That was interesting…

[pinkiemarie]

We’ve been on a break since the last time I posted just basically resetting bunny heads to start over fresh. I took the difficult pair of my trio in the car today and wow I wish I had done this ages ago. The third rabbit is so terrified if everything and so hard to handle that I never tried this because I didn’t want to do dates with only 2 buns. But it went so well. Clover and Ben didn’t really cuddle up exactly but they sat next to each other the entire time with NO BITING which is unhead of for these two. And when we parked at home and I tried to take Ben out Clover kind of pressed into him as if to say no don’t take him. So I let go and then they put their noses together briefly. I’m so glad for the advice DanaNM has given me and after we’ve done this a few times I think poor Wally is going to have to suffer through a car ride with them.

[DanaNM]

That’s great!

. . . 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.  

[LBJ10]

When it comes to bonding, sometimes a little bit of stress can be a good thing. If you don’t want to do a car ride, you could try the cardboard box trick. You put the bunnies in the box and then drag it around, shuffle it, etc.

[pinkiemarie]

Oh the car ride was amazing. We did it again the next day then when we got home we went to the normal date spot for about 15 minutes and there was no grooming or anything but they just sat next to each other nicely. It was a lot for them so we’ll probably do the next one tomorrow why then maybe try a date without a ride first? Maybe we’ll do the moving box that time first. I’m still deciding. I don’t want to overwhelm them but I also don’t want to do too little and have them get mean again.

[DanaNM]

That sounds like great progress. 🙂

I sometimes end up rushing things, so I try to counter that by doing things one step longer than I think is probably necessary. If none of the buns are getting too stressed from the car (everyone’s eating and pooping goes back to normal quickly), then I don’t see the harm in another car ride. Or just to have an intermediate step to no-car ride, you could pop them in the bin, walk outside, then come right back in and do the session after that.

I also find it really helpful to set time short goals ahead of time, and to end the session once I reach the goal (assuming everything is going well). So if you did 15 min and it was great, aim for 15 again the next day. Then if that goes well try for 20 the next day, then maybe 25 or 30 after that… always trying to end on a good note! It can be tempting to push things a little too far when you’re making progress and end up back tracking a little.

But overall good job! Glad the car rides helped!

. . . 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.  

[pinkiemarie]

Nobody has had an issue with eating or pooping so we’re good there! 2 dates ago though we did the carrier but just in the house and I guess I moved it around too much because Clover was chomping her teeth for a good 5 minutes, and I really sunny want her to be THAT stressed. Yesterday I put her and Ben into the carrier and they immediately went at it. I got between then but left them and rocked it around until they stopped. Then we went on with our date. My boy is actually being great with her right now but she tried to bite him several times yesterday. I’m holding strong and not petting unless someone gets upset and just pushing her head down then backing off when we stops. So hard, she’s 4 times bigger than him and I always want to comfort them so she stops lol

[Author]

Messages