I found most of it really interesting. However I was really upset that stress bonding was mentioned. The fact that a highly respected rabbity vet puts it out there is a real worry. I mentioned it on the facebook page (pet webinars facebook page).
She also said to intervene at the first signs of mounting, chasing or fur pulling ... surely some of this has to happen in order to establish a hierarchy???
Also (...) she mentioned putting rabbits side by side to get used to each other and once they are laying down and eating at the same time then they can be introduced onto neutral territory. I was under the impression that behaviours shown when side by side did not necessarity reflect what the rabbits would be like when put together.
No mention was made of the 'put em in and watch like ten hawks' method of bonding.
Did anyone comment on what you posted on the FB page ?
I completely agree with you about not being able to judge how two Rabbits will react based on how they behave with a wire fence/cage bars between them.
Also, some mounting and chasing is perfectly normal, if we intervene at the very first sign of either then we interfere with part of the bonding process. At least that is what I believe to be the case.
Bumping this up so that you can see Molly's response to my comment re; stress bonding.