Hey! Looking for some bonding advice.

We have an 8 month old male mini lop that we’ve had since he was 10 weeks old. When we got him he was the runt of the litter, and is quite small. Temperament wise he is really relaxed and affectionate with us, and we’ve never seen any ‘adult’ behaviours such as humping/aggression. Just before we got him neutered we did have a small amount of circling and honking, although that stopped as soon as he was neutered.

We’ve just adopted a 3 month old female, who is not yet spayed. We want to bond them but plan to take it very slowly given that it will still be a while before she can be spayed. She is currently in a separate cage in another room, although after a few days we allowed him to go in and see her through the cage. This meeting was largely her having a look, and him being mostly disinterested apart from a little sniff! He had a good nose around her cage and we are letting him go into that room whenever we are there to supervise.

This evening while she was out having a run about, she got into the room he usually is in. We closed his cage to stop her getting in there, and watched to see what they would do (while being ready to intervene!). Initially they were again very disinterested, although once she noticed him she started playfully running up and sniffing his ears and tail. After a few minutes he followed her as she ran off. They then started to circle each other nose to tail, all the while honking! We separated them fairly quickly just to prevent any fights. However I am looking for advice as the information available seems mixed – some people say this is a way for them to determine dominance and should be allowed, and others say to stop this immediately. Just wondering on the views of people who have bonded bunnies and may have experienced this?

Any other hints & tips greatly appreciated! First time bonding although we’ve read through all the recommended guidelines on here ?

Thank you!