Hi there, yes sweet summer love benefits from being hard pruned down to 6-12" in the spring because it blooms on new wood only.

Not all clematis bloom on new wood. There are clematis that bloom on old and new wood so they bloom twice, and a type that blooms only on old wood. So if you add those to your gardens you will want to protect them from the rabbits. I put a ring of chicken wire around the base of my clematis that are rabbit height to keep them from getting munched on and it works pretty well.

I would suggest protecting sweet summer love anyway until it really fills in because the bunnies will just keep munching on it! Just from my personal experience, they always like my clematis!

sprinkle some blood meal around the area where the clematis is planted and the rabbits won't touch it. As a bonus it will fertilize the plants. You don't need to do much, just a sprinkle. They don't like the smell of it. Also, plant thyme around it. I have a bad rabbit problem. Last winter I forgot to put down Liquid Fence and they pruned a lot of the new roses to the grown except those that had thyme planted at its feet.