Trio bonding with a scared girl and a grumpy boy!

[liara]

I have a bonded girl/boy pair and have been bonding them with my new girl. All are neutered and spayed etc etc.

All thing considered it’s not been going too badly and aside from some dominance assertion on the first date, the older girl shows little interest in my new girl. My boy however just seems to dislike her. It hasn’t broken into a full fight but he will charge her to nip her. He won’t persue her though, and he will see that she is in the carry box and leave her alone, but the nipping and charging has resulted in my new girl becoming very scared of him. To the extent that if they get too close she will just bolt without even giving him a chance. This bolting of course then makes the others nervous, not to mention grumpy with her when she accidently barrels straight into them!

Any tips as to how to calm down my new girl? As I really think that it the main barrier to their bonding atm. They are being bonded in neutral territory and share a long plate of kale (although the new girl tends to take a mouth full and run), and have a bit to stress bonding on the way TO the kitchen.

I’m planning on swapping hutches more regularily and putting a clear screen across the baby gate so that they can see each other but not GET to each other. I may also try the mashed-banana-on-the-face method but my new girl doesn’t like sweets. Hopefully having my older girl groom her will help her confidence though…

 I could move the hutches into the same room? But I am concerned that they will fight through the bars. But perhaps that will force them to get over it? I could do a long session where you keep them together for a whole day?

 Any thoughts? :S My boy hasn’t even shown any interest in humping the new girl (suprising really because she is gooorrgeous )

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

How long are the bonding sessions you are doing? Sometimes if they are in a large area, a longer session would give them some time to recover from the scare and try again.
Are you putting all three together? Or doing 1 on 1?

Not sure I’d move hutches together, though swapping blankets or stuffed animals is a good way to get them used to their smells.

[Author]

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