Digging the carpet

My buns have taken up a new hobby...digging mycarpet! I have burber so it has actually unraveled in a few places. Isthere anyway to deter them from doing this. I say no when I see themdoing it and they will stop but the little boogers are sneaky! Any tips?

Hmmmmmmm I wouldn't know because I keep my rabbitsoutside. The only advice I can give is if you see them doing it justsay no in a very firm voice or pick them up and say no!
When Ebony is bad I pick her up and make her eye level with me and give her a good talking to...she dusnt listen tho!

loz and the bunies
xoxoxo

When you catch them say no. The next time youcatch them you say no, no, no and pick them up.Take them backto their cage while saying no, no, no. And Keep them in their cage forabout 30 minutes before you take them out agian. This way they knowthat digging at carpet means timeout.

Well, the only problem is that they won't let mepick them up to put them in the cage for a time out. They are justgetting to where they will come up to be petted but when we try toreach for them off they go. Sweetpea absolutely FREAKS when we pick himup. He scratches and bites. Junior will tolerate being held but is nottoo thrilled with it. Interestingly enough, Sweetpea (the one whefreaks out when we hold him) is the more friendly of the two!

you could try putting a leash on them so that youwould have a better chance on catching them, but they might get evenmore scared.

Hmmm....I didn't think of that. We do that withour dog when we are in the yard. If he starts to chase a squirrel or*gasp* a rabbit we just step on the end of the leash and he doesn't gettoo far.

Yes. I use a leash on Flospy we he is out in theyard. This way when he gets scared I don't have to worry about himhurting hiself.

Junior_n_Sweetpea, another thing that I'vefound that works exceptionally well is the water bottle or watergun. Whenever you see them digging you don't even have to getup out of your seat. Aim that bottle ... and fire!They don't like getting wet, so you'll be surprised at how fast thatnegative behavior resolves itself.

It's gotten to the point with Sherman that I don't even need tosquirt him any more when he's doing something that he's not supposedto. All I have to do is reach for the bottle... and instant AngelBunny!!! lol!

Hope this helps!

Hmmmm....my son just got a new water gun. I caughtSweetpea digging yesterday and yelled No! and he just stopped andlooked at me and then put his head down. I felt like such ameany.

buns are great at making you feel like a big pileof pooh. the watergun is great, because they feel reprimanded, but theyhave no idea where it came from!

OH that is great..."but they have no idea where itcame from" sooooo true, and BunnyMommy, you hit the nail right on thehead about the guilt trips~sometimes I find myself APOLOGIZING afterreprimanding?? wow that is bad, but those eyes..those eyes......I hadread somewhere else that perhaps covering the part of the carpet theyare digging up with a peice of carpet or some other tidbit they areallowed to dig has helped in discouraging the "good carpet" digging.Myself, I have wood and tile so I dont know about carpet, but with mywood floor I did put a piece of applewood in the corner so Jezebelwould stop nibbling on the edge of the flooring. I incorporated thespray into it as well, since she could not immediatly go from floor towood. When she started to nibble, I sprayed, said NO..walked over andhanded her the applewood

so far so good........well of course most of the time...if itwas 100% she wouldnt of been named Jezebel but insteadAngel

Cher

Cherwrote:

~sometimes I find myself APOLOGIZINGafter reprimanding??
Cher

Click to expand...

LOL! Cher, oh, Cher!!!! The next time Ifind myself feeling guilty for overindulging Sherman I'm going to readthis post. BOL!

'Nuff said!

Well, the squirtgun has been working like a charmwith Junior and Sweetpea! So today whenmy dog was barking atthe mailman I grabbed the gun to give him a squirt. He stuck his tonguein the air and tried to get a drink....little stinker! He was unfazedby it LOL. But the buns hate it! And it is so funny to watch them tryto figure out where it came from.

Hi Junior & Sweetpea,

The watergun is definitely great for training rabbits--for carpetdigging, litterbox training, etc. Especiallybecause it's too hard to catch them from where you are all thetime. By the time you make it over to them, they've taken 3more bites. I give my rabbit 3 warnings, "Tucker!Tuckerrrr! TUCKER!!" no response, then a shot isfired. I don't feel in the least bit guilty because by thattime, he knows it's wrong and should've stopped, so I look at it likehe deserved it by that point.

The important thing is that you catch them in the act of the badbehavior or else they won't be able to make the connection as to what'sbad or what's good.

As to the dog, there's always a wiseguy in the crowd, isn'tthere?

-Carolyn

Good luck with stopping the digging. Ihave tried all things..........NO, water and putting in timeout. She's gotten a little bit better, and now that I'veincorporated a loud clap just one time, she stops in her tracks andruns back to me. I didn't know what else to do becausenothing, not even the water was phasing her. The water workedbriefly, but now she doesn't even flinch at it.

Glad to hear that it's working, junior_n_sweetpea!

Carolyn gave me that great piece of advice some time ago whenSherman started nipping me and it's proven to be a real jewel of asolution and has helped us to maintain at least some balance of powerin the "Kingdom".