isn't it amazing what we do for our buns?  that's an interesting idea.  i know you'll keep us posted.  good luck!

that is an interesting method... paints quite an interesting picture in my mind.  lol.  glad that its working  

Well the suspension idea isn't working anymore. Apparently Maryann has become comfortable enough with it to start fighting again - even when I'm shaking the dang thing.

I decided to let them out of the cage and have free range of the apartment. Maryann spent half of her time chasing Dono and nipping him. But she never had her ears back when she did this. The got into one big ruckus, complete with rearing up, scratching at each other and so on. That's when I seperated them, gave them each a treat to end it on a good note and head on back to their cages. That's something else. When I handed them their treats, they came up next to each other to get it. Seems like I have found another motivator.

Oh, and I should note that when I was coaxing Maryann with a treat, Dono figured he'd get his own and went head first into the container of dried percimmons(sp), leaving them scattered all over the rug. He is a little piggy - eating twice as much as Maryann but being the same size.

I will be video taping tonight's bonding session since Auntie Heather at Rabbit Haven in Santa Cruz wants to see what's happening so she might be able to give some insight that I'm missing. 

wow there's just no end to maryann's feistiness!  i guess she's all trained for space now huh? 

and i guess that dono is feeling right at home now, what with helping himself to treats & all.

can't wait to see your next bonding session... it really sounds like you're making progress markus.  slow progress, but progress none-the-less!

( I mentioned this elsewhere but felt I should keep all info in the same place)

Today marks 2 months of having Dono.  Although this may be a long time, I should note that due to my injury, there has been realtively little bonding going on other than on the weekends at HRS.  So, they've not had a chance to try and bond in Maryann's home.

I tried the suspension technique where you hang a carrier by bungee cords and put the buns into it.  The first night, things went swimmingly - only one toussel and I didn't even need to intervene.  The second night though, I think Maryann became used to it and the fights were on.  I opened up the carrier to let them loose for a bit and about 30% of the time it was Maryann chasing Dono around and nipping him when she was close enough.  I stopped that night's bonding when Dono fought back and they were both rearing up and boxing.

The next night, I tried another box bonding with Heather's suggestion to lie Dono across Maryann's back when she nips him.  Here's the URL for the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgBm0wZqWR0

First, you'll see that Dono is scared of her - not wanting to have me bring him near her.  Then, you'll see Maryann biting him and the resulting 'across the back' with Dono.  The first time, Dono quickly took off.  The second time, I think it got to Maryann because she took off from under him.  The third time, Once I put Dono on her back, he began to 'chew' on the back of her neck.  I thought he was initiating a mounting so I left him alone.  But instead, she bucked, he fell off and all hell broke loose.  So, I seperated them again, allowing Maryann free run of the bedroom and Dono of the living room - so they could exercise out the tension.

Tonight I am going to try a car ride followed up with piles of leafy greens near one another and see how they do.  Then, Saturday, it's off to Rabbit Haven to see what they think of the whole mess.

Well just when you think there's no hope, something like this happens:

I took Maryann and Dono on a 10 min car ride and, as per usual, by the end of it Maryann was stretched out in the carrier and I caught Dono grooming her. So up to my place, put them into their bonding area, dropped two piles of greens into it and watched. This video takes place about two minutes into the session (excuse the focus but I somehow turned off the manual and can't find the switch now. )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr25PJcgo0U

You will see Dono give a warning thump when Maryann comes close. That was the only time they got that close during the session but I'm still going to take it as a small victory.

I have been watching this thread for a while and it has been very interesting.

I have not given any input as I didn't feel experienced enough.

This bonding session must give you some hope; maybe it is just going to take a lot of time and patience for you to see the rewards.

Keep up the good work.

no kidding huh?  I'm so glad you finally got rewarded with an encouraging date experience at home!  yay!

umm.... between your bunnies that is

yahoo... great progress (to the inexperienced eye anyways)!  maryann is your bun and dono will end up being her bun

This weekend I brought Maryann and Dono back down to the Rabbit Haven in Santa Cruz so Auntie Heather could take a look at them. Osprey helped with some bonding time and they both saw first hand Maryann's nips towards Dono. Heather spent some time with just Maryann trying to suss out what her issue was and went off with them in a cart at PetSmart to see them together. She came back with sweaters on both of them. The one for Dono was armor against Maryann's attacks and the other one was on Maryann to give her the sensation that someone was constantly holding her. Unfortunately, it didn't stop Maryann from nipping Dono in the face. Heather's bonding techniques are to take the bun that was nipped and put it over the nipper. And the sad thing was that the moment she did that with Dono, Dono began grooming Maryann as if to say "I don't know what I am doing, but I am sorry!"

However, she confirmed what everyone else has. Maryann's "attacks" do not seem to be hostile as she doesn't chase him or persue the attack other than a nip or two. She seems to be irritated enough at him though that if he gets into her space, she'll nip. Heather thinks it might be because of teeth issues with Maryann that makes her grumpy but the vet confirmed that there aren't any issues as of yet.  We just don't know what Maryann is irritated about to be causing this.

So, the end result is that I am going to keep them until the end of February. If Maryann doesn't warm up to Dono by then, I think I am going to turn Dono back over to them. He REALLY wants to have a girlfriend and here at home all he does is sulk in the corner of his pen that is farthest away from Maryann. He is still eating though so I'm not worried about his physical health - just his emotional. If this happens, I'll probably take Maryann on a couple more dates but unless love at first sight happens, I'm just going to keep her as a single bun. She seems quite happy being by herself.

Heather also said that she'd have no issue boarding the two of them and working on them to bond them. I'm not sure having another person bond them will do much good as I witnessed the same behaviour while both Heather and Osprey worked with them. I am going to be boarding them at the HRS near the end of February as I am heading to a 4 day conference. We'll see if being away from home with strangers helps at all or not.

So now it's now week 7 on the bonding quest.

We went the week doing 15 min car rides and time in the kitchen and the same thing went on each day.  Dono would sit scooshed up in his corner, Maryann in the opposite corner.  She'd venture out, sniff Dono, Dono would thump and, if Maryann was standing on anything other than the tile, nip Dono.

Sunday, we went to the HRS to try it there.  There was some more non-nipping times when they were both close together but I think that was due to Maryann being preoccupied with the new cat roaming around the place.  I tried some face to face bonding with them but it would usually end with Maryann nipping Dono and then increasing from there.

I then brought them home.  I opened Dono's cage (a large dog kennel) and opened up the carrying case.  They BOTH hopped into the large dog kennel and began checking things out.  I had trouble getting Maryann out because she'd hide in his cardboard house.  Eventually, she hopped out of the open cage door and I was able to scoop her up and put her into her cage.

I am still not giving up on them.  They WILL be bonded.

Excellent job Markusdark, you should get the award for never giving up.

Here is a collection of some clips of one of my latest bonding sessions with Dono and Maryann:

www.youtube.com/watch

You'll see how Dono will just go to a corner and stay there as still as possible.  Maryann will sometimes ignore him and sometimes nip him but it never really seems like she's overtly hostile towards him - afterall she always leaves him alone after just one nip.

Oh, and I also left about 30 seconds of Dono grooming himself - because it was cute and he reminded me of the gopher from Caddyshack.

wow markus thats a huge difference from earlier footage of the 2... you're def making progress!  they sure are cute bun buns

Well that is because she's on linoleum.  If she had sure footing, she'd continue the attack until Dono hopped away.  She's alot less sure of herself when her legs keep sliding out from under her.

It is just strange though that that is the extent of her 'attack'.

Wow Markus...I've been MIA for a while and just now had the chance to catch up on Maryann and Dono. I am so glad to hear that you are still going full steam ahead...

I just finished watching you last clip and it looks GREAT. The fact that he will groom in front of her is a good sign. You are doing absolutely fantabulous and I agree that they WILL bond!

*jackie

wow, sounds like all of you have been working hard! When I was trying to bond Daisy and Lola, after about a month we had gotten so close, but I still couldn't trust them together alone. Just a lot of irritating petty bickering if you know what I mean. Like kids going "MOM! it's LOOKING at me!"

I finally got fed up with it and turned them loose in the living room for the weekend while I rebuilt the condo, and let my dog, Floppie, wander through on the way to the kitchen. She'd never hurt a fly and never even looked their way, but boy, did those 2 bunnies huddle together under the stove. All weekend, if I saw them starting to fuss, I'd call Floppie in and those 2 bunnies were trying to crawl into each other's skin they were snuggling so close. They moved liked they were attached together from shoulder to hip and now in their condo, they're love buns.

I know that sounds mean, but the car rides, the bucket trots, nothing else seemed to faze them much, guess they know I wouldn't hurt them. But one whiff of doggie BO and they became siamese twins.

Well Auntie Heather has a new boy in mind for Maryann to meet.  Lenny

I'm not sure if he'll be any better though.  For one, he's less than a year old and two - Maryann is a persnickety deva.  I think that Heather is hoping that another Dutch would be able to handle Maryann's temperment better.  But, if they don't hit it off and hit it off well tomorrow, I'm going to stick with Dono for another two weeks.  The holidays are coming up and I'd want to give him a chance with the boarding/bonding session.

Tonight is laundry night so I'll be bringing the two down to the laundrymat and let them ride the dryers.  After which, we'll go home and I'll put them both into Dono's large cage and see if they've 'matured' any.  Here's hoping for a last minute love interest.

EDIT: I'm not heading down on Saturday to meet Lenny.  I refuse to give up on Dono yet.  Going to try some more bonding this weekend at HRS, followed by more car rides next week and dropping them off at Save A Bunny for boarding and bonding during the holidays.