Jake just a few days ago, right before our anniversary

Adolescent Jake

Jakey's and my 12th anniversary

I wanted a dog for as long as I could remember. The last time my family had a dog, he was really my sister’s dog, Mike. We had him for 1 year and then my parents made us give him away. They said it was because the neighbors were complaining too much about him. I found out years later the real reason. My father hit my sister so hard he knocked her down. Mike jumped to her defense and on him and he had to kick him in the balls (had we really not neutered him?) to get him off him. I was very young, I forget exactly how old. 9 or 10 at most; probably younger.

In my early 30s, I decided to buy a condo. I chose a complex that allowed dogs with permission of manager, and then waited 2 years to be financially secure before asking permission. Unfortunately, the prior month the old manager retired. The new manager said no, they weren’t allowing dogs anymore because a newcomer had complained about the smelly dog next door. She told me to get a bird if I was lonely.

Reagan changed the tax laws and crashed the condo market shortly after I bought my condo, so I was now terribly under water and trapped. 17 years – and a few dozen birds -- later I was finally able to make the move out of there, and forced to leave whether I wanted to or not by a registered sex offender who had targeted me for horrific harassment, 24x7gistered sex offender and his gang of thugs who had targeted me for horrific harassment, 24x7x365. I packed up my zillion birds and bunny and pony, and moved to Maine.

I had a couple cyber-acquaintances up here who urged me to get a dog immediately, for my own protection. I was reluctant at this point, with so many critters already my responsibility. But a year later, on Thanksgiving weekend, on the news, the critter adoption segment featured puppies at a shelter an hour to my south. 26 dogs – mostly mamas and puppies, plus a few individuals – had been headed to their deaths in Arkansas. There was no room at the pound. So someone at the local shelter drove a van from Maine to Arkansas and loaded it up with all 26 dogs, who would soon be available for adoption up here.

I called. I had dreamed of getting a yellow lab female, so I asked about the labx mama.  “She looks just like a fat little yellow lab,” the shelter rep said. And so I headed to the shelter hoping to adopt that mama. When I arrived on though, she was already spoken for. So instead I sat the floor in a little puppy pen, surrounded by her litter. All the puppies were jet black, including one with a corkscrew tail, except one who looked charcoal grey in the lighting.  I took turns holding each puppy. One and all chewed on my sleeve, except the charcoal grey. He licked my hand. He licked my face. All he wanted to do was love, love, love. And that’s how Jakey chose me.

December 19, 2004 was also a Saturday. Jacobs, my Christmas puppy, came home with me 12 years ago to the day.

Angora wool

Upper left: warm gray (from chestnut agouti)
Lower left: cool gray (from black)
Right: Cream/almond pink (from fawn)

Plucked prime: 2.5-3.5" harvested by hand

Jakey's 12th birthday!

I'll never know Jakey's real birthday. His rescue paperwork listed him as "12 weeks," but I vaguely remember being told he was 8 weeks. His still somewhat puppy-blue eyes and tiny size told me possibly only 7 weeks. Regardless, it was likely somewhere between late October and early November, so I settled on November 1 to celebrate. I managed somehow to get sidetracked many years so celebrations tended to be on the late side, sometimes merging with our adoption anniversary the week before Christmas. But 12 years was too special to mess up, so I was absolutely determined this year. We shared a 2-layer meatloaf cake with butter-sweet potato frosting and broccoli writing. I initially imagined -- and tried -- writing with tiny, crumbled florets. It was time-consuming, tiring and pretty unreadable. It wasn't until I got to his name and a bit of J-shaped stalk with tiny floret made a lovely funky letter that I switched to an unthought of, and much easier, way to shape the letters. So here it is: Happy 12th B-day Jakey!

Biters are made, not born

My thoughts on “biting” and “nipping” come from decades of experience with horses and parrots. There are 2 primary causes to the first bite or nip: 

• 1.       Communication –animals communicate with their bodies and some vocalization. The less vocalization; the more the body language. While bunnies do emit quiet little squeaks and grunts, they communicate a lot by body language, including nips.
• 2.       Food – baby animals that are just starting to eat solid food will nibble and nip at anything to see if they can eat it. 

Secondary causes all emanate from how we respond to the initial nip and involve accidental reward/payback for the initial nip. Enough repetition and you've taught the critter that nipping yields rewards!

Teddy is, obviously, well past the “is this food?” stage which happens before the babies are even weaned. That leaves communication.

Remembering back to when I first adopted Snickerdoodles and Oreo, I got several nips back then, in particular by Oreo. I didn’t react to the nips…at all. Instead, I focus attention on what we were doing just prior to the nip, guessed at what “triggered” the behavior and adjusted *my* behavior.  Actually, my very first thought at my first nip was, “That’s the best you’ve got?!?” I felt terribly sorry for how incredibly weak and ineffectual are their defenses against the world. It must be a terribly frightening  place for them.

What I found caused nips

• Impatience; needing to move around a bit and do something else. Oreo likes to explore and wanted to check out his new home, sniff with Snickers in her cage, and just hop around. I couldn’t blame him; his initial cage was too small – this was an emergency adoption so we were “making do” temporarily. I mistakenly restrained him, trying to keep him on my lap for grooming, and got nipped. So I changed my behavior to shorten the plucking sessions and allow him to hop around as soon as he showed signs of restlessness. It took longer to pluck him, but made the sessions much more pleasant and rewarding for him.
• Uncomfortable/hurting: a couple times I’ve been nipped when I picked up a bunny awkwardly or held him or her in a position they found uncomfortable.  Taking more care when handling and finding a position that works best when carrying them – and using that position consistently – and I didn’t get nipped again.
• Needing to pee: Snickerdoodles is so laid back and patient, she can nap for an hour on my lap when I’m grooming. So it was a shock the one time she got restless and I restrained her…and was nipped as my reward. She got free and peed a *lot*.   Since then, I’ve found several of my babies got restless during their first grooming and peed the instant they were back in their hutch. They had been doing their very best to hold their pee for some minutes! Figgy Newton, unfortunately, is freed from this inconvenience as he is happy to let loose wherever he is, lol.

The bottom line is that in every case, it was *my* bad that triggered that initial nip.

How to make nipping a habit

Any response to the nip other than figuring out the trigger and not triggering again can potentially turn nipping into a habit, because any response is potentially a “reward.”

If they nip and you yelp, it becomes a way to exert control. Hah! I made you yell! This is something I learned from birds; no matter what, do NOT let them think they can control you with their biting.

If you “work with them” by handling  them more, you are rewarding nipping with increased attention. And so on.

I shouldn't need to write this, but never, never punish a bunny for nipping. They are tiny, defenseless, powerless and trying to communicate. It's your job to figure out what they're trying to tell you and get smarter in the future so they don't have to resort to nipping.

How to nip the nipping in the bud

Don’t give them *any* payback for their nip. The message you are sending is that “nipping didn’t  send any message.”  If possible, don't even yelp or make a sound. Instead, try to determine the underlying cause – did you startle the bunny, accidentally hurt the bunny, ignore the bunny’s need to move around or find a new position? Respond as best you can to the underlying cause instead.

Timing is everything

If the bunny was restless and I ignored them and then got nipped, I do keep them still a little longer – a couple seconds, not minutes – and then let them go exploring. The key here – and it is tricky – is to not reward the nip with instant release. Instead, request they stay put a little longer. But not so long as to trigger another nip. Instead, reward their 2 seconds of patience with a few minutes of exploring.

You don’t need to be perfect; just good enough

Teddy has always been on the restless side, all my big boys in fact, needing to explore between shorter plucking sessions. I was surprised, then, that he was so still and quiet for the first 20+ minutes of grooming. In hindsight, at least in part it was likely due to Jake plunking himself down in such a way as to trap us in a corner of the bed. And then out of nowhere, instead of getting restless he nipped. By (bad) luck he caught me on the stomach and it was a sharp little nip. I was unprepared and let out a yelp. I adjusted his position and returned to grooming. A couple minutes later a tiny nip, which I ignored for a second, then adjusted our position and returned to grooming. A couple minutes later the 3^rd very tiny nip, really just a scrape of his teeth, which I again ignored for a second, then adjusted our position. And then Teddy got restless and I let him leave my lap for a few seconds. 

In the future I’ll ensure Jake leaves us more space for grooming sessions, I will shorten each grooming to less than 20 minutes at a stretch and intersperse time and space to explore for a few minutes. Any future nips will be treated the same way; no “payback” at all, just ignore for a second and adjust.

I don’t know what caused Teddy’s first nip. Emilee said it happened during grooming; her mom said it happened all the time, that he climbed her leg and bit her and that he bit her while holding him. I wasn’t there so have no idea what transpired. 

If indeed he “climbed her leg,” that suggests she stepped into his pen, which could have panicked him. I thoughtlessly stepped into Snickers pen just a couple weeks ago; she panicked, bolted and tried to climb out of the pen in a panic. If he felt cornered he may have attacked in self-defense. Remember we are 15-20 times the size of an adult bunny, double that for 4 month old babies; we can frighten them easily if we “sneak up on” them!

Anyway, I’m happy that this morning Teddy was ready to climb up and give me a kiss. He didn’t climb all the way up on top of his hayrack, but at least he’s starting to get back to his old self.

Oh, and a year later, Oreo has lost his restlessness while being groomed. His most recent plucking sessions, he just plunked himself down and napped. He hasn’t nipped me since his first month or two here!

S'mores has been re-homed...Teddy is back home!

S’mores has been re-homed. Congratulations to Emilee, Sweet Annie and Esau for their new family member.

I reluctantly re-homed Teddy Graham with Emilee’s mother. Reluctant because each morning and evening, Teddy would climb up his hayrack and with his front feet holding the top of the hutch and his back feet secure on top of the hay rack, give me little wet kisses and snuggles. I missed him so much!

So I’m happy to say that Teddy is back home, as he took to nipping – something he never did before! Per Emilee, no matter how much they “worked with him” the “biting” continued. I was thrilled to get him back and happy to give them a full refund.

Yesterday was his first full day home, and after a good 20-30 minutes of grooming and plucking, he nipped me on the belly! Ouch!! And a few minutes later, a smaller nip on my shoulder and a few minutes after that, tiny teeth scraped my neck. I am not worried now, and I believe I understand the issue. 

I’m grateful they contacted me before this became an ingrained habit. I am already on the road to stopping the nipping by…doing nothing!

construction next door

Last evening and this morning

Nilla's 3rd harvesting session

Before: 

After: 

Bunnie's first shed

I'd read that angoras don't have their first shed until 6 months. Maybe they meant don't shed "prime wool" because mine started shedding at around 3 months. Their wool looks a little short to be prime, closer to 2" than the 2.5-3.5" long prime fibers.

I've been borderline panic stricken at thought of trying to harvest 9 bunnies at once. Fortunately, everybody has been on their own schedule, so I never have more than 2 in full shedding mode at once. I normally spread it out over several sessions, with 2 peak harvests of about an hour each. So far I've only had one pee accident, after which I took to setting them on a folded towel, lol. Sitting on my bed with music playing makes it a little less like work and a little more relaxing fun for me. Fewer bunnies would really help with making it less like work, tho!

Here's a look at how it goes. Hydrox was the last to start shedding. Here he is before his first "plucking" session:

And here she is after 45 minutes or so. Enough wool to knit another bunny, lol!

 Here is Teddy Graham before his 2nd session:

 And here he is after an hour or so:

The bunnies really seem to enjoy the attention. They usually end up snuggled against me while I pluck. More pix to come. Nilla's wool is the best of the lot -- it may actually be long enough to be "prime" and is more like angel hair than wool!

Dusk

 

And napping next to me right now

After the swim

Watching Jake's accelerating decline is breaking my heart day by day. In the last week or so, he's taken to stealing my socks and carrying them off. Something he hasn't done for years.

We were able to take a slightly longer walk than usual last night, and he wasn't as sore this morning as I feared. But still, he did have more trouble getting into the car than usual. Almost didn't want to try.

Yesterday we did more sniffing around 7 Trees Pond than swimming in it. Same last Friday at Linconville Beach. Same today, but for the first time I saw him really struggling in the water. He got water in his ear and may have swallowed some water, so that may have been the cause. But for the first time he dropped the frisbee. He was able to get it back and make it back. But his last 2 swims, I waded in ready to go in after him if necessary. Still, sniffing around makes him happy, so there is that.

He's napping in the sun now.

And for good measure, our first selfies. It's about freakin' time!