Why does my bunny refuse to wear a harness?

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This topic has 5sd replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 10 months ago by Azerane.

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- 09/09/2017 at 12:18 PM
  two-camel-one-black
  Participant
  18 posts
  I bought my bunny a super cute harness and a leash, and she REFUSES to wear it. Every time i try to wrap it around her she runs away. Every single time.
  
  How can i hold her still so that she would wear it? is there a certain strategy or technique? because i dont want to hurt her.
  
  thanks all
- 09/09/2017 at 12:26 PM
  Bam
  Moderator
  17044 posts
  It’s really really scary for a rabbit to get a harness on. Most of us here don’t recommend harnesses for bunnies, they can hurt themselves pretty badly if they panick on a walk. But if you’re going to use a harness you should introduce it like people do when they introduce a fowl (or young horse) to a halter. You do it very gradually nowadays. Let the bun sniff the harness. Touch the bun with the harness. Reward with a treat. Same thing the next day. Then you can place the harness on the bun’s back – just lay it there. You go on until the bunny isn’t afraid of the harness. lots of treats and praise everytime the harness is around. You can use a clicker.
- 09/09/2017 at 2:11 PM
  12345ABCDE
  Participant
  5584 posts
  If she’s so against it, stop trying. If she were to run away and get twisted somehow..well, a member’s bun here had their leg amputated due to a harness/leash incident…
- 09/10/2017 at 6:01 AM
  two-camel-one-black
  Participant
  18 posts
  thanks for letting me know. i hope the member’s bun is ok ;(
- 09/10/2017 at 7:42 AM
  12345ABCDE
  Participant
  5584 posts
  I mean, you can train rabbits sometimes but I personally think it’s too big a risk.
- 09/10/2017 at 2:39 PM
  Azerane
  Moderator
  4691 posts
  A rabbit should never be forced to wear a harness. Being prey animals it can be a very scary experience for them, like being captured by a predator. Bam is correct with the technique that should be used for harness training. Very slow calm steps getting the bun used to be around and being touched by the harness. I had to do the same when I harness trained my previous bun, Bandit. I think it took me about a month to harness train him. A harness that is only partially done up, and a harness that is done up on a panicking rabbit can be extremely dangerous for the rabbit when they are running around if it gets caught on something.
  
  Keep in mind that some rabbits will never adjust well to a harness, and if that is the case you have to be aware of your rabbit’s body language and stop trying to train if your bun isn’t taking to it at all.
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