Training bunnies?

[Babybunnies_x]

I have Two bunnies.

Alice the Polish Dwarf (also known as Beanie) Who is 8 months old


and

Nibblet (unnofficial name, he's not really named. Just became comfortable calling him bunny.) the holland lop. He is just over4 months old.



I was wondering how to train them to be able to "treat" them like dogs. What I mean by that is they'll be able to come out of the cage and run around without me having to worry about them making a mess or eatting through important things.

I read on here about a lot of bunnies knowing their name and coming when called, etc.

So they must be trainable right?


How would I do this?

Beanie seems to be litter trained, she doesn't often make a mess outside of the cage and never pees anywhere but her litter box.

Nibbletjust will not litter train. I'm still in the process but he keeps peeing on the bed and just poops anywhere.

Help?

 

[plasticbunny]

Getting a bunny fixed seems to be very important when litter training, though the habbits do improve as they age.
Fixing can also help with any destruction, but bunnies will always want to chew, and there's no way to really stop this except to protect what you don't want them to chew on.

 

[SweetShuga]

I have the same problem with both of my bunnies. Neither can pee in the litter box all the time and the poops are EVERYWHERE. Getting my older one spayed in a month. Excited to see what the results will be then, though young bunnies are harder to train.

 

[BrittanyandFruFru]

Rabbits are very smart and seem to pick up on what you want them to do, however they are also stubborn and do what they want. There are times when I know my boy knows exactly what I want him to do but since he doesn't want to he won't. But as far as training them like dogs it will never happen, dog and rabbits are totally different.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Rabbits take naturally to litter boxes. Peeing is the main thing you want to get them to do in a pan. We always have one hutch at ground level which gets used heavily. As to the poop--they mark territory an just are a lot more casual with them. The reason we have a shop vac, nicknamed the "Poopmaster 2000" after the main job it was bought for and the year we got it.

 

[SweetShuga]

Oh I just found out my bunny is a boy, so his peeing must actually be him spraying.

 

[juliew19673]

Your buns are SO cute!! as if there is an ugly bun..

I can tell you what I've figured out with mine; Getting them fixed will help ALOT. Secondly, keep a dust pan and broom neary by boxes as the cleanest bun will need to leave a couple of poos around.

As far as training them like dogs to know their names, I found with mine, if I make a "clicking" noise, they know its time for treats/dinner or I just want them to come to me. Their full names are usually only used when followed with them term "OFF!" such as "Baxter OFF the couch".

 

[Babybunnies_x]

yeah see that's what I mean.
Not train it like a dog.
I was just trying to use that as an example that I think failed in relevance.
But I just want my bunnies to know when something's bad, or they're straying to far. Like you said you have noises.