Bonding 2 Spayed Does - One keeps Mounting the Other

Question
Thanks for the Feedback.  Do you have any recommendation of a bonding technique that you feel may work in this particular situation.  And just to clarify, it is okay to let Ebby chase Ginie as long as it doesn't end up in a fight?

Thanks Brenda
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Followup To

Question -
"I have had rabbits now for 13 years and absolutely adore them.  I rescued a doe (Ebby) approx. 2years ago and just rescued another doe (Ginie) 2 months ago.  I have been trying to "bond" them, but I'm not having much success.  They are both spayed..I place them in a neutral playpen outside..with me in it.  Ebby will not stop mounting Ginie..it's to the point that Ginie runs from Ebby whenever she approaches her."

Answer -
Hi Brenda,

it appears that Ebby, who basically has had the house as her territory (except your neutral area, yes?) has a strange female bunny in her presence now.  She's been used to calling all the territory in the house as hers for a long time, and she isn't going to let the new girl be the boss of her.  It sounds like Ginny is not going to contest Ebby being the dominant one, although if she doesn't agree to this, she will begin to fight back and then either one of them will back down, or neither will and they will start a real fight.  If that happens there is a possibility they may never be able to be bonded and live in the same house, but they may be able to have supervised play times together.

Ebby is trying to make sure Ginny realizes that she is the dominant rabbit in this pairing.  Mounting is a tactic rabbits use to express/exert dominance, and it must be decided whenever you have two or more rabbits, regardless of gender.  They are hierarchical, somebody is the top bunny (YOU are the real alpha bunny, but between rabbits they have to get this figured out).  Once this is done, they can become friends and bond.

It is okay that Ginny runs away and Ebby chases her.  Either Ginny will finally submit and start grooming Ebby, and then hopefully Ebby will return the grooming at some point.  There will be chasing, a little loose fur pulling out, and possibly little grunts.  But unless it breaks out into full blown fighting (facial biting, hind leg kicks/scrapes, tussling while doing this where blood is being drawn) you kind of need to oversee it and just let them get through this.

This is a more typical case of bonding, where it isn't love at first sight, but it isn't outright hatred where one jsut charges the other one, either.  It has potential, but they need to figure this out on their own (with your watchful eye and hands around if it gets out of hand).  But don't stop them unless it really is fighting.

Visit the House Rabbit Society web site (www.rabbit.org) for a lot of info on bonding rabbits.

Write back anytime, let me know how it is progressing.  Lee

Answer
Hi Brenda,

it is okay to let one chase the other.  If that's all they are doing, you may want to break it up a bit.  The chasing should at some point should progress into possibly mounting and hopefully grooming, first by the submissive one, then mutual grooming.  Note this is the ideal scenario that may take weeks or months to finally occur.

to break up a chasing session that isn't going anywhere and the chased rabbit is getting slighty stressed (give em at least ten minutes) some people will place them side by side, both faces the same direction, and pet them together for awhile, not allowing any other nipping or grunting at this point.  The message is that YOU, the true alpha bunny here, expect the two of them to get along.  If one acts up, you gently but firmly push their little head down onto the floor and a "No Ebby" or "No Ginny" (you are forcing them to submit to you.)  You are doing this the instant they do something you don't want, so they will associate the push-down and the "No (their name)" with the last thing they just did.

It's weird, but chasing is just one part of the whole determining dominance thing.  It is hard to watch a bit, as we don't do things like they do, but they have to work things out between each other.  Domestic rabbits, because they often grow up and live solo until we bond them, don't know how to interact with other rabbits.  They both are learning about what to do at the same time we're watching them.  They have to learn how to deal with another rabbit too.  One of them will be more dominant than the other, and they have to understand and 'agree' who's the dominant one and then they can move forward to friendship.

There are a number of ways to bond rabbits.  Many people use a 'common trauma' technique, like placing them in a box together on top of a running washing machine (vibration) that kind of has them on edge and they start to bond through a scary situation.  Sometimes it's a car ride together (you need another person in the back seat in case of problems) that has bumps and such that they more or less focus on the ride and less on each other, they become two friends going through a common trauma together, and coming out of it closer.  some people have just put both in a laundry basket together and just take them around the house with them doing chores, putting the basket on a higher table, lifting it up and putting it down a little abruptly to keep them a little nervous.

The House Rabbit Society has a good number of articles on bonding:

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/multiple.html

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/behavior/bonding-tips.html

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/behavior/expect.html

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/4-4/tough-bonding.html

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/behavior/bonding.html

Lee