how to punish bunny

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 5sd replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 3 months ago by LittlePuffyTail.

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- 01/06/2014 at 9:13 PM
  MariaG
  Participant
  60 posts
  my rabbit bentley is 3 and hes not neutered which i know is most of the problem but whatever. he bites and hes bratty.if i touch something of his he will attack my feet and bite pretty hard, if i am holding him he will dig on my shirt and bite my chest. he can be so sweet sometimes and loves to cuddle, he lets me pet him and everything but its like hes bi polar and he goes from being super sweet to a psycho animal in 2 seconds. how can i punish him and teach him that biting and digging on me is not right. im not talking about smacking him or causing him pain! i mean something like squirting him with a water bottle or putting him into his cage right after he bites, is there anything else i could try ? ive tried squealing too and that doesnt work.
- 01/06/2014 at 9:26 PM
  Deleted User
  Participant
  22064 posts
  You can try saying “no” firmly when you correct him with the water bottle or time out so that he comes to associate the vocal command with the consequence
- 01/06/2014 at 9:52 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  16898 posts
  What you are describing could definitely be hormonal behavior. So, of course, our advice would be to have him neutered. The digging and biting is him demanding attention of you. If you are holding him against his will, it may also be his way to saying “put me down”. I guess it all depends on the circumstances surrounding the behavior.
  
  As far as punishment goes, rabbits don’t do well with negative reinforcement. You can redirect him when he is doing something undesirable. And as marshmallow said, you can firmly say “no” to what ever he is doing. Some people use spray bottles, but not all buns respond to them. Time outs can be useful if there is something that they just will not leave alone one day. I have put Leopold in time out just to give him some time to forget about what he was doing. I don’t think he really associates what he was doing with being put in time out though.
- 01/06/2014 at 9:53 PM
  Zombie-Sue
  Participant
  875 posts
  You could try squirting him, but in general rabbits do not learn well from punishment.
  
  You already know what your problem is.
- 01/07/2014 at 5:29 AM
  DebbieP
  Participant
  23 posts
  Get him neutered and his aggressive behavior will at least become less if not go away.
- 01/07/2014 at 6:31 AM
  LittlePuffyTail
  Moderator
  18092 posts
  Its pretty futile to try to “correct” hormonal behavior. Aggressiveness like biting is definitely hormonal behavior.
  
  Were you planning on getting him neutered?
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