Rabbit terrified of husband

Question
My dwarf is around 10 weeks old. We got him when he was 6 weeks old. He seemed to take to me right away, but as the weeks have gone by he seems a bit snobbish. I assumed that's his age and am planning to get him neutered when he's of age.

In the house, he is fine with my husband. However, when I take him in the yard on a leash to get exersize, if my husband even comes near him, he absolutely panicks. Racing away, pulling, screaming. It is hard for me to even catch him to pick him up and calm him down. He's even scared of me when he's panicking.  What can I do? My husband has never been mean to him at all. One time he did hold him "down" while we checked him for ticks. (our dog had them)

Answer
Hi Beth,

it sounds like he has a bad memory of your husband holding him down outside while being checked for ticks.  

First this is an avoidable situation.  You are taking a healthy, protected house rabbit outside and exposing him to external parasites and grass/dirt that contains parasites, eggs, fleas, ticks, past excrement of raccoons and possums, dogs and cat waste that may contain disease and worms.  He can eat grass that is unwashed and may have eggs of parasites on them that will develop inside him.  

My first bit of advice is if you take him outside, get an animal stroller and give him a hidey-box inside the stroller if he gets frightened to go into.  Always carry Bach Flowers Rescue Remedy with you when outside for him.  Follow box instructions.

Second, you could always have checked him inside, without having to hold him down.  You could have checked him casually while petting him.  You probably would have felt a lump just by normal petting.  It doesn't have to be traumatic.

Being held down is often interpreted by rabbits as the dominant rabbit exerting their dominance over them, and sometimes because they need to be put 'back in line'.  You don't want to do this unless he's doing something wrong.  If you have to do this, you need to talk soothingly to him and tell him he's a good boy.

You cannot have your husband do this anymore. If your rabbit was screaming he is terrified of this occurring again and the fright/shock alone of this could be enough to give him a physical heart attack.

As you are new rabbit owners, is it possible your husband could have hurt him a little holding him down, or made it difficult to breathe.  i'm not saying on purpose, but by accident.  If he was struggling while being held down he could have pulled a muscle or had trouble breathing.  

My 2 cents: don't expose your healthy relaxed indoor house rabbit to the outdoors unless in a carrier or enclosed pet stroller.  You have control over him and he is safe from other animals in the stroller.  I have many stories of people walking rabbits on leashes and having their rabbit injured by neighborhood dogs, or scared out of their wits and running off/freaking out.  they will run into the street because they don't know there is danger there and get hit by cars.  Strange noises can panic them and one of my friends lost her rabbit this way.  Second thing: husband doesn't hold the rabbit down for now.  Maybe never if your bunny cannot get over it.  

I am not blaming your husband for it.  There are misinterpretations that rabbits can make.  He is a very young rabbit, and he is still building trust in both of you, being with you only a month.  This has affected the trust he has in your husband.  Best thing to rebuild it is to not have him do this for a long time.  Rabbits are HUGE on trust.  It is what keeps them alive.  It takes a long time to build up a solid trust with them.  Setbacks like this happen, but the solution is to recognized what caused it, and if possible, not do it.  It isn't something your husband has to do, so don't do that.  He's so young, hopefully it isn't a permanent bad memory.  Definitely do not do it again, otherwise it will reinforce the bad memory and he will have a difficult time trusting your husband.

It isn't fair, but he's young and he was traumatized by it.  He could get scared enough to die from it.  Not all of my rabbits trust me the same way either.  Some trust my wife more, some trust me more than my wife.  It's a combo of their unique personalities and the experiences they have with each of us.  

Write back anytime.

Lee