Anything I can do to help the non-dominant rabbit submit?

[NatalyNapaea]

At the humane society during the meet and greet the bunnies were showing very positive signs. Then at home in separate cages, everything was fine. After 3 dates in the washroom, it was obvious that the smaller boy rabbit would not be the dominant one, but I think he is having trouble accepting that and I guess still tries to become dominant. The female rabbit groomed him and then put her head down for him to groom him but he just wouldnt groom her back during any of the 3 dates and then eventually just nips her and they start to fight. She also tried to mount him but again he nips her. 

My q is, 

1: is there anything I can do to help him become submissive? Maybe put her poopies in his toilet or something to show him that she’s the boss?? lol

2: How can I end the dates on a good note if at that point they fight and bite whenever they get close to each other?

[sarahthegemini]

You can’t really do anything to encourage one bun to become submissive. You just have to wait for them to settle it between themselves. I marathon bonded my pair and for about a week my boy would try and mount my girl but she was having none of it. Eventually he stopped. Now I’d say my girl is top bun but they’re both pretty equal. Each pair is different and for a bond to work, both need to be happy with the arrangement. Three dates really isn’t long anyway in the grand scheme of things.

[Mikey]

You cant force one to be dominant and you cant force one to be submissive. They have to work it out themselves.

1) You should be swapping their cages once a day. Bun1 in cage1 and Bun2 in cage2 on even days + Bun1 in cage2 and Bun2 in cage1 on odd days. This teaches them to share their territory and makes bonding smoother.

2) End sessions before they start trying to fight. If they try to fight after 10 minutes, end sessions at 5 minutes, for example.

[NatalyNapaea]

Thank you for the answers! I will keep trying!

[Author]

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