clicker training

[bunnytowne]

I am going to start clicker training the buns.   I want to teach them to come when called.  Though they both do that when they hear the treat bag lol.

I hope to teach Cotton some jumping.  However he may decide to start jumping the bedroom gate.  Cotton was scared of the clicker noise the first time I started this.    On another website I found you can snap your fingers or make a click noise with your mouth which is faster than talking.  Perhaps that will work for him.

Also I would like to teach them to stand which cotton does when begging.  Ruby has done this too sometimes.

Fouad has a piece of broken fish pole which is perfect to use as the training aid.

Perhaps this will help them get more exercise.  Especially for Ruby.  She is so mellow nothing excites her.

[Karla]

Excellent. It will be great to follow this thread. Mine do come when I call with or without treats, but some of your next tricks might be useful for me, and I do have a clicker, so I’ll be waiting with interest for your next posts

[RabbitPam]

Sounds good. I have been clicker training Sammy, who seems to like it, but frankly the problem is me. I don’t spend the time on it that I should. But she has learned to come when I call which was my first goal. She also knows UP, which makes her stand up for a treat.

[Elrohwen]

That’s awesome! If you haven’t yet, check out http://www.clickerbunny.com for some tips.

I can’t wait to hear about their progress.

I keep planning to clicker train Hannah, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. It’s tricky when there are two bunnies both climbing on you for treats instead of paying attention 😛

[mrmac]

I have just been thinking I wanted to try this with the trio. They know that making a kissing sound means treats, but that is the ONLY thing they come for. Dexter is kind of…spacey, I guess you could say. He hears you calling him to come into the cage (and he knows that you are talking to him…), but he just sits there and stares at me like, “You talking to me Mom?!” I would like to get them to come when called, go back into the pen, and maybe a couple little other tricks.

[Elrohwen]

Lol, Otto does the space cadet thing too. Sometimes I think he’s a little bit dim 😉 Hannah is always very in tune with where I am and what I’m doing, so I think she’s going to be extremely trainable. Though even slow little Otto was able to learn tricks. Though he’ll still do each trick in succession if I don’t give him a reward. I can just hold treats and wait and he’ll do a run through of what he knows. Lol. He does not seem to understand that one word means one trick and another word means another trick no matter how hard I try to teach him. Sometimes I wonder if he’s deaf, but then I see his ears swinging around as he listens and I know something’s going on in that brain of his.

[Barbie]

Hahah, I sometimes think Leroy is a bit dimwitted too I still love him to bits though!

For those of you working on the come when called…. Initially start with some treats, and sit with the bunny. Just feed the treats to the bunny and every time you give him/her one, whistle (or make whatever noise you want to signal “come” – I’ve found that a distinct noise is better than a word for this command). If your bunny already comes running at the sound of the treat bag, rustle that and make your noise so eventually the bunny associates your whistle (or whatever) with the treat bag and with running to you, so then you can phase out the treat bag sound. Do that for a couple sessions, then for your next few sessions, show the bunny the treat, move a step or two away from the bunny, with the treat clearly in view, and make the same noise as the bunny is running to you. You can gradually lengthen the distance, and then move out of sight to another room or behind a couch or something and they’ll seek you out when you make that noise. Once you reach the point that they come when you call them from another room, you can back off the the treats and go to giving them treats on a variable schedule…. so sometimes they get a treat when they come and sometimes they don’t. That way they’ll continue to come to you in the hopes of getting a treat. Psychologically, a variable reward schedule actually strengthens the response and is better at preventing “decay” (un-learning the trick).  Why do people continue to gamble even after they lose? 

This is the only trick that I don’t use a clicker on.  I just don’t think it’s necessary for Leroy and Jeannie because this was the first trick I taught them and they’re both very consistant with it. 

If you do want to use a clicker, click when they’re a few steps away from you, as they’re running to you – don’t wait until they get there.  Then when they get to you, give them the treat. If you use the clicker – never never never unpair the clicker from the treat! If you click, you must give them a treat. So when you get to the final stage and only treat sometimes, don’t click either. This is true for any trick.

Good luck!

[Author]

Messages