Does anyone clicker train?

[LuellaJean]

Hey guys! I saw some pretty impressive videos on YouTube of clicker trained bunnies and I'm going to give it a shot with my little ones. Has anyone here tried it or done it successfully? I'd love to hear opinions and get ideas or suggestions and resources that y'all found helpful.

Thanks!

Luella

 

[Kipcha]

I have given it a shot and to be perfectly honest, I feel it is a waste of time because I train by skipping that step entirely. I have taught all my rabbits voice commands and that is without even the use of treats. If you spend enough time of your rabbit and build a bond, praise will be more then enough.

I can post a video of my progress with Babbitty and voice commands (Weaving through my legs, stand, jump on my lap, the agility course, etc) if you're interested.

 

[Yield]

I did it with one rabbit successfully. She learned stand, kisses, spin, over, up, down.. but I don't use a clicker anymore (I used a pen). I got Sabriel and Silas to do spin without a clicker at all.. c: but it's hard if your rabbit is lazy (like Silas), distracted easily (Solara), or more interested in pets (Sabriel).. XDD

 

[LuellaJean]

Thanks for the feedback. Kipcha- I'd love to see your video!

 

[golfdiva]

I'd like to see the video too!

:laugh:

I have taught all my rabbits voice commands and that is without even the use of treats. If you spend enough time of your rabbit and build a bond, praise will be more then enough.

Hey, just like teaching special education!!

 

[elrohwen]

I've done it with one of my rabbits with a fair amount of success. He gets nervous when he doesn't know what I want and just doing voice commands wasn't cutting it. The clicker really broke through his learning barrier and he was able to pick things up much more quickly and without any nervousness about what I wanted.

I haven't been able to get far with my second rabbit as they can't really learn while they're out together - you need to work with one at a time and I don't have a chance to separate them much.

I would recommend clickerbunny.com as a good place to start - it goes through all of the basics. The most important things to remember are:
a) you click the moment they do what you want - the click isn't the command, it's a marker for when they've done the right thing
b) always give a treat after clicking - the click means a treat is coming; you can eventually move to just treats or just praise, but if you click, you have to treat.

Good luck!