The Mockingjay
Well-Known Member
Just wondering where I can buy some jumps for rabbit hopping/agility. I'd rather buy than build because the bought ones will probably be more like the ones at competitions.
Rabbit Hopping?
- Thread starter The Mockingjay
- Start date
Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:
lovelops
Well-Known Member
That's a good question but if it's for your new bunny I would wait to see what the personality is like. I bought tons of toys for the two new bunnies I got that were rescues and all they want to play with is cardboard boxes and toilet paper tubes!!! See what type of bun you have before spending money. Agility stuff might bore your new bunny and you would be sitting there with this equipment gathering dust..
Two of mine are ok with toys and these two new ones don't like things like that at all. If you think you can train them and the shelter says the bunnie does or did do that in the past, fine, but wait.. I still have toys I bought I'm going to donate to a shelter because my guys will never play with them!!
Two of mine are ok with toys and these two new ones don't like things like that at all. If you think you can train them and the shelter says the bunnie does or did do that in the past, fine, but wait.. I still have toys I bought I'm going to donate to a shelter because my guys will never play with them!!
Imbrium
Jennifer
http://www.cleanrun.com/ sells agility course stuff... though honestly, I can't see the difference between bought vs made jumps being enough to warrant coughing up to buy them instead of making your own, especially if you're not sure you're purchasing the *exact* jump that will be used at competitions or not sure that the exact same style will be used at every competition. Also, I wouldn't be surprised at all if "homemade" (rather than store-bought/mass produced) jumps were actually used at competitions.
I made an entire agility course for my bunns myself and wrote up a tutorial about it in my blog. The tutorial can be found here. I started out with instructions provided by the website for the Canadian Rabbit Hopping Club and advice given by members of that club who hang out on RO, modifying stuff as needed based on what materials I could (or couldn't) find.
I'm pretty happy with the jumps I made, but in retrospect I wish I'd done 2'' spacing between poles rather than 3'' - I'll probably go back and change it when I move back to my house in San Antonio (living in Houston temporarily and I left the agility course behind since there's not really room for it in our apartment). Gaz (my pudgy/stocky Holland lop) got up to 6'' and Nala (my athletic lionhead) got up to 9'' very easily... but once they hit those points, they seemed to lack the confidence to even try when I had it set to 9'' (Gaz) or 12'' (Nala) and would just "brute-force" their way through the jump, knocking the poles out of the way.
Oh, and there's a "social group" here on RO for people who do (or want to try) agility with their rabbits, though it's not very active at all (probably because it's really hard for people to wander across if they don't know to look for it).
As for whether or not your rabbit would even want to do agility... some take to it faster than others, but even my super-loafy little couch potato got into it (just not as much as Nala). In a good "home" course, many obstacles will be adjustable (jumps, A-frames, etc.) so that you can make them very easy to begin with and progressively ramp up the difficulty as the bunny's skills and confidence increase. I honestly think that *any* (healthy) rabbit can be taught to enjoy agility training to some degree.
In my blog, I also talked a little about how I taught them to use the course - when you watch agility videos, the rabbits choose to follow the course of their own volition and understand exactly what each obstacle's goals are. When you introduce a rabbit to an agility course for the first time, however, they tend to look at you like "WTF is this stuff and where's the food?". They're quick to go around obstacles rather than over/through them if there's nothing to prevent them from doing so.
I made an entire agility course for my bunns myself and wrote up a tutorial about it in my blog. The tutorial can be found here. I started out with instructions provided by the website for the Canadian Rabbit Hopping Club and advice given by members of that club who hang out on RO, modifying stuff as needed based on what materials I could (or couldn't) find.
I'm pretty happy with the jumps I made, but in retrospect I wish I'd done 2'' spacing between poles rather than 3'' - I'll probably go back and change it when I move back to my house in San Antonio (living in Houston temporarily and I left the agility course behind since there's not really room for it in our apartment). Gaz (my pudgy/stocky Holland lop) got up to 6'' and Nala (my athletic lionhead) got up to 9'' very easily... but once they hit those points, they seemed to lack the confidence to even try when I had it set to 9'' (Gaz) or 12'' (Nala) and would just "brute-force" their way through the jump, knocking the poles out of the way.
Oh, and there's a "social group" here on RO for people who do (or want to try) agility with their rabbits, though it's not very active at all (probably because it's really hard for people to wander across if they don't know to look for it).
As for whether or not your rabbit would even want to do agility... some take to it faster than others, but even my super-loafy little couch potato got into it (just not as much as Nala). In a good "home" course, many obstacles will be adjustable (jumps, A-frames, etc.) so that you can make them very easy to begin with and progressively ramp up the difficulty as the bunny's skills and confidence increase. I honestly think that *any* (healthy) rabbit can be taught to enjoy agility training to some degree.
In my blog, I also talked a little about how I taught them to use the course - when you watch agility videos, the rabbits choose to follow the course of their own volition and understand exactly what each obstacle's goals are. When you introduce a rabbit to an agility course for the first time, however, they tend to look at you like "WTF is this stuff and where's the food?". They're quick to go around obstacles rather than over/through them if there's nothing to prevent them from doing so.
Korr_and_Sophie
Well-Known Member
There really isn't one set type of jump, each club tends to have their own equipment. The only real rules about them are for safety (the poles can fall off easily) and to standardize the gap between poles. Beyond that, it just depends on what works for each club.
Making the jumps is super easy, you don't need power tools even. They tend to have a flat base (about 6X6" or bigger), with the upright part being about 1.5" by 1" (it can vary, just needs to be long enough to hold the jump cup). Heights can vary, but are usually at least 12" and can go up from there. The decoration doesn't really matter as long as it doesn't interfere with the poles falling. Having a couple colours in the poles can help the rabbit see them better, most have a couple stripes along the length. You will want at least a few jumps so the rabbit can get used to doing them in sequence rather than just one at a time.
I would suggest joining a local club if there are any. This lets you participate and learn with little financial cost to you. If you do like it and want to work at home, then you can work with the club to get good equipment. It is good to have experienced people help you learn.
Making the jumps is super easy, you don't need power tools even. They tend to have a flat base (about 6X6" or bigger), with the upright part being about 1.5" by 1" (it can vary, just needs to be long enough to hold the jump cup). Heights can vary, but are usually at least 12" and can go up from there. The decoration doesn't really matter as long as it doesn't interfere with the poles falling. Having a couple colours in the poles can help the rabbit see them better, most have a couple stripes along the length. You will want at least a few jumps so the rabbit can get used to doing them in sequence rather than just one at a time.
I would suggest joining a local club if there are any. This lets you participate and learn with little financial cost to you. If you do like it and want to work at home, then you can work with the club to get good equipment. It is good to have experienced people help you learn.
