Aggressive behavior towards owner

[whereiswaldo]

Hi,

I'm an animal behavior counselor working at a shelter, and I answer people's behavior and training questions over the phone. 99.999% of the time, the questions I get are about dogs and cats, but today I talked with a rabbit owner who is dealing with unprovoked aggression from her two intact female rabbits. She is getting them spayed in February, but wants to know if there are any training techniques that can help them learn to stop biting her.

I don't have much rabbit knowledge, so I am in the midst of some research because I really do want to help this person. Have any of you dealt with something similar and were you able to overcome it? I suggested the basic counter conditioning that normally works for any food motivated animal, but she said that the rabbits just take the treats from her and then bite her anyway.

Also, does spaying ever solve the problem on its own, or should there be some behavior modification in place too?

Any new information would be great. If anyone here has dealt with unprovoked aggressive behavior, how did you handle it?

Thanks!

-whereiswaldo

 

[Blue eyes]

It is definitely possible that spaying alone will solve the problem. The aggression may be (and often is) purely hormonal.

I'd be curious as to the rest of the situation. Environment, housing conditions, how/if (and where) the bunnies are allowed to interact are all factors that can play into the scenario.

Intact females can be extremely territorial, competitive, and aggressive. Rabbits can and will fight to the death. Are these two interacting? Are they separate but housed near each other? There are just many factors that can influence the behavior of rabbits. And all of these various factors must be taken into consideration. It is never a simple matter of "do this and bunny will do that."

A rabbit that is being strongly affected by hormones (not all are affected this way) is usually beyond any training until it is spayed (or neutered).

The usual advice would probably be to wait until after the spay (and spay sooner than later). The only possible teaching technique that may or may not work with a hormonal rabbit is to mimic a momma rabbit. When bunny commits a wrong act, immediately push bunnies head down to the floor (gently but firmly) and hold for several seconds. Then release.

Other than hormones and spaying, there is too much missing information to formulate alternative reasons (and consequently solutions) to the aggression.

 

[whereiswaldo]

Thanks for replying!

The two are housed together and get along for the most part. They have the run of her upstairs during the day, and she has various things for them to chew on and play with. I don't know what kind of cage she keeps them in.

Since the bunnies have started being aggressive, she says she has backed off a little bit and tries to allow them to come to her for attention rather than approaching them, so that they don't see her as a threat. This worked for awhile, but lately their only interactions with her have been aggressive. The bunnies are 9 months old, and this behavior has been getting steadily worse, so to me it sounds like it could be hormonal?

I will pass the "mama bunny" disciplining technique along, and will follow up with her again after the rabbits are spayed. Thanks again for replying, this has been incredibly helpful.

 

[lydzzx]

Rabbits are in my experience a lot happier when they have been spayed and it means that owners worry less about them

 

[majorv]

Our rabbits are all intact and during the hormonal stage they can be aggressive. Some of our young rabbits never give us a problem, and it usually dies down once they get past those 'teen age' years. I agree with pushing their heads down to the floor. You're the 'alpha' and they need to understand that, regardless of whether they are spayed or not. It could be that her backing off from interactions with them has also made it a little worse.

 

[ladysown]

advise her to have something between her and the bunnies at all times.
YOU DO NOT want the bunnies to keep practising this behaviour.
A towel or piece of cardboard will do the trick nicely.

get them spayed as soon as possible. The practising of poor behaviour in rabbits can cause it to continue.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

You need to be the alpha at all times and remember"train your bunny, don't let it train you"!

 

[golfdiva]

My bunny used to hide under the bed, then jump out and bite my barefeet as I walked by. I stamped my feet loudly when she did this. That stopped the behavior quickly. She actually appeared to be embarrassed!