Defiance!

[JPetrucci84]

Has anyone else noticed that sometimes when you stomp the ground, or clap your hands and say, “NO!” that your rabbit will turn one eye to you, then continue back to what he/she was doing? I will catch Cinder digging at a door, and I’ll say, “NO!”. She’ll look at me, then go back to work! She’s gonna get a spankin’, lol! What gives?

[LBJ10]

Completely normal. If the project is really important, then they won’t give you a second thought. Spanking won’t do anything, they don’t understand what it means. I’ve found redirection to work fairly well. With Leopold, that meant physically turning him around and pointing him to something more appropriate.

[MissGabbster]

YES. It’s always a very offended look they give as well, Like, “Excuuussseeeee me!? I’m busy here. I don’t appreciate your rude interruption.”

[JPetrucci84]

Posted By LBJ10 on 11/15/2014 8:56 PM

 
Spanking won’t do anything, they don’t understand what it means.

   Let me just make clear that I don’t intend on willfully hitting my rabbit. The statement was to be a joke just in case anyone took it the wrong way. I swear even though there’s hay in her bin, she still prefers what’s still in the bag I purchased from PetCo. Now there’s a hole in it the size of a silver dollar that she insists on making larger. Girls…

[Little Lion Head]

Ha JP thats too funny about the bag of hay. We started keeping our in a big rubbermade tub for that very reason!

[LBJ10]

I thought it was probably meant to be a joke. I wanted to make note of it though just in case someone was browsing this thread for information. It’s always helpful to post information that points people in the right direction, even though it may seem like a no brainer for us.

[JackRabbit]

Yep, the hay is always greener on the other side of the bag!

[Silverpaws]

Seriously. Merlin will come up to me and get my attention, just to show me he’s ignoring me. Such divas.

[Flopsie]

well, the word no is a human construct, that is, as humans, it is something that we have created and put value in. The point is, to the bunny, “no” means nothing. Likely, the bunny is responding to the volume or the magnitude that you delivered the “No.” It either startled him/her or it was loud enough for the bunny to check out what it meant. But since it has no value to the bunny, it would not deter him or her from continuing the action.

In order for the “NO” to work, you would need to pair it with something so that the bunny would learn the meaning.

I know you said it was a joke, and i’m not taking it seriously, but just FYI, you could spank or hit your bunny. This would be considered a punishment procedure. The bunny could learn the meaning of this if you taught it. Also, for those of you who say “I would never use punishment” Just to let you know punishment in behavioral terms refers to something that is delivered after the behavior that will reduce the occurrence of the target behavior. What most people think as “punishment” is corporal punishment (e.g., hitting, spanking, whipping, etc.). That being said, when you use a water bottle to squirt the bunny in the face, that is punishment. When you clap your hands loud in an attempt to stop the behavior, that is punishment.

Anyway, I want to stress, that you can use punishment to teach, but i highly highly do not recommend it. Punishment is ineffective for several reasons:

1. Only effective when the threat of the punisher (you) is available. SO if you aren’t there, it won’t decrease behavior.
2. Punishment leads to undesired behaviors. You may cause the person or bunny (in this case) to not trust you, low self esteem, low self worth, also exhibit aggression and even counter control
3. Punishment doesn’t teach what to do, it only teaches what not to do.

Finally, something else to consider, punisment reinforces the person giving the punishment. So you become reinforced by the use.

Anyway, I know it was a joke, but I wanted to shed some light on it.

[Author]

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