Tricks and Clicks (Clicker Training)

[Kiahak]

Has anyone here tried to clicker train their bun? I’ve been thinking about doing it with mine since she’s still young (5 months). I was also wondering what kind of tricks or training, if any, you have all done with your rabbits. For mine, all I have is her litter trained. I’ve been trying to get her to learn to get back to her cage or come to me when called, but that’s taking a little more time than I thought. How did you all train your rabbits?

[Frey&Louise]

I’ve never used clicker training before, but I did have some of my bunnies trained to come to me when I made a specific sound with my mouth.

My guess is you should start out on moments she is outside, but near her cage. make sure she’s always a bit hungry during training moments, so she’ll definitly have interest in treats. trainingsessions should be short and very often repeated so better 5times a day for 5 minutes than 1time a
In the beginning, get her attention first, let her know you are holding treats, pet her a litlle, get to sit right next to the cage.
than make a specific sound (clicker, or the word ‘cage’ or something like that) at the same time put your hand with the treat in the cage and give her one. make sure she actually gets in the cage before you give the treat. repeat untill she immediatly follows your hand that goes in the cage.

now try to sit a litlle bit further from the cage, but make sure you can still reach it, do the same. If she really gets it and always follows your hand. start dropping the treat on the floor of her cage before she can take it from your hand.
try moving further and further away untill you have to throw the treat a litlle bit

most importantly: always make the sound and give her a treat when she casualy walks in her cage.

be patient and before too long she’ll see the link

[Azerane]

I never clicked trained Bandit, but I did teach him a few tricks. To go back in his cage when I said “Bedtime” was something that happened pretty easily. As I started using it before feeding times and I would take his food to the cage and say bedtime when he hopped in to eat it. I also taught him to “Spin” (turn in a circle right) and “twirl” (turn in a circle left), which I taught by luring with a treat. I used the word “yes” as my clicker and would just say that right before feeding the treat when he got it right.

[Jillian191j]

I’ve been clicker training Monte since we realized how smart/mischievous she is. It’s been a great bonding experience for us. There are a lot of great videos on YouTube.

The key is getting your rabbit to associate the clicker (or whatever you want your cue to be) with treats. When I started with Monte, I would click the clicker and then feed her a high interest treat (for Monte that’s dried cranberries). I would do this 3 or 4 times in a row, 2 or 3 times a day. After a few days of doing this, she realized clicker = treat. After that it a matter of pairing a word with the clicker. For example, Monte knows “up”. I would hold my hand way above her head with the treat. When she stood on her back legs I would say “up,” click the clicker, then feed her a treat. After a while of doing this, she learned that “up” means to stand on her back legs. She also knows “spin,” “cage,” “come here,” and we’re working on “over” (jumping over a box).

If you have the time and patience, clicker training is fun for both bunny and human.

[skysblue]

It’s never too early to train a rabbit– the earlier the better! I started training mine at like 2 and a half months.
I don’t use a clicker- just simply action and rewards. She is still doing very good — a clicker might even be better.
I taught her to spin, call over, run through tunnel, jump over hula hoop, climbing onto shoulder, putting paws on object/feet/hand, high-five, chest bump and fetch (maybe more that i forgot- I am actually running out of ideas of what to teach her… maybe how to turn a book page?).

Positive reinforcement and ITERATION are the keys!

[Author]

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