How I Trained my Rabbit
Toilet training took off, and now he’s basically a dog.
But first, how did I come to have the rabbit?
In June, 2018, I was off work for a month. My health was the worst it had ever been and I hadn’t left the house for 3 weeks apart from to go to various doctor’s appointments.
I called my mother.
“ I can’t do this any more. I feel so alone. I have so many people who love me, but I am still lonely.”
“You’re not alone. But it’s a shame you’ve not got a pet to keep you company.”
“I’ve been thinking about getting a house rabbit for so long, maybe I should just do it.”
“I can be there in half an hour if you want to go and get one?”
“Yeah… Ok.”
Day 1
Sat by his cage all day, and spoke to him whenever he popped out of his bedroom.
Day 2
Sat by his cage all day, and spoke to him whenever he popped out of his bedroom and offered him a treat from my hand.
Day 3
He felt brave enough to jump out of the cage and explore the living room. Whenever he came over to me, I offered him a treat from my hand.
The Clicker
Clicker training is a well known method of conditioning an animal’s behaviour.
They’re also super cheap and it’s handy to have more than one! Amazon do a good set here.
It takes the positive reinforcement of a treat, and associates this with a sound. The sound happens much quicker than the treat so you can build up the tricks. (This might not be the official way, but it’s the way I used to it to train Popcorn, my rabbit.)
The training:
Associate the click with the food
Associate the word with a movement and food
The key in step 1, is to click your clicker and immediately show the food. Don’t show the food until you ave clicked. And as soon as you click show the food.
The key to step 2 is you say a word, e.g. “up, and if even one paw is lifted off the ground, click immediately and give food. Then say “up” again and continue this process a few times. Now wait until they lift another paw, or the same paw higher, and build progress this way.
Do no more than 15 minutes a day, as it’s super tiring for their little bunny brains.
The tricks:
I’ve taught Popcorn only 4 tricks, but I’m always looking to add more to his repertoire!
Recall
Up (He goes on his back legs)
Turn (He turns anti-clockwise)
Jump (He jumps onto the surface you pat, e.g. a sofa or your lap)
The next thing for me is to teach him ‘Circle’ where he will turn clockwise!
Rabbits are so clever…
Rabbits are so often left in hutches with very little mental stimulation, and this breaks my heart.
I am by no means the perfect pet owner, I should get him out more and play with him more because I’m not there 24 hours! But he loves me (constantly licking me to prove it) and I love him.
And that little rabbit has saved my life.