How to bond with an older bunny

[Fergi]

Hi everyone. I have another question. Hope someoneout there can help. This forum is so useful, I check it several times aday and do lots of other Web browsing but have yet to come across ananswer to my question.

How do you bond with an older bunny? Bandit is a one-year-old neuteredmale and if you have read any of my others posts you know hisbackground. For the most part I keep him fenced in my kitchen duringthe day so he gets used to me coming and going in the kitchen. Latelyhe has stopped to sniff me once or twice. In the evenings I like to lethim explore the rest of the house when things have quited down. Myproblem is that when I reach into his cage to pick him up he sometimesnips me. I understand why he does this, (territorial of his belongingsand space.) My question is how to help him understand that it is notbad to be handled a little. So far I have tried a couple of times a dayto just sit and pet him while he is in the cage for a few seconds andthen put a treat in there too on occasion. He won't take treats from myhand yet but I hope to work up to that. If anyone has any suggestionson how to better bond with my new bun I would appreciate it. I knowtime, patience, and trust are the most essential things when trainingbut anyone have any other tricks up their sleeves?

Thanks

Adrienne

 

[Buck Jones]

Less apt to nip if you can approach him from above, than to reach into his cage at his eye level.

Talk nice talk in a high pitched cooing manner,like you would talk toan infant. Think nice thoughts about him for there are manywho believe they have a sixth sense when it comes to reading a person'sintentions.

If you are fearful of him biting you, he will in all probability smellyour fear and react negatively toward you. I've read thatthey don't like white clothing because it is too non-descript in theirvision. May react negatively to your breath if you haverecently consumed meat and/or dairy products. May not likecertain perfume, soap, lotion odors, so approach as natural smelling asyou can.

Get him to come to you by holding a treat in front of him and makinghim approach. Gradually increase distance he must traverse to get histreat. Say, "Come" while doing this and you will be on yourway to training him to come when called.

Just some suggestion. Some, all, or none may work on the individual bun, and they are all individuals, bar none!

Buck