Rabbit Foster Carer
This page will tell you a little about being a Rabbit Foster Carer.
WHAT STOPS A RABBIT ADOPTION?
These days adopting families want a bunny they can pick up groom and cuddle. This can be a problem for many of the bunnies in our care because often they have had poor experiences with people even cruelty.
Foster Carers can sometimes feel a little hopeless thinking that their foster bunnies will never get a home because they can't be handled.
Here at the Rabbit Sanctuary we have some bunnies that came into our care extremely terrified of people.
Just the fact that the bunny is not being harassed or hurt begins to calm him or her down once they reach the loving care of the Sanctuary or Foster Carer.
RABBIT TRAINING
There are many important parts to rabbit training. Most people simply don't know how to pick up a rabbit. They usually hold him/her like a child under the arms which will make the rabbit kick and scratch to be released. The following are some of the handling and training methods that we use at The Rabbit Rescue Sanctuary Adoption Centre and in our Foster Carer programs.
Picking up a Rabbit
To pick up a rabbit you must first calm him/her. To calm your rabbit one of the best ways is to sit and watch him and talk to him. Once he has you on his agenda you can begin offering tiny pieces of kale or carrot.
Rabbit "Repositioning" Method
Once the bunny is calm training can begin to teach the bunny that people are not all bad.
I often compare training bunnies to training horses. Firstly a trust must be built-up. Then the trainer begins to expose the horse to the types of experiences he or she will face with a novice rider. I say novice because when thinking of the bunnies and the homes they will go to, invariably the new owners have little or no experience with pet rabbits and some have never even had a pet of any type.
As with the horse trainer the rabbit trainer (Foster Carer) will have more control over their pupil if the setting for the training is appropriate and if they have the right equipment & environment.
I often compare training bunnies to training horses. Firstly a trust must be built-up. Then the trainer begins to expose the horse to the types of experiences he or she will face with a novice rider. I say novice because when thinking of the bunnies and the homes they will go to, invariably the new owners have little or no experience with pet rabbits and some have never even had a pet of any type.
As with the horse trainer the rabbit trainer (Foster Carer) will have more control over their pupil if the setting for the training is appropriate and if they have the right equipment & environment.
At the Rabbit Sanctuary we have a big table in our reception area that we use for handling the bunnies ourselves and to teach visitors how to handle bunnies. It is a big wooden table and very sturdy with wooden seats attached.
On the table are big fluffy bath mats. These have a calming affect on the bunny and stop them slipping and sliding around during handling.
We sit at the table with the bunny, positioning them facing towards us or slightly sideways and we stroke from the top of the head across the back repeatedly. This has a calming affect on the rabbit.
If the rabbit tries to move away we pick the rabbit up with two hands in the correct way and reposition then repeat the stroking.
Novice rabbit handlers usually have to be shown how to do this repositioning. When the bunny moves away they usually panic and try to pull the bunny back. The rabbit becomes very scared and will pull away from the clutching hands to try to escape.
I encourage Foster Carers to work with their foster bunnies on a table on a bath mat using the "repositioning and stroking" rabbit training method as often as possible. Kim Cooney
