This is how it is going...new bond, what do you think?

I've been trawling through posts here, I might have started bonding too soon but I think things look promising. Our buck recently lost his partner and we adopted a delightful doe who was spayed less than 2 weeks ago. We visited the rescue centre twice with the boy for them to meet, and had the okay from the staff there to adopt our new girl after they had seen the two buns together. I have started bonding them in a very small space at home and of course there has been some humping, chasing etc, but there has also been mutual grooming (more from him than her, which was quite a surprise to me as he never groomed his old partner as much as she would have liked). They have even laid down side by side, so cute!

But I am worried after reading posts here that I have started too soon after her spay? Yesterday they were laid side by side when suddenly she jumped up, honked and thumped then tried to hump him, which he did not like and they circled like mad till I intervened. I did a shorter bonding session this evening and all was calm and lovely. What do you think?

My thoughts are to continue as I have been, slowly slowly. I have some time off work soon, so can dedicate lots of time to getting this right. At the moment the boy is in a large double floored hutch with a permanent run attached (on paving slabs). She is in a pet shop hutch. The plan is to get the two living in the big hutch. The boy is often allowed free range in the garden, but not since he started chewing the front of the girls hutch.

There is no one size fits all approach to bonding, and it sounds promising that you have mutual grooming going on. It is recommended to wait for at least 6 weeks post op, but I have read of people trying sooner. If she seems hormonal it may be best to wait. Most people seem to prefer bonding rabbits where you put them together and leave them together, only separating in the case of a fight, with the dating method they do have to start again a bit each time. But as I said, there is no one size fits all approach, you need to know your bunnies as individuals and adapt things to their needs.

Sometimes the doe will try to become dominant but as long as the buck holds his ground she will acknowledge his dominance and things should run more smoothly from this time on. I have just had a similar problem, the girl was trying to boss the boy but he wasn't having it, and now she knows her place they are very happy together. So I would recommend you dont try to stop the buck from making the hierarchy clear, just no fighting. This particular girl was put with another boy who let her become the dominant one and she attacked him twice, so I separated them. Hope this makes sense.

Thanks Zoobec and tonibun. Today there was no humping from either, and a good deal of grooming with some laying side by side. I have time off work from next weekend when I could supervise them being together as you described Zoobec. tonibun, does grooming and making grooming requests indicate dominance? He is so much more willing to groom the new girl than he was his old partner who he lived with happily and no fighting at any time. I don't think he is a dominating type of boy.

I don't necessarily think so. Take for instance Rose-Marie and Sonny, he has always groomed her a lot, she never reciprocates as far as I know, but I do know he is the dominant one.

I've put bonding on hold for a while. :-( Thomas has an eye infection with drops and antibiotics and is feeling out of sorts. He hates being handled so needing treatment is bad news in itself. Last time they were together our sweet little girl flopped out, all relaxed and familiar with him, and Thomas seemed to nip her side. No injury visible, but she jumped up sharpish. Come Saturday I have time off, so hopefully if Thomas is better we can return to bonding.