Clicker training!

[cactuspancake]

Going to start clicker training Franz soon! Totally into animal behavior and looking for a new hobby. (also my bunny is going to make me scarves rofl) One problem… he doesn’t seem food motivated! I’m obviously going to have to wait till I find what will really catch his attention, but just wondering what advice you guys have/ suggestions for food motivators.

[cactuspancake]

Oh, also he’s 8 wks old and 3 days new… just preparing for the future! Also not sure how old he has to be before he successfully pays attention to food rewards.  My opinion is that you can’t start too early!

[Beka27]

I would just start introducing the clicker now. Click when you feed him his meals and that’s it. Baby bunnies are going to be really hard to clicker train because they are not focused enough.

[Elrohwen]

I agree with Beka. I also think he’ll become more food motivated as he gets older and you get to know him better. When Otto was young and getting all the pellets he could eat, he wasn’t particularly food motivated. As an adult on a restricted pellet diet, he’ll do whatever I ask just for pellets as treats! Haha. I started training him around 6-8 months of age and by that point he was able to focus and learn what I was asking.

[RabbitPam]

A baby bunny is just learned all about everything in general, so it’s hard to narrow down their training to things more subtle than litter, food dishes, territory limits. You might try catching him nibblling things he’s not supposed to, lure him with a treat and click so he associates the clicker with a good chew and not with chewing furniture and getting a reward. Maybe try the fruit flavored balsa treats, so he doesn’t swallow food when you click, but chews something tasty as his reward.

You can also reward with pets, face rubs, ear rubs, sweet baby talk, or a game he likes.

[cactuspancake]

I’m in the association stage just clicking when he nibbles food out of my hand. I got two 5 minute sessions in yesterday and he perks his ears when he hears te click it’s cute lol. I need to do it because he absolutely has to learn to be handled because of his daily grooming needs. I can’t get under his belly and he has some mats now :/ I want to be able to have a grooming session every night that is enjoyable for us both as it also protects him from chewing on his little mats like he already did . Silly bunny he will get it! Lol also he thumped at the clicking noise!

[Deleted User]

I guess it is a good idea to start the clicking early! i am curious how it goes. Keep us posted. good luck with it!

[Author]

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