clicker training

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KiwisMom

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I was just wondering if anyone has had an success with clicker training a bunny? I just loved clicker training with my dog, and was wondering if it's possible with a bunny. Also, what types of tricks or commands can you teach a bunny?
 
Go to clickertraining.com by Karen Prior. She has a section dedicated to rabbits. She is the Mother of Clicker Training. I discovered her when I began my career of animal training in the 90's. Her videos are great. She is on facebook too.

The best tip that I can give you is watch your timing. It took me longer with my rabbit than any of the other species I have tried because of the visibilty of the rabbit to the treat. I ended up clicking the exact same time as she grab the treat from my hand when introducing it to her. Where as for more visible species I would put treats on the floor and click as soon as they found the treat which may work for you if your rabbit goes for treats like this ont he floor. You know they understand the clicker when you click and they stop what they are doing to focus on the clicker.

The clicker is very exciting to the rabbit. She is beside herself offering me all her behaviors until she calms down. You will be able to stop using the clicker once theyknow the behavior and you can give it a verbal command if you want. Once clicker trained it is the best way to introduce new behaviors. The cool thing is the rabbit thinks it is training you to click!

I used the clicker training for sit, up, kiss, pet, walking on a leash, and the best for litter box training. I really want to do jumping but I have not attempted it yet because I do not trust the big bundle of trouble to jump in the right places. I watch her stare at the counters and tables thinking about it. I am talking myself into it now by discussing it.

When she is getting into to much trouble I distract her with clicker training and it seems to work because I think she gets bored and needs something new to do.

Have fun with it and feel free to ask me anything to assit you in your training.


 
One question I do have is in reguards to the treats. I have trained my dog using a clicker, and the treat was always the important part of the process. Now, the breeder of my bunny, who is only 9 weeks old now, recommended that I only feed her timothy hay and pellets until she is 6 months old. Now how can I train her when she won't take either of those from my hands as a treat? Is she too young to train, or will 6 months old be too old to start training at? Any ideas?
 
I introduced her to the clicker when I first brought her home at 10 weeks but I had to retrain her after she recovered from her spay at 5 months old. I gave her herbs initially and them moved on to raisins, craisins, cheerios, and any produce she was eating. I just varied it everytime. When I took my rabbit home, she was already eating some greens and herbs so I didn't have any worries.

I know she would think I was crazy offering pellets or hay. I do know a rabbit who will work for them but she is probably the exception to the rule.

She is not going to be to old to start training if you wait until you can find the perfect treat. Treats do work better than anything else.
 
[ame=http://youtu.be/AVoKpaxMeSM]http://youtu.be/AVoKpaxMeSM[/ame]



This is video of my first attempt to clicker train Kiwi. She like Papaya, but can only have a small amount a day, so one piece turns into many pieces, and it's enough to practice a few times a day.
 
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