Pippin'sMum
Alpha Buck
This should really be in the 'Happiness' thread, but I'll put it on here. A few weeks ago I lost Smartie, my Nethie boy, with a huge bladder stone, leaving his widow Toffee. I have another widow, Apple, who lost her husbun Pippin last summer, so now two single does. Apple is getting on a bit, she's nearly 8, and Toffee's about 4. I thought about rebonding Apple so got a Lionhead cross boy from our Rescue, this is Parsley. I tried several times to bond them, but she wouldn't entertain him at all and got really stressed about it, so I gave up.
Now I've decided to try Parsley with Toffee. She lives outside in an extensive run and is very territorial. Parsley is a housebun, as I had nowhere else to keep him after Apple rejected him (she's outside too). so today I got up early, determined to give it a go with these two and it's gone like a dream. I put Toffee out in a part of the garden where Parsley goes out when the weather's nice, and then put him out. There was some interest from both parties but no aggression/chasing/furpulling/fighting, nothing. He goes to sniff her, and has tried a few times to hump her (from both ends!) but she just moves out of his way. They have come nose to nose, but again she just moves away. They have both been doing their own thing, eating what bit of grass there is out there, and ambling about. They are now in the garage (I have a door between the kitchen and the garage, where their haybales are stored along with all his toys, tunnels, etc, and he lives most of the time between the kitchen and garage, I only let him in the rest of the house when I'm home, he's quite destructive) and they are quite happy in there now, again just ambling about. I'm sooo pleased, I'm sure they will be happier together, I worry about them both being on their own, but have been even more worried about bonding them and them fighting or not getting on. I got some gentle encouragement from MightyMax, for which I thank you! It's lovely to have other peoples' experience to fall back on.
I'm not counting my chickens, but it looks like it's going the right way. Fingers crossed for me (and them!)
Now I've decided to try Parsley with Toffee. She lives outside in an extensive run and is very territorial. Parsley is a housebun, as I had nowhere else to keep him after Apple rejected him (she's outside too). so today I got up early, determined to give it a go with these two and it's gone like a dream. I put Toffee out in a part of the garden where Parsley goes out when the weather's nice, and then put him out. There was some interest from both parties but no aggression/chasing/furpulling/fighting, nothing. He goes to sniff her, and has tried a few times to hump her (from both ends!) but she just moves out of his way. They have come nose to nose, but again she just moves away. They have both been doing their own thing, eating what bit of grass there is out there, and ambling about. They are now in the garage (I have a door between the kitchen and the garage, where their haybales are stored along with all his toys, tunnels, etc, and he lives most of the time between the kitchen and garage, I only let him in the rest of the house when I'm home, he's quite destructive) and they are quite happy in there now, again just ambling about. I'm sooo pleased, I'm sure they will be happier together, I worry about them both being on their own, but have been even more worried about bonding them and them fighting or not getting on. I got some gentle encouragement from MightyMax, for which I thank you! It's lovely to have other peoples' experience to fall back on.
I'm not counting my chickens, but it looks like it's going the right way. Fingers crossed for me (and them!)
