How to keep a small pet safe from an energetic dog
High-energy or large dogs can terrorize small pets like rabbits through constant barking and aggressive behavior, especially when owners refuse to rehome them. This forces you to constantly manage the danger and stress in a shared living space, often leaving you unable to fully trust the animals together.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Closing doors and using baby gates to separate the puppy from the rabbitsDid this help you?
- 2Trying to apply training videos and routinesDid this help you?
- 3Stacked baby gates with tension mount shower rodsDid this help you?
- 4Adding stairs or a cat tree to help cats get over barriersDid this help you?
- 5Chasing the cat aroundDid this help you?
- 6Forbidding the cat from sharing food with the adopted catDid this help you?
- 7Keeping the glass door lockedDid this help you?
- 8Using a cooler behind a mesh door to cool birdsDid this help you?
- 9Scooping up the cat and going back insideDid this help you?
- 10Using a covered stroller for walksDid this help you?
- 11Carrying a spray bottle with water or using a water hose to deter straysDid this help you?
- 12Avoiding areas where stray cats are presentDid this help you?
- 13Staying outside for hours to keep watch over the catDid this help you?
- 14Calling the cat's name when hearing noises outsideDid this help you?
- 15Pick up the small dogDid this help you?
- 16Step in front and block the approaching dogDid this help you?
- 17Yell at the other dog to back offDid this help you?
- 18Avoid the area or change walking timesDid this help you?
- 19Confront the irresponsible ownerDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“When I hear the coyotes I end up staying outside for hours because if I'm out there he won't leave.Is there anybody who knows any tricks I can do to get him to stay in the yard, or how I can get him to want to come in? or anything I just don't want him getting taken away or killed by the coyotes. I lost my last kitty to coyotes.”source ↗
“I recently moved to an apartment that has a few stray cats and I'm not sure how I should be handling that.”source ↗
“She has never been around any other cats so whenever she sees them she gets all poofy and starts hissing.”source ↗
“I'm super nervous about a fight happening so I just scoop her up and go inside, but I'm not sure that's sending the best message to her.”source ↗
“We have two large dogs that I will never fully trust with them.”source ↗
“As someone who’s cat tore his ACL (CCL) recently, id encourage you to put a second set of stairs on the other side so they dont hit the ground so hard.”source ↗
“I am home visiting for the month and the 15 week old puppy already has been barking at the rabbits.”source ↗
“I want to so badly but the other is not my rabbit and I already mentioned taking both and they said no, they don't even want me to take my own rabbit.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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