A very tiny hula-hoop

[LopLove]

I found a very small, hollow, plastic hula-hoop from the dollar store, and I thought it would be great for Tiger to jump through. XD Training is going well so far. She jumps through when prompted, and seems to enjoy the new game. I’m rewarding her with a mix of her daily kibble, and some freeze-dried bananas.

I know that she can jump really high, but when I hold the hoop a few inches off the ground, she sometimes kicks it a bit with her toes. I know that horses loose their confidence if they can’t make a jump, and you need to start off again from an easier point. Are rabbits like that too, or do they not care, so long as they are rewarded and un-injured? Injury is not a concern because the hoop is so light, and I hold it loosely. Does it just take them a while to get used to that kind of jumping?

[Aeyja]

Sorry, this isn’t helpful to you at all, but how did you teach her to jump through it??? I would love to teach Harvey to jump but he’s a bit of a lazy bum

[Stickerbunny]

I know Powder will lose confidence if he falls from jumping up on something, even if uninjured and it can take a while to get him to jump again. But, I am unsure about hoop jumping.The buns in agility seem to kick the bars a lot and do fine.

[LopLove]

@ aeyja:
I lured her through the hoop while it was on the ground, using her treats. As I lifted the hoop, she tried to crawl under it or headbutt it out of her way, but I’d push her head back until she jumped through. I also use a dog clicker in the earlier stages of learning new tricks. Beyond that, it was just repetition for maybe fifteen minute-long sessions over the course of two or three days.

My mom suggested to me that different rabbits will catch on to different tricks depending on what they like to do – my rabbit jumps around so much, that I didn’t bother putting ramps in her NIC enclosure. She just enjoys jumping, so I was hoping that this trick would be an easy one for her. But I can’t get her to “high five” me, or “circle”. I can make her come over to me, jump onto my lap, or stand on her hind legs. I also notice that on different days, she’ll have a preferred trick. One day she’ll be wanting to stand up for treats, while only grudgingly jumping on my lap when I’m persistent enough with the commands, and other days, it’s as if jumping on my lap is all she’ll want to do. I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to teach her to circle. XD

@ Stickerbunny: Thanks for the perspective. Tiger didn’t seem daunted at all by it. And you’re right, rabbits in agility do seem to kick the bars a lot, and they keep jumping. XD That makes me feel better. I think I’m going to try raising the hoop more.

[Aeyja]

So, becuase I am extremely impulsive and seem to haemmorhage money, I went and bought Harvey a little hula hoop! (And a big one for me but that’s a different story altogether ) He was surprisingly easy to train to jump through – we did it in one night. Thanks for the idea! (and sorry that I didn’t actually answer your question)

[LopLove]

@Aeyja
Glad it worked out so well! Good exercise for lazy buns. :p And np, I think Stickerbunny helped out enough on that front. :p And I like blabbing about this kind of stuff anyway. XD

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