you see Li can you give me a high five good job good job hello I'm Amy I'm Amy the bunny lady and this is my partner illusive I call her Ellie for short and today what do you think about doing a demonstration we show people how to pet their rabbits what do you think what do you think silly the first thing that you want to know is that most rabbits will get a little bit scared if you come have you come at them directly from the front of their fit their head because they can't see directly in front of their nose rabbits have great vision and happen almost 360-degree view but right in front of their nose is one of those it's a blind spot right in front of their nose is a blind spot so they don't particularly like that so when you first go to approach a rabbit especially if they're not familiar with you you want to go from the side of their head so the front side and the top so they can see it so they can see your hand fur flying everywhere today I mean your big shedding season so you want to come from the top and go and from the top from the side so they could see your hand and then come and pet them most rabbits don't actually like when you go under and go for their chin like a lot of dogs do or and a lot of cats so go for the top of their head first it's pretty rare for rabbits actually like their chin being rubbed so I mean it depends on the personality of your rabbit but for the most part I'd say that is not the first place to try so the first place you're going to try to pet your rabbit is on top of their head here giving them a massage yeah you like that when you give them all a massage you like this or if you're petting them and they're really enjoying it you might see their cheeks moving a little bit rabbits will grind their teeth when they're feeling content it's a lot like I cats purring sometimes you can actually hear it you can hear the tooth grinding sound but yes it's on it's a rabbit purr that's what it's called and it's just them grinding their teeth than saying yes they like this they like this a lot so you want to start off by giving them some hip pads if there is super shy rabbit and you're just gonna go one pair at a time and see how they react and if they back off you back off you respect your rabbit boundaries but eventually I would say 9 to 95% of happy that she really loved to be pet it's just a matter of helping them understand of helping them understand that you're not gonna pick them up every time if they don't have to be afraid of you that it's really an enjoyable experience so first you're gonna come from the top side come down pet their head and then if they seem to be enjoying that like you would definitely are we're gonna come behind their ears like this scratch the back of their neck give them a massage back here you can do both at the same time and don't worry about touching your rabbits ears most rabbits really don't mind there's I guess a common misconception that rabbit ears are really sensitive but most the time they're really not it's um maybe they don't they're not going to enjoy a massage on their ears but they're they're not going to hate it if you touch them so give them a little massage behind their neck like this then give them some head scratches and if they start enjoying that they're really relaxing and you can see he's pretty much melting into the towel here you can start giving them some full-body massages like this help them relax even more you might see them start to shift their weight as they get really comfortable yeah yeah I'm enjoying this and then you can try going back up the other way give them a massage with both hands yeah I feel good does that feel instantly yeah you can play around see what your rabbit enjoys best definitely the the easiest spots to start with are on top of the head and behind the neck but different rabbits will like different things another place that can be a sweet spot for rabbits is right here on the cheeks like this give him some cheek massages and this is really good because as you massage their cheeks you can feel around for the teeth their back teeth their cheek teeth you can feel around out their cheek teeth make sure that they they feel okay that there's no bumps or something because that can be an indication of teeth problems so if you feel anything unusual when you're giving them a cheek massage it's a good idea to check in with your vet make sure that there are no malocclusions or no problems with overgrown teeth because that's a common common medical problem with rabbits especially if they don't have a high fiber diet or don't get enough chew toys so you're really enjoying this yeah now a couple places that rabbits actually don't like to be pet very much include their butt which she I've been working to desensitize her to this so she's okay with this but a lot of times rabbits will like get startled and jump away if you touch their butt or their tail so that's one place that some rabbits are kind of sensitive so you know pay attention to your rabbit and they also not particularly like if you touch underneath their chest or the stomach again I've been I've been working with her to desensitize her to these areas because it'll be a lot easier to pick them up and handle them when you have to cuz sometimes you do need to pick them up to keep them out of danger or handle them to clip their nails or give them medicine so you want to make sure that you over time slowly help them understand that you know they're not gonna get hurt in these sensitive areas these sensitive areas are okay mmm-hmm other areas that rabbits generally don't like being touched are their feet so again little by little you know give them a couple strokes every now and then on their feet and help them slow to help slowly desensitize these areas because because I will really be helpful when you need to clip your rabbit's needles every couple months their back feet in particular tend to be tend to be sensitive areas so that's just so you're aware of that they don't they don't like their feet being touched most of the time with rabbit feet with rabbit feet you want to understand that with everything that they need they have evolved as pre animals so they need to be able to they need to be able to run away that's their main defense mechanism being able to run away so if you're touching their feet they might feel like oh no I'm not gonna be over it away and then they get scared and stand up don't like it very much so that's why those areas tend to be more difficult you're such a good girl today good job good job and that's it that's all you that's a good way to get started spending some time with you we have it so thank you for watching clip the song click the subscribe button and the bill next to it if you want more information about rabbits and rabbit care I do have a blog at funny lady calm so feel free to check it out or you can check out some of my other videos have a great day yes I love you I love you