how to catch my bunny?

[lola the lionhead]

lola is a house bunny and in summer we let her in her outdoor run during the day. sometimes we let her have free roam of the garden (we block off the gates and check fences so she is safe) but when we try to get her back, we end up chasing her as she refuses to come back to us. we eventually do get her, but she gets very stressed and worked up and i don’t like chasing her round and round. does anyone have any good ways of catching her?

 

[CharlieRae]

Sit and let her come to you. Rabbits are very curious creatures. So she will eventually come to check you out. But it may take a while.
You could also try getting some type of panel and making her space temporarily smaller when you want to catch her.

 

[lavendertealatte]

Treats/food is the only way I can get Bunster to do anything for me lol. If this is a routine, incorporate her meal time into it. We let Bunster out for play in the evening in our den, and have trained her to "Go home!" on command using clicker training techniques and pellets, she's not perfect but pretty good now cause she knows once she goes back in it's food time!

 

[Blue eyes]

Chasing her around is not ideal, as you said. There are a couple ways that might work. Lavender touched on the one I used to use. When we lived back east, our rabbit would be allowed to run in the backyard ("garden" for you in the UK ). To get him back in, I would shake his treat box and he would run back inside to his cage to get his treat.

The other idea CharlieRae touched on. If your yard is small enough, you can use an x-pen (or possibly 2 attached together) to block off whatever area she is in when it is time to go inside. Then you can gradually walk the pen in towards her (basically shrinking the area) until she is confined into a tiny area. (This may take 2 people to hold the pen.) Then you could place a carrier in the shrunken space and continue to shrink it until she basically has no choice but to hop inside the carrier.

Either of these is a good option because she is the one "deciding" to go in the carrier (even if she has no other option). In her eyes, it is her choice, so that is better then her getting upset with you for 'chasing and capturing' her regularly.