Pippin McFuzzyPaws

We've had Pippin (full name: Peregrin Megatron Ninjabot McFuzzyPaws) for 3 weeks now, and I swear I'm not completely neglecting my cats in favor of him but he is getting the bulk of my attention still as we all get used to each other. We're relaxing a bit-- I've been super timid around him, as a rabbit feels so foreign compared to my experience with cats. I keep reading that rabbits are really smart, emotional, and sensitive, and I keep worrying that I'm unintentionally doing a bunch of bunny faux pas and making him hate me. Which he doesn't, he seems to quite like me, but that's something that's always taken me a lot of convincing to fully believe from anyone anyway. But we're making progress. At first I was super careful and gentle about how to even pet him, but after watching him put up with Quinn's petting I feel pretty ok with ruffling his fur and ears a bit.

I'm now starting to look into training him, just small things like coming when he's called, or getting him to go into his pen on command. Or tolerating being picked up. Currently when I need him to go back in his pen I bribe him over with food, but it sometimes takes him a while to meander on over. I've tried picking him up a few times but he freaks out and I let go right away, because I'm worried about hurting him or pissing him off. Today I finally found this article on training a rabbit who hates getting picked up and am now trying to work through the steps. We'll see how far we get with it. Quinn has been very disappointed when I refuse his requests to pick Pippin up and fly him around like he's a superhero bunny.

Other than refusing to let me pick him up and occasionally being stubborn about going back in his pen, lil Pip has been an incredibly well-behaved bunny. Knock on wood, but he's litter trained, doesn't chew on things he's not supposed to, is fun and curious, and loves being petted. The only bad behavior I'm trying to figure out what to do about is that he sometimes nips us, I think in the "Hey buddy, you're in my way" kind of nip that's meant to be gentle, but it can hurt if he gets your skin. So that's, um, interesting. At some point I'll need to figure out how to trim his nails, can't say I'm looking forward to that... But yeah, he's a sweet little guy and fun new buddy for our family.