About a year after getting my rabbit and he is still too skiddish to enjoy being pet

[Lemony4]

I got my male Leo almost a year ago now, I bonded him right away with my female Luna. He still will only really relax when he is around her and not around humans. I spend lots of floor time with them, Luna begs for pets all the time but if I ever reach for Leo he will always run away and kick his feet.

I guess I'm just not used to a year-long transition period since Luna loved affection right away. I am grateful he has her though, he gets a lot of grooming

Is there anything I can do to increase the level of trust? Or do I just need to accept that this guy doesn't like pets? He will sometimes lay splooted and relaxed near me but any sort of touching is a no-go

 

[Blue eyes]

Treats (in moderation of course!) are your best bet. A favorite treat offered by hand is when to start sneaking in pets.

My latest pair (in avatar) were similar. One was fine with being pet, the brown one was always stand-off-ish. He avoided physical contact from us (but not from his bondmate!). But when the treats came out, that is when I could sneak in some pets to start getting him associating those pets with something positive. Eventually he started to come around, but never to the level of his girl.

Now that the girl is gone, he has begun to be a bit more receptive to pettings -- now and then... on his terms. Just the way he is.

This video shows him when some banana is involved. You may never suspect that he has any inhibitions when you see how he behaves around treats. (It's the brown one. Normally he would never climb on me.)

 

[Lemony4]

Ha! That video is great. I do like to sneak in pets when they're eating their dinner, I'll see if I can do the same when giving treats as well. He is very food motivated like yours thanks for the input!