Bunny left outside of pet shop, aggressive!

[Chansey]

I work at a pet shop, and occasionally people come to us with rabbits they need to rehome and we adopt them out to knowledgeable rabbit folks for an SPCA donation. I guess somebody heard about this, and dropped off a black and white dutchie by the front door overnight! :O

Of course we immediately took her in and checked her out... well, that didn't go well! We cannot even feed this rabbit without her attacking. She charges, grunts, bites (HARD, I have a big bruise to prove it), scratches... if anybody even gets close to her!

She is a fully grown female and appears to be spayed, because of scar.

Her nails are clipped and fine, she doesn't have dental problems or any lumps/scratches/wounds etc... No limp, doesn't appear to be in any pain (I know that doesn't mean much for a rabbit), just MEAN!

I love bunnies and I already love this beautiful bun, but do you guys have any advice on how to calm an ornery bunny? I am worried we are going to have a lot of trouble finding her an adoptive parent because of her intense attitude. I am at a loss...

Until then, she has everything she needs and will be well cared for... We are going to continue to try and win her over but any advice would be great

 

[elrohwen]

I think the best advice for aggressive bunnies is to just put your hand in the cage and don't flinch when they attack. You'll need to wear some heavy gloves and be very brave, but this shows them that hands are not a threat. Most aggressive bunnies do it out of fear and anxiety, so just keep that in mind - you don't want to do anything that will make her more anxious, for example.

Do you know about clicker training? This can be a great thing for aggressive bunnies because it teaches them how to interact and communicate with humans. Just clicking and treating whenever she is calm (as opposed to attacking) might help a lot. For resources, check out clickerbunny.com

 

[MiniLopHop]

Thank you for the suggested clicker training site. I just ordered the book. I clicker with my cats to teach them agility and I'm thinking about working with my bun too. It will be good exercise for her.

 

[Chansey]

Ok awesome! I will bring in some heavy gloves next time I go to work. I have never looked into clicker training, because I thought it was mainly for bunny agility and whatnot, but that sounds great.. I will check that out! Thank you for your help.

 

[Circle]

My rabbit Brownie used to be super aggressive, and I took advice from this book and it totally worked! All you do is this: whenever she attacks you (please, yes, wear gloves), just be like, "Nice (name here)!", and stuff like that. She'll be confused that you're praising her for it, and if you keep doing that and petting her a lot, and never scolding her when she attacks you, she'll stop being aggressive, because she'll start to like you and feel sorry that you're always so nice to her all the time. She'll start channelling all that aggressive energy into being affectionate. The book said that aggressive rabbits made the best pets because of that. They make the most affectionate pets after you get them to like you.

Worked for Brownie. She used to be soo scary, I hardly put my hand in her cage to feed her, and didn't want to let her out. But now she's so affectionate and smart, I've trained her to do tricks (stand, lap, walk, etc.) She nudges me when I say "bye!", and all kinds of stuff I wouldn't ever have dreamed the "vicious one" would do. :biggrin: