I do it in steps:
- Building a bond and get a bit of trust with the bunny
- Teach the bunny that being touched is nothing dangerous and make sure the bunny won't react aggressive or get scared if touched some specific place. So the bunny need to accept being touched on the stomach, paws, tail and so on. They don't need to like it just tolerate it and not get scared when it happens. It often help giving a treat, cuddles and talking calmly. If your bunny run away, wait and let them come up to you again. Give a treat to reward that they came back.
- Lifting the front body up from the ground, you can lure with a treat and let the bunny rest the front legs on your hand. Then you just pet them and touch them every where. While their front body rest on your hand you can raise it a bit up and down. Don't have to be a long time but it will make them being calm.
- Lifting them up from the ground while you sit on the ground, hold them how you want them and make sure to give the treat when you have placed the bunny correct in your arms. If your bunny struggle let them jump out and just keep doing it. You can make the bunny climb up into your arms and hold them. Always reward them with treats or cuddles depend on what they like. If you know your bunny and feel they will soon struggle, take out a treat and they will often become distracted and calm down again.
- You later train the bunnies to be calm in the arms and reward all the calm behaviors and when they are still. The longer they are calm the more yummy treats they can eat. '
During the time you train your bunny, you will learn what your bunny likes and how they want to be held and picked up.
You dont need to give treats all the time later on when you pick them up but they will always expect to get something good. Which make it that you can give the treats irregular. Myself used the daily pellets ratio as reward and training my bunnies. Sometimes it's dried fruits, herbs and so on but always something I can make into smaller bits, so I can have a lot even though it's not much. You don't need to do train for long times every day, it's enough just doing short sessions every day around (5 to 10 mins) . You should never force yourself on your bunny and doing everything in their own tempo will make sure you won't scare your bunny or break the bond you have built up.
Depending on the bunny I skip some steps and some steps take longer to train than others.
But have patience and let the time take it course, before my bunnies are used with being picked up I will avoid it. I will use travel cage and only pick them up if I truly need to pick them up.
I just find that you come a long way with positive reinforcment and doing it in the bunnies own tempo. I love watching how the bunnies slowly change and see how much they develop over the years.
For example my bunny Toste, when I'm going to pick him up I let him come to me. I talk with him calmly and see if he will let me to pet him, if he run away I go and get treats. So I lure him with a treat and he will let me pet him, when he's calm and accept my hand go to his tail I will get in postion to pick him up.
Toste have a trigger point on the right side of his bum which before would make him attack me if I touched that spot.
I always do the same routine with Toste before I pick him up, he need to know that it's nothing dangerous and he need to get cuddles before he accept being picked up and he won't struggle. Most of the time he won't run away from my hand and let me pet him, so it's easy to pick him up. I don't do this routine on my other bunnies, this is only how to make Toste allow being picked up.
While my other bunny Odin I can just pick him up without doing anything, even kids can pick him up and he won't struggle or get scared. Even though they can hold him wrong. Just how different it can be between the routine of picking a bunny up.
But I have not owned as many bunnies as other in the forum have done. They might have other tips and tricks
