Dotty Drives Us Potty!

Arrghhh!!....  Dotty still has her own ideas about where to tinkle and it's not in a litter tray.  Tried everything suggested to help her, but she's having none of it.  Daily cleaning of the run has to include fresh soil where necessary to help with pee issues! We use a lavender disinfectant spray all round to make sure the run smells fresh. It's not ideal, but we are trying our best to keep everything fresh and pleasant for all and safe for buns.

Dotty is still terribly shy (bless her), and hasn't really got any braver since coming to join Seb. She tends to dash off to hide in the middle of the tunnel, where she knows we cannot chat to her, stroke her or just admire her, little monkey!!   Undeterred, we still calmly, softly chat to her and briefly stroke her if she seems happy for us to do so.  

She is also very sneeky! When offering the buns treats by hand, Seb will come over immediately to take his.  Dotty will not come get a treat, but instead, will immediately go and steal Sebs! Cheeky little lady!  

She has the most beautiful, soft, thick white fur.  She is shedding fur and needs daily grooming....but.. fat chance! At the moment we are lucky if we get to brush her twice a week...arrghh!!

Dotty Drives Us Potty!  But... we all love her to bits and she's the "crazy lady" of our family! She just needs lots of patience, love and care, which we have by the bucket load! She is a little sweetheart really!

She may be doing this to scent her territory. If she is really nervous it will be important to her that her surroundings are "hers", it will be comforting for her to reinforce her scenting. So fresh soil and lavender scents will need to be wiped out by her scent. She is a doe and I've found with all my does they were very big on scenting, more than the bucks ever were.
You've not really had her all that long. I think around three months is a good settling in period. Maybe a little one-to-one time with her would help her overcome her shyness. If you could have her out of the pen/hutch environment and spend time talking to her and stroking her it might help; even sitting in the pen with her, just for five or ten minutes to start with but a little longer as she relaxes. Maybe in the pen with her if you could shut Seb away while you're there. She just needs to bond and get confidence which can be a bit of a struggle with two rabbits. Without Seb around this might help over time. As long as she has a hidey place to escape to she will use it.
Time and patience ... TLC, that's the remedy.

Thanks Woodwench.... We are doing all you mention, I think its just going to take time xx We have lots of time and patience for her and buckets of love. She is a beautiful girl and is full of character and always has us smiling (even when driving us potty!)

Sometimes she will be in the run alone and just opening the door is enough for her to hide in the tunnel. She is happy to sit in there for long periods! We still chat to her through the tunnel.

The best opportunity we have to spend time with her at present, is short periods when she's in the hutch with Seb. Sometimes she will stay next to Seb while he gets a fuss and she accepts a little stroke herself and may even take a treat!

We will continue to spend time helping her gain confidence x

Bless her I think treats are the way to go, I am sure with time she will learn to trust you more and accept treats. She may never be keen on being touched though. But as you know, not being able to stroke our bunnies doesn't impact on our love for them.

BJ and Rosie will not allow us to touch them but are more than happy to come over for treats. Gabriel and Spring will allow us to touch them but they never ask for this and I am quite sure they don't really like it. In my experience I have found that smaller bunnies seem less inclined to seek out human touch than larger ones, especially as I suspect with mine that handling as a baby was non-existent.

As for the wee issue - mine do wee when out on the grass but I don't bother as it will always be washed away by the plentiful northern rain! I can see you may be concerned if your run is covered. I agree with Woodwench that the more you try to remove her scent the more she will try to re-introduce it. Have you put hay in the litter trays or is it just substrate? If you have not tried hay then it may be worth giving that a go.

Oh Dotty!

I can only echo Sixer's words above. Mojo is the same way (he's a little bun). I would now consider him 'tame', but he's never going to be overly friendly or bothered about people. He sounds a lot like Dotty - he often runs and hides when we're in the room with them, and is very much Willow's shadow. It doesn't help that Willow is super tame (like your Seb) and so they tend to lean on them a lot more. It will have been two years since we had him come October, and only now will he come over to us (and that's only if there's food motivation!). He was an RSPCA neglect seizure and so god knows what did happen to him. It could also just have been a total lack of human interaction in his early months that puts him off.

As for the weeing - I totally feel your pain. My Willow went through an AWFUL stint of marking her territory recently. She can't be spayed due to health issues and so hormones were raging which made it that much worse. Luckily, we cracked it by splitting the room so the chinchillas weren't on 'her turf' and leaving their scent everywhere. Try putting lots of hay and tasties into the litter box.

I think Dotty is in perfect hands with people who understand her and that is the best place she could be. She'll come round

Thank You Sixer and Fluff

I was kinda relieved to read that Bj, Rosie and Mojo have/had similar tendencies and we are not alone!  We will keep helping Dotty at her own pace xx

She is the most energetic bun when left alone to play in the run.  From inside, looking through the patio doors, we are treated to a spectacular display of crazy running, jumping, binkies, hopping, leaping... she is brilliant to watch xx   She wins the "super cute" award when upright on her back legs. It's like she's a little human wearing little white trousers with little brown boots  xx

Dotty is obviously very happy and very relaxed - the mad binky sessions demonstrate this. I absolutely love watching my bunnies have their crazy moments. Watching them binky and charge around gives me much more pleasure than I would get than by my stroking them. The same goes for watching them snuggle and groom each other.
Dotty is a very lucky girl to have found you, I have no doubt she and Seb will continue to give you a lot joy xx

I completely agree with everything Sixer has said. Charlie doesn't want to be touched at all, daisy will have a cuddle on his own terms and Annie has no clue what is going on lol.

Persist with the trays rather than cleaning up the mess as I expect she is marking her territory.

I'm so very happy for you all x

Oh bless them. Why is it always the girls who are greedy and steal the piece which isn't theirs LOL

Hugs
JO xx