# Changes in the Stress Tolerance of Dwarf Rabbits in Animal-Assisted Interventions
## 4 Discussion  
The most frequently used species for AAIs is dogs, but for complementary therapy, rabbits could also be used [8] as they are popular, especially among children [6, 9], and in many European countries, rabbits are common companion animals [10]. Rabbits appear in children's literature as benevolent figures that eventuate positive feelings in pupils [8]. [PERSON] (et al.) proved that the anxiety level of primary school children can be decreased by rabbit-assisted interventions, which may have positive effects on the education efficiency of teachers [11]. Rabbits have been used for therapy purposes in hospitals, nursing homes and veterans' homes, social institutions, kindergartens and schools [6, 7], although only a limited number of animal species and individuals are suitable for therapy. Therefore, preliminary knowledge of the animal's behaviour to ensure the safety of the person involved in the therapy and the well-being of the animals are all very important [6]. Handling the rabbits during their early age period has a positive effect on their stress toleration level [25, 26]. The body language of the rabbits is easy to comprehend because it is clear to separate the aggressive rabbits from the curious and friendly ones. By the position of their ears, their momentary mood can be determined [12]. Our first hypothesis was that there is a significant difference between the rabbits' stress toleration levels according to the handling they underwent during the sensitive period after birth. Our study confirms this statement. The handled rabbits were willing to cooperate during the tasks in both human approach tests better than the non-handled ones. Their confidentiality was higher; they showed fewer signs of fear and felt more calm through the AAI. Our second hypothesis was that in a three-times repeated animal-assisted intervention, the rabbits would be able to cooperate without a significant decrease in their stress toleration if the interventions did not take longer than 20 min and we provided at least 30 min retreat for them. Our study does not confirm the statement. According to the school teaching model, a session where children were present lasted for 45 min, which was followed by a 15-min-long break. During the sessions, children dealt with the rabbits for 20 min with increasing intensity. Although the average scores of the rabbits did not decrease significantly (mean: 1 st AAI: 24.78, 2 nd AAI: 23.12, 3 rd AAI: 20.56), there is a difference between the results of the handled and the non-handled groups of rabbits. Means were as follows: 1 st AAI/handled: 27.25, 1 st AAI/non-handled: 22.31, 2 nd AAI/handled: 25.25, and 2 nd AAI/non-handled: 21. Furthermore, there was a significant decrease in the third intervention in the scores of the handled rabbits that reached 21 points (\(p=0.04\)). Based on these findings, we cannot accept our second hypothesis. However, handling plays a very important role in the stress  
Figure 4: Children Approach Test results over the three sessions (\(p=0.02\); difference was detected between the first and third AAI). (**A**) Total mean, (**B**) handled and non-handled rabbits’ means. In (**A**), means with different letter marks significantly diverge from each other (\(p<0.05\)). tolerance of rabbits because these animals were more cooperative than the non-handled ones not only at their first intervention but also in their second intervention. Only in their third session did they show a considerable decrease in cooperation. The importance of having information about the stress toleration capacity of the rabbits during the sessions and the effect of repeated sessions is reasonable in order to get proper knowledge about the rabbit-assisted intervention's methodology, avoid exhaustion of the animals and ensure their mental and physical health. The limitation of our study is that determining the stress level of the rabbits by behavior examination is not exact, although it gives us clear information, and the tests were fulfilled by a specialist (PhD in ethology).