horrified and saddened. Don’t beat yourself up too much, we all make mistakes. And I know how you feel of wanting to blame the dog and be mad at him, you just have so much anger and emotions welling up inside that it’s hard to control not being angry with the dog. It’s hard to realize at times though that the dog was not at fault and was carrying out his instincts. And I know how incredibly difficult it can be to realize that. With that tragic event, it’s definitely easy to be very angry with the dog. 
We also recently got chickens and he has been so close to killing them and I NEVER thought he would be good with them just running around the yard with him. He’s gotten a taste of bird a few times (wild birds) and he wanted our chickens! Well, after a year of patience and telling him what’s ok and what’s not ok, he is now running in the yard with our chickens and doesn’t view them as a meal. It’s absolutely amazing!
