Of course, rabbits can recognize people with whom they have regular contact. However, they do not necessarily recognize these people with their eyes, but through their good hearing, i.e. by their voice. Furthermore, rabbits have an excellent sense of smell and can thus recognize people by their scent.

If you get a new rabbit, the most important thing is to talk to him a lot. Talk to him in a calm and gentle tone several times a day, preferably also when you give him his food or offer him treats. This way, your rabbit will be able to recognize you by your smell and voice within a short time and will not be afraid of you.

My rabbit does not recognize me

Many rabbit owners experience that even after several weeks their rabbits still flee from them. There can be several reasons for this, one is that your rabbit is very fearful, but this rarely happens if you build up contact with your rabbit as described above. However, there is a simple method to build trust with your rabbit.

When feeding, simply sit in the free run of the rabbit enclosure right next to the fresh green food. Just sit there for 10-15 minutes and watch your rabbits behave. Do this for 2-3 days and then increase the length of time you sit with your rabbits for feeding. You can even bring a lawn chair and sit in the rabbit enclosure.

Usually, even skittish rabbits will come to the greens after 8-10 days and pick up the first leaves or stems to eat. Here you should continue to sit motionless and just watch your rabbits. The eye contact that occurs ensures that your rabbit gets to know you and so slowly loses the shy.

After another week or two, your rabbit will have so much confidence that it will eat delicious things from your hands. In this second phase, keep talking to your rabbit in a calm and gentle voice. With this method we have been able to turn the most fearful rabbits into trusting rabbits. Just by the voice they often look curiously in the direction of the voice and wait for what is coming.

This is how your rabbit shows you that it recognizes you

A satisfied rabbit seeks closeness, they lie down on their back or side and let you cuddle them. Nudging with the nose also tells you that your rabbit likes you and that you can now stroke it with pleasure. Rabbits also do this communication among themselves and nudge each other to show the other that they want to be cleaned.

This brushing is done with the tongue and you can be sure that when your rabbit licks your hand, this is one of the greatest signs of trust that a rabbit can give you. Don't worry, you don't have to lick your rabbit as well, but he will be happy if you brush him gently with a suitable brush.

Can rabbits love people?

Whether a rabbit can love people is a difficult question, because you can't really tell. However, they can express their affection through their behavior, as described in the paragraph above. With this behavior they show that you belong to their pack and that they feel comfortable with you. So if you want to express it through this behavior, yes, rabbits can love people.