As with a shy rabbit, a useful exercise is to sit on the floor in the same room with your rabbit. Your low-key bunny's messages may be getting lost. If you tone down your demonstrativeness, you will be able to receive what your quiet friend has to offer. This form of animal-assisted therapy is simple, effective, and only minimally exploitive of your friend. Tell her what kind of a day you had, and how glad you are that she is there to help you recover from it. A good substitute for kisses, hugs, and heavy petting is verbal affection. Rabbits are so irresistibly soft, adorable, and gorgeous that it is difficult to avoid smothering them with physical affection. Your rabbit may not be aloof at all, but simply overwhelmed by the magnitude or volume of your affection for her. Did you have an aunt or grandfather who just loved to pinch your cheeks and announce loudly to the world what a cute little boojums you were? How did that make you feel? Aloof rabbits remind me of childhood experiences with overly affectionate adults. The following suggestions may help to strengthen the bond between you and your independent friend, but the first and most important step is to accept her for herself.īeing coddled and cuddled by humans is not at the top of every rabbit's wish-list. They arrive here with capacities and tendencies which must be recognized and respected. Handling, socialization, and early environment play a major role, but bunnies are not blank slates. Having fostered several litters I have also seen that many basic personality traits are present at birth. At first I was surprised by how few actually conformed to the stereotypical cute-n-cuddly or passive/timid ideals held by many humans (encouraged by fairy tales, children's stories, and Madison Avenue). I learned and am still learning about the wide range of lagomorph temperaments. Maybe they needed some little boys to watch television with. Not enough handling? Too much handling? Bad "breeding"? Maybe I just wasn't good with rabbits. I spent a long time wondering where I'd gone wrong. Oscar showed his delight by not running away when I said hello. Trix allowed me to pet her muzzle for a few minutes before hopping off to more important business. When I arrived home from the party, Trixie and Oscar greeted me with their usual enthusiasm. By the time a very nice young man was halfway through a story about having his faced licked by his lovable lop, I had to excuse myself for a reality check. Another described his bunny's morning routine of dancing round his feet while he makes coffee, then hopping on his lap and nibbling the bottom of the newspaper. One woman told me how her rabbit loves to lie on his back between her two children while they watch TV. Their health, foibles, sleeping habits, and whisker-twitches were discussed in unsparing detail. When rabbit-people get together the conversation naturally turns toward our long-eared pals. To celebrate the publication of The House Rabbit Handbook, a party was given for all the (human) contributors.
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