Yay! 3 cheers for Sammy!

Yay! I’m so glad she’s listening to you!

It sounds like it’s working for you, but could I give a suggestion? In the classical sense of clicker training, the click is used to mark the correct behavior, not cue the behavior. So you would call her and as soon as she starts to come you click, then when she gets to you, you treat. Now it seems like the click is a cue to her, which is fine if it works, but may limit her understanding of the clicker for other tricks in the future. So totally ignore my advice if you just want to continue on since you’ve solved the problem you initially set out to resolve 😉

I wish I could pull myself together and do clicker training as well! That is so great you are doing it! I tried with Molly, but the thing was that the others couldn’t just sit and watch, and well, moving it into another room was apparently too much hard work for me…

You should update this thread with every new thing you teach her and how long it takes, so you can inspire the rest of us.

Let’s just hope that Sammy doesn’t turn her clicker on you :~) That’s cute that she’s so responsive – I guess our buns will do anything for food.

Otto totally does all of his tricks in a row to see if it works. Lol. I don’t know if he’ll even understand that he only gets a click when I ask for it, but that’s ok. If it makes him happy he can spin in circles 😛

I’d have to see a video of you doing it, but from you description it sounded like you clicked before she came. It was effective, because she knows click=treat, so clearly she needs to find you to get the treat. She’s smart! Just be firm and get her to come when you call first.

Also, I’ve heard other trainers mention this, and find it true: often the most difficult animals personality-wise are the best to train. Sometimes they’re just too smart and end up being pains in the bum. Like Otto – not a pain in the bum, but not exactly a brilliant trick bunny 😛 He’s not very bright. But I feel like Sammy is really bright, and that’s why she challenges you so much sometimes.

Nails I can’t help you with 🙁 I’ve been working with Otto for a while, and he gets that I touch his feet, hold my hand there, then he gets a click and a treat. But every once in a while, he’ll still freak out and not want me touching his foot. We haven’t been able to get very far with it. I’m thinking in another year he might let me trim his nails 😛 But you can try the foot touching technique with Sammy and maybe she’ll respond to it. Otto’s very anxious, but she sounds pretty fearless and maybe once she realizes there’s something in it for her if she sits still, she’ll be better.

Pam, have you tried the technique in the video from HRS NY for her nails?

If that doesn’t work, you can always ship her to me with a pepperoni pizza for her dinner, I’ll torture her a little with some cuddles and nail trims and ship her back to you…with a pepperoni pizza of course.

Lol… good luck with the nail trimming. I can’t help you either. I tried to clicker train Leroy to let me handle his feet, but gave up. I hate to say it… but I basically just scoop him up and hold him firmly and snip snip snip get it done as fast as possible. I usually make it out of the nail trimming sessions with only a few deep red welts on my arms and chest.

As for the clicking, I’m with Elrohwen, it sounds to me like you click first and then she comes running at the sound of the click? That’s great that you’ve found something that works, but I’d suggest trying to transition her to another “signal”, especially if you want to teach her other tricks eventually. My fear is that she’d get confused if the clicker is being used for two different things. Traditionally, the clicker is an immediate “good job” to be given at the instant that the desired behavior is being done, since it takes a few seconds to get the treat out and to the bunny, the click is used to signal that the bunny is doing the correct behavior, and then the treat reinforces that.

I do the “come” command with Leroy by whistling for him. I got him accustomed to a particular sounding whistle by whistling and then giving him a pellet, and then after a few of those sessions, I moved a few steps away from him, show him the treat and then whistle. And then you can gradually increase those sessions until she comes when you whistle. Then, as she’s running toward you and is only a few hops away, you click, and give her a treat when she gets to you.

Anyway, sounds like you’re making lots of progress with Samantha; that’s great! Once they figure out what the click means, I’ve found it’s a lot easier to teach new tricks!

Congrats on your weight loss and Sammy’s minimal weight gain. I’m sure you are going to get the bunny butt tonight from Sammy though.

At least bunny butts are cute