Question about training 2 buns

[Baxter n Boos Mom]

 

I wasn’t sure if this belonged in Q&A or Behavior….

 

Just Sunday, I told my husband how fortunate we are that our buns (who have been bonded for 10 months) never went through humping – to establish dominance.  I SPOKE TOO SOON!  Monday evening – during our Tricks for Treats session, as both buns were vying for my attention, Baxter started to hump Boo. 

 

My questions are:

 

1) Why would Baxter (dominant bun) hump Boo after so much time has passed without exhibiting this behavior – and during their training session?   Does the fact that Boo receives any attention threaten the established hierarchy?   Or does he just feel that Boo should not receive any attention – ever?  He does chase Boo away when I pet him as well.

 

2) Should I continue to train the buns together, and let them just work it out?  Or train the boys separately? If the gate is closed, and Baxter is on the other side – he gets very agitated.  I guess I could always close the door.

 

 

Thank you.

 

    

[Elrohwen]

Mine will both hump each other if the other is getting a treat and they aren’t. So it could be dominance behavior, or it could just be “hey, get out of my way! I want that treat!”

If you can train them separately, that would be better. It is hard for them to separate out who is getting a treat for what behavior, so you will be able to teach things faster one at a time. Though if you just want to have fun and don’t mind how fast they are learning, you can continue with the joint sessions. When I’m giving treats together, I just try to keep both bunnies occupied enough that they don’t start humping and bothering each other.

[Sarita]

Sometimes humping is simply because they are excited which is probably the reason for this – the treat.

[Baxter n Boos Mom]

Thank you so much for your insight! I really appreciate it.

So – I may try the separate training sessions….and see how that goes.

[Author]

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