Bonding Speed Bumps

      If you have attempted bonding and experienced progress for a while but, all of a sudden, reached a plateau, you are not alone. Bonding is a like a road trip where the interstate driving is smooth but the side streets are filled with traffic, random speed limit changes, pedestrians, and congested hot spots. The forward progression between bonding bunnies gives hope about the efficacy of the friendship while the stops and starts dash confidence leading to doubt. Why does bonding involve speed bumps?
      The answer lies in bunny brain activity. Just like people, rabbits enter the world and then begin to learn about it. They learn to eat, drink, touch, listen, and see while holding tightly to their relationships with mom, siblings, and, sometimes, dad. Once reproductive maturity onsets, their bodies rely heavily on endocrine system regulation of hormones. Their innate urges to acquire resources necessary to support their lives, including reproduction becomes their driving force. Competition over food, safety, territory, and mating rights causes fighting and hostility among previously loving siblings and other members of the colony. This aspect of nature is quite brutal. 
        During this formative time, if a bunny's resources are threatened, they will become aggressive toward the others in defense of perceived well-being. Case in point: if a young bunny finds a good food source and another bun attempts to share it, that resource will be guarded, resulting in fights. Enough times of this happening leads to a conditioned response: food equals defense! This can be said of safe areas. If one bunny locates a safe spot and others come to utilize it, the first bunny will react violently to claim it as their own. For each occurrence of threat-to-defense activity, the bun's brain is programmed to the hostile response. While each bunny is individual with their own individual experiences that shape their view of the world, their brains can be reconditioned to modify the violent tendencies during bonding. 
        It is integral to evaluate each bunny as an individual having a unique personality which behavior evidences. Bunnies experience a similar regression phenomenon to humans. Regression in psychology is a behavioral response that stems from an earlier or previous development usually associated with conditions of stress and conflict. This defense mechanism is different for each bunny. Through observational evaluation during bonding, assessments can be made about triggers from early maturity that are the causes of aggression. Once triggers, otherwise known as the hiccups in bonding, are identified, they can be discouraged and, through the gentle positive reinforcing of good behavior, eliminated altogether. 
        Steady forward progression that flows over speed bumps is possible. Don't lose hope when you have what appears to be set backs during bonding. The bumpy road your bunny navigates means he/she is reconditioning his/her brain.