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Rabbit harnesses

HoneyBear

Mama Doe
What's everyone's opinion of them?
I've never used one but thinking about buying one...
My reason for this is Bear absolutely HATES being in his run! I think its because he free ranges in the house he feels closed in when he's in it and just sits in the corner looking miserable.
I like him to get out to get fresh air and have a munch on some grass, but don't want him to hate it so much!
By the way there's no reall way of making my garden safe for him to free range either as have thought about that!
But just wondering about how much he would enjoy being on a lead, he's very placid. But just worried that I'd pull him to hard and I could hurt him, and worried about how much he would enjoy being in the harness.
 
I think it depends on the bunny as to whether you should use a harness, I have one and have used it with both bunnies. Harvey HATES it and goes mental trying to get out of it, so I don't use it anymore on him. Lilly hardly notices she's wearing it, she may once in ten minutes notice and try to back out of it, but most of the time she's really excited that she's out of her hutch/run and can explore, so I'm happy to use it on her occasionally.

Before I used it I thought Harvey, who is the more placid of the two, would be fine whereas Lilly, who can be more nervous, I thought would hate it. So it's not always obvious if they'll like it by looking at their personalities! Best thing to do is to buy it and try and just have to cut your losses if he doesn't like it.
 
Yeah, it really depends on the bun :wave: Mine both hate them but I know of bunnies who are completely fine with them :)
 
Personally I don't think harnesses are a good idea for rabbits. They are not like dogs who are happy to be led, buns want to explore all over the place, and do mad dashes and binkies. If they suddenly got spooked by a noise or just felt like taking off at high speed, they could really hurt themselves :?
 
It depends on the TYPE of harness and the bunny your trying it on..
Poppet hates the H harness, but loves her shoulder harness,
Toby is still in training for jumping but he is keen on his vest harness
 
Depends on your bun, if he is quite chilled out and you think he won't get stressed then you could try it, if not try not to do it. Domino is ok with putting it on as long as i am quick and dont faff about, when he is on it he :love: it and never wants to come off of it :love: :roll: Tallulah hated it so i avoided putting her on it.
 
That's what I'm worried about if he suddenly makes a run for it and pulls on it what if I really hurt him :(
My friends just offered me a puppy pen so going to combine it with the 1 I already have and possibly get another 1 so he has a huge outdoor area, maybe he will like that more and we will forget about the harness as I'm just not convinced!
 
oh no! i threw away two, one still in packaging, earlier this week...:oops: wish i'd known, i'd have mailed it to you...

before we got bunnies (and i've had rabbits on and off all my life so you'd think i'd have known) daughter and i fondly imagined we'd put them on leads and take them for walks (at least around the garden) as we'd seen it done... but no, our bunnies find the harness an imposition and it restricts their hopping zone, so its no good at all. your rabbit might feel differently. i look back on our 'happy bunny dreams' as signs of our innocence and lack of understanding...:lol::lol::lol:

i'm a bit concerned about puppy pens as outdoor space - will your bun/s be supervised at all times? do your puppy pens have lids, tops, ceilings whatever they are called? open ones just make your bunnies easier for a cat/dog/fox/hawk to catch :cry:
 
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They will be supervised.
There much happier in the house anyway but just like them to get some fresh air and some grass every now and then!
 
Depends on your bunny. Obviously if they panic they can spring about and break their backs :shock: for that reason I'd never use one on Bramble. Bluebell had one for a while as I was waiting for her run to be built and she was fine on it :)
 
ive found that if they havn;t been introduced to the experience frtom early age, then they will be wary and could panic, thumper would never have one on she was too old, mitzi was used to it as was mowgli and other mini lops as they taught from being younsters, however rosie being a nethie, i never wanted to attempt it on her she was soo tiny and would of gone mental if i had even tried
 
I use one for Tokyo, he loves it when he's outside BUT he dictates where we explore and the pace at which we do so. I'm ready to run along with him at any given moment. Poppy isn't so keen so I don't use it with her.
 
Out of my 3 only Chalky likes it, he has a long lead too and he doesnt really bother and doesnt notice its on, as long as he is happy with it on, i will use it but the other two hate them so they dont wear one
 
Boris USED to love it when he was little and would actually end up dragging me along :lol: He ran soooo fast, I got a real workout trying to keep up with him!

It was only as he got older that it started to annoy him and he became obsessed with trying to take it off. I felt bad and was worried he'd hurt himself so built him a pen instead.
 
I used a harness when my rabbit was very young. I basically walked around the garden with him and stopped him from going down the steps or through the fence. This basically taught him the boundaries of the garden, and I gradually let him have more and more time off the lead until he could have free reign of the garden without escaping :) THe bad thing about this is that now it is HIS garden, not mine, my mums or my dads, it's Sonics garden haha.

I would suggest being very careful with an older rabbit as they will not be used to the harness, but they shouldn't hurt the bunny as long as you get one that is specially designed for rabbits. Just remember, the rabbit will walk you!
 
I can only comment on my own experience of using a harness.

I'd been using one for a while on my rabbit Daisy. One day something spooked her and she bolted, somehow wrapping the lead around her leg. This panicked her more and the lead got tighter. I actually heard her scream :(

Luckily, OH was with me and managed to grab Daisy to calm her while I quickly unwrapped the lead from her leg.

I would also say that the longer the lead the more chance of such an incident happening although I had got Daisy on a standard lead at the time.
 
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