Advice on petting

[Hoopy]

Hi there, I've had my russian dwarf Sharky Boshaw for about a week and a half and he's a brave little thing, he's not scared of me any more and I can pick him up okay. I've been trying to introduce a little bit of petting to our interaction time and he doesn't seem scared it's more like he doesn't understand what I'm doing. I tried stroking his back with my thumb and he jumped like I really surprised him, so I've been trying gently brushing his side with my thumb while he's sitting on my hand and he just turned to face my thumb like 'what is that why are you doing that'.

If he just doesn't like being petted I'll happily leave him alone but for now it seems more like he just doesn't understand it. Does anyone have any tips for me on introducing him to it in a gentle way?

[pineappleunderthesea]

Mine doesn't enjoy being pet most of the time but I noticed that she doesn't care what you do when she's eating so perhaps try petting them when they're distracted by a treat or food!