Good Discipline Method!!

My naughty boy bunny is getting neutered next month, hopefully. The vets are taking their time scheduling an appointment, and he's gotten very aggressive. What I've found to work is a spray bottle. I have a tiny water gun, and when he starts biting and clawing, I give him a squirt while saying "no!". I've only ever had to squirt him 2 or 3 times because he QUICKLY learned that "no" means stop!

I dont like that idea at all sorry

i dont have to use the water anymore he understands "no" i barely used it to begin with but its the only thing ive found to work. as long as you dont abuse the idea of it i think its fine

Nah I'm sorry that's not on really.

I think he'll associate the word "no" with fear of getting sprayed. I've never had to deal with a naughty hormonal bunny before but maybe others could advise on any methods that have worked for them.

Mine learnt the word no without the use of water? In the same way as you'd teach a child, I stopped them from what they were doing while saying no. Now I just have to say it, and they stop.

Afraid I don't like your idea of a spray bottle at all. His behaviour is natural - his hormones are racing.

He is simply behaving normally for an entire Buck

The best way to avoid being nipped is to work around his particular 'conflict' situations.

Is he food aggressive ? Hutch aggressive ?

Obviously the best thing for him is to get him neutered ASAP as he no doubt feels extremely frustrated at the moment. Spraying him with water and shouting 'no' at him is effectively punishing him and scaring him for simply behaving like a normal Buck. He wont understand what he is doing 'wrong' and all he will feel is fear This, in turn could result in the aggressive behaviour continuing AFTER he is neutered. It will be fear driven aggression instead of hormonal driven aggression.

Is there a reason the bun can't be neutered sooner? If it is to fit in with what is convenient for your vet, I'd find another vet.

In the meantime, I would find other ways around coping with his behaviour. To him, it is natural and he isn't doing anything wrong. Perhaps getting his attention with something nice before he would bite. Is there a particular time he would bite?

Jack's-Jane said:

Obviously the best thing for him is to get him neutered ASAP as he no doubt feels extremely frustrated at the moment. Spraying him with water and shouting 'no' at him is effectively punishing him and scaring him for simply behaving like a normal Buck. He wont understand what he is doing 'wrong' and all he will feel is fear This, in turn could result in the aggressive behaviour continuing AFTER he is neutered. It will be fear driven aggression instead of hormonal driven aggression.

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Totally agree - Prudhoe is a little sod at the moment but he is only doing what an entire buck does and we have to work around his little 'incidents' - we've learnt now when he is about to nip or spray and remove ourselves from the situation. He will no doubt improve once he's seen the plum fairy - hopefully within the next couple of weeks.

We've taught all our buns the word 'no' - Lenny last night was eating Lino, so I picked him up out of the way and said 'no' and each time he went back - it was a gently but firm 'no' and removed him from the lino - after about 5 attempts he gave up and did a massive binky as though to say 'yeah -whateva Mummy' and bounced away flicking his back feet at me. No fear/discipline involved - just gently but firmly letting him know that it wasn't allowed. And no doubt he'll be back tryiing to get to the lino again tonight :shock::lol: (it's tucked well away now - so no chance of that really )

The mantra in our house is "you can't blame a bunny for being a bunny." Why wouldn't a rabbit chew wood, it's natural behaviour so you either keep the bunny away from the wood or the wood away from the bunny. If Kizzy sees a loose wire, to her it's a root growing into her burrow so she's going to tidy it by snipping it off with her teeth. Obviously we bunny proof any room before letting the buns in, so wires for telephone & TV and so on are completely out of reach but it took my other-half three sets of headphones before he learnt to put them away properly. :shock:

I did use a water spray on Kizzy thinking it was the thing to do having read it in a book on rabbit care, but Kizzy is completely fearless all it did was get her attention and there are better ways to do that. Bob is a completely different personality and I do believe that a water spray would actually traumatize him so I wouldn't even consider it with him.

The one exception I would make is bunny on bunny aggression. When I bonded Bob and Kizzy I had a spray bottle on hand so if I couldn't grab them my partner could use the water spray if things got out of hand. In the end it was love at first sight for my two so no extreme measures were needed.

One of the most useful things I ever read is a web site that teaches you how to speak rabbit:

http://language.rabbitspeak.com/

If you can work out what your rabbit is trying to tell you then you can often you can diffuse the situation before aggression starts. For truly unacceptable behaviour I find a firm 'No!' combined with a stamp of the foot and turning my back speaks volumes to my bunnies. And of course I know what it means when they do it to me.

Britannia said:

One of the most useful things I ever read is a web site that teaches you how to speak rabbit:

http://language.rabbitspeak.com/

If you can work out what your rabbit is trying to tell you then you can often you can diffuse the situation before aggression starts. For truly unacceptable behaviour I find a firm 'No!' combined with a stamp of the foot and turning my back speaks volumes to my bunnies. And of course I know what it means when they do it to me.

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I think this is very important for a bunny owner :thumb:

I used the spray during bonding to break up fights. It didn't work, I just had two furious soaked bunnies :lol:

Schtoffen said:

I used the spray during bonding to break up fights. It didn't work, I just had two furious soaked bunnies :lol:

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Haha! Similar to the way my two look after they insist on sitting out in the rain!! :shock::shock: