We found baby rabbits in a hole in our back yard, we have dogs, how do you stop them from going there?

Question

Please, we don't want our dogs to get deep in there and hurt them! How do you block it off, but still let the mother go in and out?

Answer 1

you can put a fence around the hole and then scatter pepper in the surrounding areas.  the dogs won't go near

Answer 2

Perhaps you could put the pups on tie outs for the time being until you bring them inside. They might have spray to make the dogs stay away from the area too, that might work well.

Answer 3

I wouldn't do anything.  They've survived this long.  What's not to say they'll finish maturing and leave.  They don't stay in the nest very long.

Answer 4

That's a difficult situation you have.  If you fence it in the mother cannot get in and out to eat and IF pepper works that way on dogs what will the affect be on rabbits, particularly babies once they come out of the nest?  I have five dogs so I'm definitely going to give the pepper trick a try as they're killing me with their incessantly bad choice of places to lay (always on my flowers!).  My only suggestion would be to trap the mother and relocate all of them to a wildlife center if you have on in your area.  Or better yet call the center and ask for their suggestion.  Dogs naturally go after anything that moves and baby rabbits are extremely delicate.  My dogs have brought several up over the years and only one managed to live.  Have you looked at the babies so that you know approximately how old they are?  

If you do decide to fence make certain you have a hole big enough for the mother to get in and back out but small enough to keep your beloved family pets out.  I once ran over a nest, near our barn, noted only by the fluff that flew everywhere because they burrow down somewhat.  I covered the nest over again and I assume nothing happened to them after that.  I did check to make sure the mower didn't do any damage, it did not luckily and I stopped mowing there until the nest was empty weeks later.  They generally nest in tall grasses by the way so if you decide on the fencing idea allow the grass to grow back again and within three to four weeks (from when they were born) they'll be ready to be on their own, the mother will relocate obviously and you can once again have domain over your entire yard! lol  Good luck.

Answer 5

Call a vet mark! or don't let your dogs out their, supercise them.

Answer 6

Tie the dogs on a chain that doesn't reach the hole.  The babies will be weaned in about a month, and come out on their own to forage.

Not to be a downer, but 80% of the bunnies will be picked off by predators.