Overly Anxious Bunny

[Usagi_Chan]

I've been volunteering at the SPCA. I have done clicker training with my buns and I'm working on clicker-training the SPCA buns to hopefully make them more attractive to potential adopters. The buns are quite co-operative but they are also far more anxious to get their treat than my buns are. Mine are super gentle and they act like they'd rather die than hurt me.

The problem is the SPCA buns are not so gentle and they tend to bite. The bit is not from aggression it's simply that they want the treat and don't mind adding a bit of fresh meat (mine) to the pellet.

I've tried several ways of holding the pellet-treat but today I got a thumbnail bit and a forefinger which took forever to stop bleeding. I've been holding the treat between thumb and forefinger.

What I'd really like to do is to get these bunnies to be more gentle. It's hard to adopt out and keep the bunnies adopted out if they bite, even if it's not intentional.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks
Usagi_Chan

 

[gentle giants]

What are you using for a treat? Mabye you could try using something larger, like a bit of some sort of greens,so there is more space between you and the bunny's teeth.

 

[Usagi_Chan]

Timothy pellets are the treat I'm using. They are small but I've used them with success on my buns. The SPCA buns get some pellets every morning and they gobble them down quickly so they do work well as a treat.

I could try a different treat but I really want to also try to gentle them. Maybe try larger treats and work down to smaller.

I've read that making a screech will let them know that they are hurting me but it would be quite inappropriate to do in that environment. I'd probably attract half the staff calling paramedics and wondering who had died.

Usagi_Chan

 

[Flick]

You might try holding the treat in the palm of you hand, keeping your palm reasonably flat. Or, put it in a large, shallow wooden or plastic spoon. I've gotten a few nips from Skylar just because he couldn't tell where the treat ended and my fingers began.

 

[Dublinperky]

Flick wrote:

I've gotten a few nips from Skylar just because he couldn't tell where the treat ended and my fingers began.:bunny24That is how Fintan is!

 

[Usagi_Chan]

I went today and used the flat-handed approach. Thanks, that worked.