My rabbit is so difficult to control?

[hportland]

I just recently adopted a five month old New Zealand White named Pinkerton (unneutered) and while he’s very sweet and affectionate, he is so hard to control! He won’t let me pick him up yet, and he’s so big that when I do try, he kicks so strongly that I always have to let go or feel like I’m going to accidentally hurt him. This has caused problems, like when he got out of his pen at one in the morning (waking me up in the process) and attacked my older Dutch rabbit. I ended up having to put my Dutch in his cage all night long, because I couldn’t catch Pinkerton, and when I did, I couldn’t hold him for long enough to put him back in his pen. I was SO tired and mad and didn’t have patience to herd him back through the complicated mess of gates and fences that I have set up right now while I figure out the best way to contain them both. I just waited until morning and then did it. He also does not listen to me when I tell him “No”. For example, he’ll chew on the carpet in an attempt to get out of his newly secured pen, even though I have given him tons of toys (edible and non-edible). I know you’re supposed to clap your hands or yell out “No” to stop them, but he usually ignores these strategies.And if I gently push him away, he’ll just go right back it once I move away.

I know that rabbits aren’t like dogs and aren’t meant to be “disciplined”, andI would never legitimately yell at him or handle him roughly. I’m just at a loss as how to handle these problems :/ I don’t really have these issues with my Dutch rabbit, who is eight years old and well behaved. Will these problems become milder once he gets older or neutered? I’m in the middle of saving up for it and should be able to get it done next month.  I understand that problems like this will never go away completely, and that’s okay. Even my Dutch has his moments. I would just really appreciate some helpful advice!

 

PS. I know that he’s a teenager in rabbit years, and that they do get rather rebellious. But I worry that this will stick with him as a natural part of his personality if I don’t find a way to keep it under control more efficiently.

[Sarita]

Well, he sounds like a typical rabbit to me. I would suggest you don’t pick him up at all – I’ve had NZW’s in the past and they get very large and I just did everything I needed to do on the ground with them so as not to drop them and cause any injury. My NZW Maxine was about 13 pounds full grown and as she aged and got severe arthritis I still would not pick her up – it was too awkward. I sat on the ground and held her that way if I needed to but I just couldn’t and wouldn’t pick her up off the ground.

Very few rabbits respond or understand “no”. I rarely have been successful using this technique…what exactly is he doing when you tell him no or is it just regular naughty rabbit behavior that he doesn’t respond.

I do think that age and altering will help with some of the issues. I love the name Pinkerton for a NZW by the way.

Is your pen tall enough? Is he jumping out? Maybe a taller pen is a good idea and you can also clip a white sheet over the top – for some reason a sheet over the top seems to help with some jumpers.

[hportland]

Thanks for the response, Sarita!
First of all, you’re the first person I’ve seen on here who’s had experience with NZWs. Would you mind if I messaged you some questions about them? They’re weirdly difficult to find information on keeping online :/
Anyway, I’ve read that they shouldn’t be picked up due to their size, so I only try to do it when necessary (like when I tried to get him back into his pen after he attacked my Dutch). I just feel like it would be a good idea to be able to pick him if situations arise that call for it (say, he’s downstairs and something scares the heck out of him, and I need to get him back up to my room asap). You know? It is comforting though knowing that you successfully managed a rabbit of his breed without needing to pick her up much!

The “No” is often directed at him when he chews on the carpet (despite his many toys), or chews on something that he shouldn’t (like my wooden trash basket) when I let him out. He also goes CRAZY trying to move the pen that surrounds my Dutch rabbit whenever he has the opportunity. I can move the trash basket, but not so much the Dutch pen.

Good to know about the aging, that would be a relief! And thanks about his name

The pen for him is definitely tall enough. I finally managed to secure it so he can’t pull it apart anymore, the downside being that it’s now just a circular pen which doesn’t allow a huge amount of room for exercise. As a result, I just give him certain time frames to run around my room, which leads to problems like trying to move the Dutch rabbit’s fence :/

[Sarita]

Not a problem to PM and I’ll try my best to answer…I have had 2 NZWs – one was Gideon who I rescued from an animal shelter as a baby and I did manage to find him a home when he was about 1 year old.

Maxine was a rescue from the same shelter – she was there due to an eviction – she was full grown (not sure of her age though) but she had a tattoo and she had been spayed so I suspect she was a rescue from somewhere prior to coming to the shelter – she lived with me until her death.

I’ve also had some Dutch rabbits as well – Mango and Jazz and there may have been a few others but those two come to mind – I love the Dutch rabbits too…so smart and so cute.

[Flopsie]

i’m going to get a little technical here so if it bores you, I apologize.

“No” is a human, social construct, and alone, has no meaning. For animals especially, “no” definitely has no meaning. It is only meaningful in the context of society that we live in.

However, you can pair things up with the spoken “no” to make it have meaning. You will be doing operant condition while pairing a neutral generalized punisher. Note when I speak of “punisher” i’m speaking in behavior terms which is defined as something that is added or taken away to reduce or decrease a behavior.

So if you pair “No” everytime you spray the water in the bunny’s face, and assuming that the water spray is not liked and will get him to stop, then “no” becomes associated with that action. Just a little a first, but continuous pairings will allow the bunny to come to understand that “no” has the same value of the water spray. Then you will thin out the ratio of punishment so that you aren’t delivering the spray each time but saying no until you can deliver the spray on a variable interval schedule. This is one way you can make “no” work.

[Sarita]

That totally makes sense Flopsie! Probably why saying “no” has never worked for me either. It’s like saying their name – I like to think they know their name but my head says it’s probably not the case. I don’t know why we as humans should think that animals know what the word “no” does mean LOL.

[hportland]

Thank you, Sarita! I will send you a message soon Dutch rabbits are one of the cutest breeds ever. I got mine from a friend’s family about a year ago when he was seven and just fell in love. And I find him even cuter now that he looks super tiny in comparison to Pinkerton. Also, I think your rabbits probably do know their names! I mean, Mr. Pickleboots (the Dutch) always looks over when I say his name. I think it takes a while, but they eventually realize that you’re referring to them. They can just be coy like cats sometimes and ignore you haha :p

Flopsie, oh! That completely makes sense, thank you so much! It’s just like classic conditioning, basically. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that earlier. That could be such a big help in this problem, thank you again!

[litheandgraphic]

I concur with all that’s been said here.

Remember too that unlike dogs, rabbits’ breeds don’t really determine very much about their behavior or attitude; well, not as specifically or with as much certainty, anyway – there are some generalized traits that tend to be fairly true. Size often does factor into behavior though.

Quick question: your avatar, is that a wet bunny? And if so, why?

Also, Dutchie power!

[hportland]

It’s so funny how cats and dogs have certain behavioral traits attributed to their breed, but with rabbits, it’s all about size! So interesting.

And yep yep, that’s Mr. Pickleboots in a very shallow bath. I know it’s not recommended to bathe rabbits, but he got into the cat’s litter box (with pee and poop, ugh) so I decided to wash him since I’m a huge fan of smooching him all over :/ Don’t worry, I didn’t get his ears or face wet at all! Just his lower body. And he did get blow-dried (on “warm”), as well as towel dried. I don’t plan on doing it again unless necessary. I just figured that since I had some rabbit shampoo, I might as well.
Dutchie power indeed!

[litheandgraphic]

Ahhh, I see. It was probably good to get the clay litter off his body as well, but I would recommend using a brush and/or lightly damp towel against soaking his whole body in the future just to prevent against the shock/hypothermia risk.

It’s handy that you had rabbit safe shampoo, but really that stuff is just a scam as you might imagine, since bunnies don’t need baths.

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