Anyone here click for handling?

[briemommy]

Just curious how it was done. Everyone wants me to just grab Brie until she gets used to being held, but she responds very well to baby steps with "clicking". Quotes cause I can't hold a clicker and try to hold her at the same time so I usually click with my tongue. She fights really hard when people try to pick her up.

 

[JBun]

Rabbits are all just so different. Sometimes you just have to find the right approach for your particular rabbit. What works for one bun may not work for another. Some of my rabbits hate being picked up, but they learned to tolerate it cause they knew it usually meant something good like playtime. Maybe if your rabbit learned to associate being picked up with something good, like a treat or somthing like that, then she may learn to tolerate it as well. You said you are clicker training her? So maybe you are already doing the treat thing.

 

[briemommy]

Well, Karen Pryor has a book out called "Clicking with your Rabbit". She talks about using clicker training to get a bunny comfortable with being held, but she doesn't go into any kind of detail about /how/. I've gotten Brie to the point where I can lift her an inch or two off the ground without her heart going crazy. I'm just not sure where to transition from there.

I took her to the vet on Friday to make sure she was spay-okay. He was not happy that she was not handle-able. He told me to get her used to it, which I am working on anyway, but now I'm afraid the vet tech will drop her before surgery cause she will FIGHT!

Just seeing if I can get some insight from others' experiences. :/

 

[JBun]

You could start out gradually. Like sit on the ground and clicker train her to hop in your lap, then click and treat. Then work up from there and pick her up from your lap and hold her, click and treat, then put her down. I think you want to do the click and treat while you are actually holding her and not after you put her down, so that she associates the treats with being held and not with being released. @katielovesleo3 does clicker training with her rabbit. She may have some ideas for you.

When my wiggly buns start wiggling when I pick them up and hold them, I'll press them close against me so they don't jump out of my arms and get hurt, and sometimes I'll place a hand over their head too, to help calm them down. If they wiggle when I'm setting them down, I won't let them go and will bring them back up until they hold still, then I'll try setting down again. I won't set them down and let them go until they are reasonably still as I'm setting them down. I do it that way cause I don't want them learning that if they wiggle I'll let them go.

 

[holtzchick]

I'm gradually getting mine used to clicking... I will twice a day go and click and give them a treat so they know it's coming

 

[Troller]

Both my Flemish's struggle, or try to struggle being picked up. I think you just have to persevere. My wife doesn't like it when I pick them up and they always make it difficult but with practice I can get them up now pretty effeciently. I'm not sure giving them treats (almost every time) helps make it a enjoyable experience but it does calm them down a bit during or after. Just the other day I had to pick up my Conan and after I set him down he came back to me like he was looking for something. Heh, can't give him one every time lest I have a fat greedy rabbit on my hands. I do think the practice doing has an effect, because both rabbits allow me to pet them and are calm around me even right after I set them down, where originally they would just run from me.