Temperments Of Netherland Dwarfs?

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Prizm

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They are sooo cute, but I've heard from certainwebsite reviews on the breed that they are skittish and may bite moreso than other breeds. Do you find this to be true? Also, is it betterto buy a baby bunny, or one that is older?Some pets sites arealsosugesting that the personallities of rabbits are almostpre-programed, (In the sense that they are what they are despite howthe human raises them). Is this true? I'd love any input regarding thisbreed. :D
 
You will have some expert advice coming soon. Not from me though ;)

A friend of mine had a Net. Dwarf and she was really shy andnervous. She didn't bite, but was hard to tame. Shestill isn't really as tame as my friend's larger breeds. Shehas some sweet buns, so I don't think it was the way she has raisedher...?

Carolyn, Pam, Rasp and all of the expert bun gurus will be able tooffer you better advice, that is just my buddy's experience.:D
 
I have 3 netherland dwarfs, 2 Holland lops, and1 dutch dwarf. The netherlands are definately more skittishand high strung than the others. My holland lops areextremely sweet tempered and pretty laid back. I stillbelieve though that it depends on the animal and they won't all be thatway, there are always exceptions.
 
I have always heard that NDs are neurotic, butmy own boy is one of the mellowest bunnies I know of. I can pick himup, take him to the preschool I work at, he loves the beach and doesn'tseem to mind a leash. I think it is individual bunnies really. Iactually had a terror of a Newzealand. They are supposed to bemellow...but she growled, grunted, butt at you and scratched and kickedif you so much as dared pick her up! I also have had lops bite me...noother breed but lops! Still...I think it is all coincidental. Natureand nurture work together. If you have an anxious bunny you canprobably make it a percentage worse. You can probably also make it somepercentage better. I believe they are like u,s effected by both thereown temperment and the environment they are raised in!
 
In general, they are more high strung,but it's certainly not unusual to find some mellow individuals:) You'll find that the individuals that are more "show type"and sit up more on the table have a tendency to be more aggressive thanthose that sit down lower and have a lower head mount (the samegenerally holds true for Holland Lops).

Just like people, certain behaviors canbe geneticallyinfluenced. Of course, environmental factors such as how muchthe rabbit is handled also plays a roll in behavior.



Pam

 
I love my two Netherlands dearly...but they arefar more skittish and tempermental than my Flemish andLionheads. In fact, if I'm going to get bit ornipped- it will usually be them.

However, mine were not socialized very well before I got them from thebreeder. If you could find a breeder who held them and pettedthem at an early age, it would probably make a big difference in myopinion!

Peg
 
Hi Prizm,

I have a 9 month old spayed, agouti colored NetherlandDwarf, Pebbles. I got her when she was 5months old. She is just over 2 lbs now and I don'texpect her to get any bigger.

I don't have any other bunnies, so I don't know how they compare toother breeds. Of course Pebbles was shyand nervous when we first got her. She had to get use to thenew surrounding, sights and sounds.

Being a Netherland Dwarf, it is so easy to keep care ofher. We have the largest rabbit cage for her, but thatdoesn't take up any space. We don't go through thatmuch food. She has unlimited Timothy Hay,1/8 cup of pellets, vegs and treats eachday.She has no problems with the foods we giveher. She's so happy when she gets food, as if westarve her.

Her litter habits is excellent. Last night I cuddled her forso long, that when I put her back into her cage,the first thing she did was head for the litterbox! Woody Pet is so good for litter,because I am still on my first bag sinceFebruary.....:p (1X 30 lb. bag cost $4.95 )

Pebbles is such a sweetheart. We give her time to bealone, but when we want her for petting or for playwe have no problems picking her up. Weleave her in her cage all the time, until we bring her out tothe bunnyproofed hallway where she gets 5 - 6 hours of freerun. She never bites us. If she wantssomething she would use her nose to push our hand.She will always run to us and lick us.And she always loves to be petted.

When she is scared or needs tofeel safe andsecureshe would run to me and bury her head in my elbows....lolThat's why I love her so much, along with her kisses.

We are still getting use to clipping her nailsbut itonly takes5 minutes to do them all.Andshe allows us to vacuum her when shesheds. :shock:

We are so lucky to have Pebbles!



Rainbows! :D
 
OMG She's precious! :D Thanks for showing the pic! *petpets*

So, it seems they are *generally* more high strung--Does anyone forseethis posing a problem for her potential cage-mate "Dusty" who is a lazylop? :) Heheh, she might drive him crazy. :D


 
My goodness she is so adorable! I first wasintroduced to my street bunny at supposedly 6 months. As he was a hoboat the time...we aren't 100% sure. He then came to live with us at 1year old. I have never even held a kit. Your sweetie is just precious!
 
I used to raise and breed Netherland Dwarfs butgot out of them since I was having bad luck on the 'breeding'part. I am a firm believer that temperments from the parentsare passed down to the offspring. I had one Netherland Dwarfs that gotto the point that he was agressive. I didn't show him because of hisbehavior. However, I did get one litter out of him but after I foundthe kits to be 'more high strung' and decided to stop breeding him.I've also had another buck who was a sweet as all get out! Hewould let a 4 year old without much grip on him let her lug him around.All of his offspring were the same way. So he was used quite a bit tosay the least LOL!

From my experience Netherland Dwarfs are a nice calm breed. However,you do have your few bad apples that ruin peoples thoughts on them.

Recently I added a polish to my herd as I am going to startbreeding them on a low basis. So now, I have the 3 smallest breeds ofrabbits in my barn, Netherland Dwarfs, Dwarf Hotots, and Polish.

If I were to list the 3 breeds from the calmest to the more outstrung ones if would follow like this:

1. Polish- I've only had polish for 3 days but I've already found thisone to the the calmest in the barn.He seems to be more'relaxed'. He doesn't put up a fight when getting him outta his cage. Ican get him out with one hand and he doesn't kick his back legs. Oncehe gets out it takes a few seconds for him to get 'adjusted'.

2. Netherland Dwarfs- They are calm for the most part. However, I haveto use two hands to get my guys out. They tend to like their back legsmore so then the Polish does.

3. Dwarf Hotots- Now THESE guys are high strung! They want tobe the center of the attention ALL the time! When they are outta theircage this is no turning back LOL! They want to go go go goand go some more! Its hard to find one that will sit still for morethen a minute! If you want a dwarf breed thats active and will keep youon your toes, Dwarf Hotots are the way to go! (Take a note of all the!'s, thats truely the way they are! They are hyper and ready to go!)Don't get me wrong, they are a nice breed but aren't for someone wholikes relaxed rabbits. I'm not saying there aren't 'calm' Dwarf Hototsas there are some. But I've yet to come across one. :D

So if you are wanting to go with a 'smaller' rabbit I would personallyget a Polish. The ones I've seen are calm and easy to handle. Again,there are some that may ruin my 'dwelling' over how calm they are LOL!

Good Luck!

Amanda


 
Prizm wrote:
*Grins* Thanks! What about their age?Do youthinkit's better to get one that's a baby or adult?

Well, its kind of a tuffy. ;)I can't give you a direct answerbut I can give you somethings to think about. I'm assuming you aregetting this rabbit as a pet rather then for show.

A baby you don't know what their behavior will be when they are 'grownup'. However, you can 'mold' them the best to your ablity to what youwant them to be like. Most of the time you don't know their 'grown up'size either. This shouldn't be a problem since your looking into buyingfrom a breeder. However, this is where problems occur in pet shops.Just about every pet shop claims to have 'dwarf' rabbits which someturn out to be 10 pounds. There are good pet shops tho that really knowtheir stuff!

An adult you already know that their behavior is like most of the time.You alsoknow the size of the rabbit asits fullgrown.However, remember the saying "It's hard to teach an olddog new tricks"

Now if this is for show then you'd want an adult rabbit. You know what the rabbit is like as an adult feature wise.
 
Pipp is a little black (with white hairs) ND,and she's very much a people bunny. She's fearless,shewas never shy. She comesrunningwhenever she sees me, she jumps on my lap for pets andcuddles and grooming (she does the grooming -- of me).

Can't say she's'high strung' but she is definitely energeticduring her 'times'. A couple hours a day, twice a day, as arule she's either demanding my attention, licking and grooming menon-stop, or she's going after the cats. (They used to playwith her, butbefore she was spayed, she started getting tooaggressive, they've only recentlystarted to spend timeonthe floor again).

She may give me a tiny nip when I'm misbehaving, but I really have tohave been bad. She didn't mind being picked up and carriedaround when I got her, but now she expects me to come down to her level(which is always a surefire way to get her to come to you -- like ashot, skidding to a stop an inch away).

She lets me cut her nails, no problem, but since she's been molting,she doesn't want to bebrushed anymore. (Just whenshe needs it).

She's not caged at all, she's a free run bunny, although we had toestablish a smaller territory for her than the whole house.She hasher 'hutch' (an opendog kennel for her foodand litter tray), and my room, which is now herroom. (She let me stay, though). She islitter trained, except she'll leave little piles in front of the catsto mark her territory if she leaves my bedroom. She'll sleepon the bed with me. (She's good about letting me sleep).

Oh yeah... she's a chewer --stereos, computers,checks... Bunny proofing and other forms ofentertainment (old phone books, newspapers,toilet rollsstuffed with hay... other suggestions welcome) are essential.

But she's so darn cute. :)

SAS
 
hi i hav a netherland dwarf and she isinthat bad tempers ive had only 1 bunny kiss becuse she would rather lookround and explore than be stroked.

she always finds little holes in places i miss but im sure i have them all now.:dude:
 
Ohh .. you rotters...:D Am sure this topic is here to tease me! *chuckle*

Felix was a love ... though he had lots of grumpymoments which were quite funny. When we used to sit watchingtv he would come and plonk himself in front of the fireplace and do thechewy thing from side to side and it looked as though he was cussing us!

We had a few nips off him but I took that to beour not reading him properly and it was his only option to say "LETGO!"

Talking of his litter habits ... even when he wasvery very ill, and was having spasms, he jumped off the sofa to go inhis litter box to pee. :( Bless him!

The pics of your Netherlands are lovely ... BENJiis going to look like Pebbles isn't he !!!!!!!Utterly adorable ! Love thespotty .. where did you get him from? Richard, whoI'm getting BENJi from, breeds spotties .... (he's in Huntingdon)

Saffy x
 
My Netherland Dwarf, Munchkin (male, neutered,age 4) is so chilled and even tempered. He never nips/bites/growls. Heis submissive to us when we pet him/pick him up and is always groomingand cuddling Miffy, our huge French Lop female (age 3, neutered).

He only gets a bit frightened when my husband is cooking or washing up.

missywillow
 
We have over 30 Netherland dwarfs,I firmlybelieve temperment is mostly inherited.My herd buck is very sweet i getmany compliments on how sweet his babies are.I have been raisingNetherlands twenty some years.He has great type and is almost agrandchampion.I think they may be more active than some breeds.I willnot use a nasty tempered rabbit for breeding.bluebird
 
I've only ever had one bunny, my (almost!) 4month old Netherland Dwarf, Mocha. He's loves to run, play with towels,and chew, but he also love pets. He's not a lap bunny yet, although hesometimes comes on to my lap if there is a pillow or blanket there. Andhe hates being picked up- that's when I'm reminded about just how fasthe can run. He doesn't seem to mind being held, it's just the pickingup part. He has his moods when he's an absolute lovebunny, but heusually sits next to me to get petted. I get lots of nudges and he's areal licker- me, my clothes, blankets, pillows, etc. He's also goodwith strangers. But, as everyone else is saying, it most likely comesdown to breeding, how much handling they got when they were young, andindividual personality.
 
bluebird wrote:
We have over 30 Netherland dwarfs,I firmly believetemperment is mostly inherited.My herd buck is very sweet i get manycompliments on how sweet his babies are.I have been raising Netherlandstwenty some years.He has great type and is almost a grandchampion.Ithink they may be more active than some breeds.I will not use a nastytempered rabbit for breeding.bluebird


Interesting, as the man I'm getting my Netherland Dwarf from breeds for tremprement (aswell as beauty of course!)

EXCITED ! :D
 
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