Trust Diary: First Weeks Together
Hi, I’m Azmi from Meknes! The first weeks were about sitting nearby, and measuring the gap. This post is a distance map: how far he stayed from me on day 1, day 4, day 9, day 14, day 21, and what I did at each line. No picking up, no chasing, just floor time at the same hour. This is my bonding log, not behavior advice. Every rabbit settles at its own speed; for fear or aggression I would ask a vet. Here: meters, milestones, and my session script.
The map: hide, rug line, my wall
My room gave me free measuring tools: floor tiles 30 cm each. Hide sits in the corner. I sat against the opposite wall, four tiles away, 120 cm. That was day one: I sat on the floor reading while he stayed in the hide, visible only as two eyes. Session script never changed: same 17:00 hour, same wall spot marked with a cushion, 15 minutes, book in lap, no reaching, no calling. I logged each session with time and distance, estimated in tiles, written as a number. Day one: 4 tiles. Day two: 4. Day three: 4, one ear out. The photo from the same chair each day shows the gap better than words: dark hide doorway, empty rug between, my slippers at the frame edge.
Milestones: day 4, 9, 14, 21
Day four first approach to my shoe: 2 tiles, sniffed the toe, retreated. I did nothing, book stayed up, breathing steady. Logged: 2 tiles, 40 seconds out. Day nine first nose nudge: 0 tiles, pressed my knee, left. I answered with stillness only. Day fourteen: sat beside my leg for 6 minutes while I read, weight leaning lightly. Day twenty-one: climbed onto my stretched leg, settled, tooth-purred for the first time. Each milestone has its photo: shoe sniff from above, knee nudge blurred (he moved fast), leg-sit with book corner in frame, lap loaf with my hand resting nearby but not touching. Photos show the gap closing week by week. Between milestones were plateau days, day 6 through 8 stuck at 3 tiles, day 11 regressed to the hide after a loud street day. Regressions got an R mark, never a reaction from me.
Session rules that held the line
Same time, same spot, short sessions. 17:00 because the room is dim and quiet then; morning sessions tested twice scored worse (4 tiles both days, he is a morning forager, not a morning friend). Fifteen minutes with a silent timer, longer sessions in week one produced hiding the next day, twice. Floor level always: I never sat on the couch for these sessions, height matters. Hands in lap unless he climbs on, first voluntary touch happened day 16, chin on my knuckle, 10 seconds. I ended that session two minutes early on purpose, a happy exit. Treats: none during trust sessions for the first two weeks, hay available at the hide as usual, nothing from my hand, so approaches were curiosity not hunger. Hand-feeding started week three as its own diary.
Distance table, three weeks
| Day | Closest distance | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | 4 tiles / hide | Eyes only, R none yet |
| 4-8 | 2-3 tiles | Shoe sniff day 4, plateau |
| 9-13 | 0-1 tiles | Nudge day 9, street-noise R day 11 |
| 14-21 | Contact | Leg-sit, lap loaf, first purr |
Friends ask how to bond fast, I show my slow table. Twenty-one days from 4 tiles to lap, with two regressions, at 15 minutes a day, about 5 hours total floor time. Trust logged beats trust rushed. The full photo strip from the chair is my favorite page in the whole blog: 21 frames, same angle, the rug empty then dotted then occupied. If you start, photograph the gap, not the rabbit, the gap tells the story. Same time, same spot, short sessions. For sudden fear, thumping marathons, or appetite loss during settling, the diary pauses and the vet gets the call. Gap photos mine, same chair weekly, the distance tells the story. Not vet advice.
Days 22-30, the map folds up
By day 22 the tile counting stopped because distance hit zero and stayed there. New pattern instead: he arrives before I sit, waiting at my cushion spot at 16:58 twice. The diary’s second month became arrival times, not distances: 17:02, 16:58, 17:00, 16:55. Early arrivals cluster on windy days when the balcony door rattles; the room with a human reads safer, apparently. Small-room advice from my notes for friends starting now: pick the quietest corner as the base even if it is not yours, I moved my cushion twice before settling on the wall away from the street. Big rooms slow everything; one friend working in a hall took five weeks to first nudge with the same script. Shrink the world first: close a door, halve the tiles, let the map be small. The 21-frame strip now hangs inside my notebook, same angle throughout, the only project on this blog I would frame. Trust logged beats trust rushed, and the strip is the receipt.
Next in this chapter…
Most Dramatic Manicure (Certified Faker)
I am Azmi, writing from Meknes, and I have just witnessed the most dramatic manicure in the recorded history of…
Night Shift Girlfriend: Lights Out, Love On
I am Azmi, writing from Meknes, and I keep vampire hours now, not by choice but by rabbit. Almost every…
Is It Normal to Chill Alone While Bonded?
I am Azmi, writing from Meknes, and last night my bonded girl Maple gave me the classic first-time fright: instead…