bonding journal – leo and ollie (attempt #2)

[graysonbun]

here’s a little bit of background knowledge on my two boys:

• Ollie is a five years old. He is a Netherland Dwarf, just a bit over 2.5 pounds! A small rabbit, but has a massive personality!! He loves to periscope and look around, and also get into places he shouldn’t, like running behind the couch along the wall!! He has calmed down and warmed up to petting and grooming a lot since we first got him around 3.5 years ago!!!
• Leo is just about two years old. He’s a mini lop and weighs a little over 5 pounds. He is the largest rabbit I’ve ever had but his personality is so calm and he loves sitting up and begging you to rub his head! I always say that he’s a gentle giant. 

I attempted to bond them about a year and a half ago, and things went pretty well, they lived together for about 2 weeks and then a fight broke out, and I separated them and set up different ex pens, two that share one wall for their home bases. At that time I was going into my senior year of high school and knew I couldn’t try to cement their bond as I wouldn’t be home to watch them. So since that time, they’ve been living side by side in two separate ex pens. I’ve not seen any fighting through the shared wall. In fact, they sometimes will flop next to each other with the bars in between. 

Anyway, that brings us up to now!! I’ve decided that since I am in college, but am commuting from home, I have the time to spend to really try my best to get a true bond to work out between them. My plan is to stick with doing lots of neutral sessions, as I can see now that I may have moved on too fast last time, which I think was due to me wanting them so badly to go at my pace and not theirs. Patience is something that these two have helped me work on! I will most likely do neutral sessions every / every other day until sometime towards the end of December at least, if I think they’re ready I’ll move them to semi-neutral sessions during my holiday break from school (3+ weeks of days home) And then we will see what happens from there. Again these are all estimates, and I’m sure that they’ll be thrown of by the rabbits actual plans. 

——–

11/6 – FIRST SESSION: complete neutral territory (kitchen)

I am pleased to say that things went really really well! I sorta expected that since I’m sure they were just sorta puzzled at the change in area and the fact that they haven’t really done anything with each other in a very long time. But overall I intended to do 15-20 minutes of close watching and letting them do whatever they wanted in the whole kitchen space. I ended up laying a large piece of fleece down because are floor is tile that they’re not used to, with a nice big pile of fresh hay and some water, and that was it. (I don’t have many things that they each would consider neutral.) BUT, 15 minutes turned into 45!! 

They didn’t move a lot at first but then once Ollie realized he was with another rabbit he went to sniff him and check him out. Leo being the rabbit he is just sat there and let him. I am very happy to report no scuffling, no fights, and really no negative behavior at all!! We even had some really positive stuff! Both groomed themselves in each others presence, both munched on some hay, and Leo did end up loafing for a good 5 minutes as well. Another thing that made me happy was when Leo totally hopped over Ollie!! It was so fun to watch because Ollie is so small that he pretty much blended in (they’re both black) and disappeared for a second! But he totally didn’t even mind that he was jumped over, and didn’t even react. Just went back to exploring.  So overall I am very pleased with this session. Any feedback will be appreciated!! Is this as good of a start as I think it is? Or were they simply just confused at the change or surrounding?? It almost seems like too good of a start to me, but maybe this time around will be easier!! I will keep you guys updated when I do another session in the kitchen later today. 

[DanaNM]

sounds like a great start to me!

Interested to see how this goes!

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[graysonbun]

11/8 – I did another longer session in the kitchen with both of the boys the other day, it was pretty much the same as the first session, no fighting, just exploring the new setting & each other. I’m quite pleased that they both seem very relaxed around each other in this space!!

My question is, should I be sitting in the area with them? Or for the next sessions should I give them a little bit more space away from me? Obviously they would still be supervised but I’m wondering if it would be better if I’m not in their direct vicinity?

@DanaNM, I’m hopeful that this time will do the trick!! Especially since I will just have more time (and patience) to devote to the process. With all the good signs I’ve seen in the past and recently, I’m pretty sure they want to be friends just as much as I want them too.

[Author]

Messages