How To Calm An Aggressive Rabbit

*sniff sniff* is that carrot I smell?
When we encountered our aggression issue, I wanted to look up more on the breed. We had done our research ahead of time before adopting, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. I've known lops to be very skittish for instance. I went searching and from what I found there was nothing to indicate aggressiveness in the breed.
Generally, Mini Rexes are known for their sweet docile temperament. They make excellent indoor rabbits due to their size. If I had my choice, I would have Palominos all over the house, but they are huge! Rexes are also known for their luxurious velvety fur! Oh my! I mean I've cuddled many bunnies, but this fur was like no other, very dense and soft!
The Mini Rex is a small breed who weigh less than 5 pounds. A show rabbit is less than 4 1/2 pounds. It's much different than handling an 8-9 pound Palomino! Small breeds are great because they can live comfortably in a rabbit hutch indoors.

Rabbits are hardy animals. The biggest thing will be keeping them cool if you live in warmer weather. We do this by filling 2 liter bottles with water and freezing them. Bunnies love to cuddle up with the ice in hot weather. If you are experiencing very cold weather, cover the cages with some sort of barrier such as a tarp. My husband raised Palominos in -30 degree weather without a problem by throwing old quilts over the cages and providing hay for the rabbits to snuggle down in.

Photo Courtesy of: www.hayneedle.com

You will pet me.
A few months after having our Mini Rex, I noticed she started grunting when we opened her cage. She didn't do anything else, just grunt. I thought she was just a talker. Our other bunnies never grunted like this even when we went to check on babies! We even had one female that just would not mate because she hopped on top of the males! Ha! I thought she was pretty aggressive, but that didn't compare to Freckles. I really thought nothing of the grunts. She happily hopped out of her cage each day and ate snacks from our hands. I taught the kids to be gentle with her and never pick her up. She made friends with our cat right away. They enjoy chasing each other around the house.

Biting: Most rabbits will groom you, but if they intentionally bite you that is a sign of aggression. It usually means "back off".

Charging: A rabbit will jump out at other rabbits, your feet, a hand put inside a cage, or other targets. This is a very aggressive move which signals that you are in their territory and they want you out now.

Ears Layed Back: A calm alert bunny will have their ears forward. If they are laying down, they may have their ears back, but this is a calm stance. If they are sitting up, legs are straight and ears back, then watch out!

Grunts: A Rabbit will generally grunt when annoyed. They are trying to tell you "don't push it buster".

Standing Position: They will have their legs straight with tail sticking up. Not to be confused with stretching!

Thumping: A rabbit will thump their back feet as a warning to other rabbits that there is a threat. They are telling you to back off!

You lookin at me?
I'm not sure when things changed. The grunts went on for about 6-7 months. I generally ignored them or had a nice little conversation with Freckles since I thought she was talking to me. I was the main care taker, so I had the most contact with her. At times, I needed to clean her cage. I tried not to pick her up too often, but there were things that needed taken care of. She has never been fully comfortable with nail clipping, but I have been able to do that without much problem. Luckily she never had teeth issues. We had clipped teeth on other bunnies in the past.
She did go through a round of ear mites that were causing her ears to get all caked up. I think that might have caused some skittishness on her part. She hated the cleanings. It didn't take long for them to go away.

After that, she became more vocal in the grunting and started lunging at me in her cage. I thought "what the heck!?" We had never had anything like that happen with any of our other bunnies. Even one of our girls that had a huge cyst that needed draining daily. I know it must have hurt, but she was so good!!
This whole lunge thing had me worried. I wasn't sure how to handle the situation. She was perfect outside her cage. I never had any issues with biting or kicking. She would calmly come up to eat or be petted, and now it was like Jekyll and Hyde. I certainly did not want the kids to get bit! What am I going to do?

With practice, you can sex a rabbit easily. As the rabbit ages, it will get easier. A good breeder will know what sexes they have. Most pet stores will have no idea, but here is how.

http://www.nenuphar.plus.com/
Flip your bunny over. Let them get comfortable in your arms for a minute. This is a position you will be using in their care for the future anyway. Take your index finger and thumb and spread the area from the anus to the sexual organs. As you gently spread and apply gentle pressure, you will notice if (or not) anything sticks up. If you do, congratulations! It's a boy!. If not, then you have yourself a girl. You may want to pick up a few bunnies to compare, but it really is not that hard to tell.

Ok folks I have a counseling degree. I took behavioral science classes. The concepts were there. I just had to apply them. I also found information online about T-touch. It is a gentle massaging motion that helps to calm animals down. There are programs regarding T-touch that can be found online.
One issue that came up was identifying the stimulus that triggered the reaction of Freckles. I am not entirely sure what started the aggression in the first place, but I decided to use operant conditioning methods using extinction and methods of exposure therapy.

I began with sticking my hand in the cage. She usually had no issue with this. One thing that I noticed was she would lunge if I touched her food bowl. I thought maybe the sound of it frightened her. It tended to make a metallic sound in her cage. I started with gently moving the bowl around the cage. If she lunged, I did not remove my hand. Yes, I did get bit. The key here is not withdrawing the stimulant (exposure). The goal was to keep introducing the stimulus (the bowl sound) until the reaction (lunging) was extinct. It took some time, but I spent quiet a bit of time each day doing this. Just moving her bowl from side to side. She grunted and lunged and bit, but over time this was reduced.

When she reacted in a way I wanted, I provided T-touch. This introduced positive reinforcement. The touch was soothing and it reinforced the behavior that I wanted (calm bunny). I would rub all over her body using T-touch, and she would lay back with her eyes closed relaxing.
Over time, Freckles had learned to be calm in her cage. She does give a grunt occasionally. That just means I need to work on reinforcement.
The thing is, if you want a happy bunny, you need to invest the time in addressing these issues. You cannot simply ignore them. An aggressive bunny is a stressed bunny. It does not mean you need to return them or get rid of them. You simply have to work with them!
I did similar things with our two feral cats who turned into the best cats ever!