How to successfully put a harness on?

[Hm523]

I feel terrible that my bunny (Oliver, ~1 year old) spends most of his life in his cage due to me being so busy. I just feel like such a negligent owner, as I have (unintentially) prioritized my busy life ahead of his life. Due to the fact that I live in an apartment, he has never even been able to spend time outside (other than on the concrete balcony). I just want to give him the opportunity to experience the outdoors, to run around and play in the grass and whatnot as he would if he were in his natural habitat. In an effort to increase his well-being and give him a better life not confined to his cage, I purchased a harness for him so that I could take him outside and walk him and let him experience life outside of my tiny apartment. Anyway, the problem is that he just will not allow me to put the harness on him. What he doesn’t realize is that, if he would just let me put the harness on, he could go outside with me and have so much fun playing outside. Does anyone have any tips on how to get my rabbit to calm down and allow me to get the harness on him? I just want to take him on a walk and let him experience a better life than he ever has! I know he would love it! Then I could take him outside for maybe an hour or so per day to let him get some fresh air and exercise. Please help me help my Oliver to live a happier life!

[Sr. Melangell]

I’m wanting to do this with Olly, just round the house, my garden is unsafe, I came across this on YouTube you may find helpful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghUJxRaz0nk#t=75.661

As an owner of an ‘Olly,’ I do know they can be sort, ‘Oooh that’s nice, I like that.’ Then when you attempt anything its ‘No get it away.’

You could get bunny an X-Pen.

Sadly if he doesn’t want a harness on he will let you know, or he might chew it off. 

[Azerane]

Some rabbits never take to harnesses because it goes so much against their prey nature. Some can be trained to accept them though. You need to start very slow. Introduce the harness as something he can sniff and pet him with it if he lets you. The next step after he accepts that is to drape the open harness over the back. Let him get used to the feeling of it being there, try offering food during this time so that he’ll sit there comfortably with it on. After that it gets more tricky, if your rabbit doesn’t like having their belly touched, it can take a long time to train looping the harness around. Instead of reaching under his belly with my fingers, I trained Bandit by pushing the loose end of the harness under his belly, along the floor and just picking it up on the other side. If he runs, let him go. You don’t want to force it on him. Rushing harness training can result in serious injury. Many rabbits panic when a harness is partially or fully secured and they may run wildly around, this puts them at risk of getting the harness caught or tripping on it, resulting in injury. It takes a lot of time and patience but can be done.

After that, general outdoor and harness safety should be followed. Be very aware of dogs, cats, birds of prey etc. Loud or big things that may scare your rabbit. When rabbits bolt while wearing a harness, it can result in a sudden jerk at the end of a leash which I have heard anecdotally has been known to break necks/backs. Make sure you have a long, slack lead to compensate for this. Or better yet, invest in an xpen which you can set up on the lawn area.

[Mikey]

Harnesses can cause a lot of fear, even after they are used to wearing them. Once outside, everything around is considered unpredictable. If your rabbit gets scared, he can run and get caught, either hurting him, or ripping off his harness where he might run away in fear. Ive seen a rabbit get so scared in a harness it screamed (a sound i never want to hear again) and tried to attack itself. A harness can also snap a bunnies spine if they freak out in the wrong way. Honestly, a pen is so much safer

One out of three of my rabbits likes the harness, so only that one bun of mine ever wears it and only when need be. I started by having the harness just laying around. Then putting it on him, giving him a treat, and immediately taking it off. When he was used to that, leave the harness on for a few minutes, give a treat, take it off. Continue that but throw the leash on the floor. Put the leash on the harness, give a treat, take the leash off. Ect. Even then, when he wears the harness, he is never walking/he is always in my arms or his bunny bag. For a bunny walk, you would have to let him lead and go wherever he wants to go. Theres also the question of is the grass outside of your apartment safe? When they mow the grass outside of my apartment they put down fertilizer and once a month they put down weed killers. Neither of which are safe for bunnies

A bunny proofed room would be better for him to explore for a few hours out of the day

[skysblue]

Rabbits who never go out usually have a hard time being out in the field. They are not really dogs.. you can try to pen him outside without harness and see how he feels first.

I put my harness on my rabbit out on the balcony because she gets so frighten and just let me do whatever…but she always end up just fine.
https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/145349/Default.aspx

[Alfreds minion]

I tied a piece of elastic (the type used for sewing) to my leash handle, then tied a loop in the elastic to use as a handle. So basically i extended the leash with a piece of elastic. This means if Alfred takes off and I can’t keep up he doesn’t come to such a sudden stop and get jerked back so hard. It seems to work really well. I’ve only used the leash in a fenced backyard, so there’s not too much to freak him out. Alfred is not at all bothered by the harness.

[Love4Bunny]

I think adding levels to your space is a good option. If you use those NIC cubes, you can secure it to the wall. I’m sure there’s a 3M hook for that When I didn’t have my second expen open, I set up barriers around my living space using whatever I could make/ find, and I just bought bunny cottages and mazes from BB (as well as home-made tunnels and such) and swapped them out. Living in a small space means that you are forced to think outside the box. Of course, you don’t want the levels to be like the Tower of Babel, where the thing just reaches to the roof (dangerous for bunnies). Personally, if I can’t take my bunnies out for the day, I will open their pen and reorganise their space to let them play, and they love it. Bunnies are naturally curious, so they want to explore and assess and visit every little thing. This actually works in our favour. Essentially, if the harness thing doesn’t work out, this is another option.

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