Dealing with a Bossy Bunny
So a few years into rabbit breeding, I was pretty confident in my abilities to draw out a shy rabbit, make an insecure rabbit feel safe, and a help rabbits adjust to big changes and get used to a decent amount of noise and activity without being tense. I thought I was good, until Bossy Bunny. It took me a few months to wrap my head around what was going on. In my defense, up to that point, my bucks were super sweet and very lovable (I guess I got lucky), and the occasional doe that got frustrated was inevitably due to having a litter. This was a whole new ball game.
Let me describe some of Bossy Bunny's behaviors. Bossy Bunny likes to spray to show that he owns things - his cage, his box, around his cage, the floor, you, etc. Bossy Bunny pretends that he is okay with being picked up, but then once he is securely in your arms, he scrambles with all the energy he can muster, scratching you in the process. Bossy Bunny likes to lunge at your hand when you reach in his cage. Bossy Bunny's favorite interaction is turning his back to you. Bossy Bunny is picky about what treats he likes.
Our Bossy Bunny is now rehabilitated. He is mostly just a strong willed, lovable bunny. Almost all of his bad behaviors have been fixed, tempered or just need a reinforcement reminder - as long as he lives with me. I say this to emphasize a key point. I truly believe that the road back to Bossy Bunny could be short if he went to live somewhere else. Why? Because I have set boundaries and disciplined him in a way another owner may not.
It's pretty unacceptable to me, to have a nasty bunny. Nasty bunnies end up in shelters, or best case scenario, alone in a cage in the corner. So I certainly wasn't going to let Bossy Bunny win. I tried my normal routine as described in my last post. Didn't work. So I started watching and studying the behavior and personality of this bunny. I realized a few things right off. 1. He was super strong willed. 2. He wanted to be herd buck. 3. He wanted to breed. 4. He was ignorantly fearless. It was going to take a multi-faceted approach to fix this.
How did I do it? So, for starters, I moved him. I put Bossy Bunny next to a super friendly buck on one side, and an open aisle on the other. I moved all the girls away from him. I do have to admit that he went through a period of slight melodramatic depression. However, he was bred during that period, so I knew it was just drama. This also had the effect of reducing his spraying by a solid 80%. Whenever I noticed that he had sprayed his cage, the floor, or anything else, I promptly wiped it down with a non-toxic cleaner with peppermint essential oil. One particular time, he proceeded to respray as soon as I walked away. Game on. I wiped. He sprayed. I wiped. He sprayed. I wiped. Seriously. You just have to be willing to do it one more time than he does.
To deal with the scrambling, I started putting on a sweatshirt before picking him up, or grabbing him with a towel. He was NOT pleased. He frantic nail ripping was rendered ineffective, and all the material just gave me a firmer grip on him. So, same pattern. Scramble with no effect, pause, scramble with no effect, pause, etc. I just held him until he gave up. In between I pet him and talked to him like nothing unusual was happening.
I don't recall Bossy Bunny ever really biting me. He gave me a graze or two as a threat, and lots of lunging. Regardless, I am not going to put up with either of those behaviors. Literally every time I needed to reach into his cage, I would gently press down on his head with one hand, and then do whatever with the other (fill his bowl, clean up his cage, give him hay, etc.) If he tried to add the threat of a graze, I just said "NO!" loudly. He eventually gave up.
Finally, Bossy Bunny tried to control me with his response to my treats and willingness to pet him. I'm sure his theory was that if he rejected me and my treats, I would alter MY behavior until it resulted in him being loving to me. Very tricky. So, I just offered him one interaction. I gave him one treat option, and if he didn't like it, he didn't have to eat it. I called for him so I could pet him. If he sat in the back of his cage and pouted, I told him I loved him, pet his head once and walked away. I never acted like I needed him to be nice, or wanted him to love me. I just acted the same.
The overall affect of these actions resulted in a well behaved bunny, but they weren't easy. They took an unemotional choice and commitment on my part to help him get himself under control. In doing that, I became the Alpha.