I’m assuming this is normal

[Smudge]

Smudge seems to have gotten comfortable with his “ownership” of the apartment and I think he may be entering the bratty teenager stage.

Not only did he poop on my bed twice this morning, he wouldn’t listen when I said no and clapped my hands about him chewing on my art supply suitcase. I sprayed some bitter apple on it and I think he got a little on the end of his nose which highly offended him. A short while later I went to go catch him to put him in his cage; usually I wait until he is in there to shut the door if I know I am going to be leaving, but sometimes it’s a last minute thing. Anyway, every time I close the door, whether he went in there or I put him there, he gets (depending on need and day) fresh veggies, a little fresh hay and a treat. When I give him the treat I always say “Good boy, home.” 

Today I had to catch him, first I tried to lure him over to me with a raisin, when that didn’t work I showed him a handful of raisins (no, I was not going to give him all of those) and said “home, go home,” he spun and ran away as fast as possible. So then came the game of catching the prey animal which usually involves some sort of pretending to ignore him while slowly driving him into a corner so I can catch him (works well with horses too, lol). He ran with his ears pinned back, lunged at me once and thumped hard (never done either of those before) I caught him him then and put him in the cage, no treat but fresh greens.

I ended up not having to leave after all, but left Smudge in his cage for a good while as I puttered around. I’m a firm believer in a theory of dog training called NILF or Nothing In Life is Free. I think this is a method that can be expanded to include all animals, so it wasn’t until he stopped acting like a brat in the cage, i.e. ears forward and relatively content relaxed body position, that I let him out. 

We’ve since made up but not without a LOT of pouting on someone’s part.

[Tessie]

Hahaha, yes maybe you are getting into the teen stage!

I tried to teach mine to go home when I wanted, too. It hasn’t worked.  I usually just use food (but I can see you tried that!) Some days they just want to do their own thing I guess.  

Also, in terms of getting buns to not chew things; this is a lifelong battle and one that sometimes can’t be won!  Personally I’m not sure those bitter sprays (I have one too) do much good. Someone else might have better suggestions for this issue, but on the whole I think some chewing is always going to happen unfortunately, haha! 

I don’t know anything really about training animals, so your idea sounds interesting.
I would just say though that rabbits aren’t dogs, they aren’t as intelligent and can’t be trained to the same extent. They’re more like cats I think! 
Positive reinforcement is the best way really, I don’t think punishment teaches them. 

All in all, if your question is ‘is this normal?’ then I’d say sadly, yes, chewing and not doing as they’re told is typically bunny! 

[LittlePuffyTail]

How old is Smudge?

Just so you know, my buns hardly ever listen when I say “no”. If they are doing something bad, like digging up my couch, I have to physically go over and remove them. I say them, but this is mostly Olivia. Then as soon as I’m distracted, she goes back up and starts being bad again.

Bunnies are very bratty and really don’t listen like dogs.

So, yes, your bunny is normal. A normal brat.

[DaisyBunz]

There is a very similar thread. Here’s the link: https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/128415/Default.aspx
Like I’ve said so many times before…this is so normal. Just a typical bunneh.

[Smudge]

Yeah that’s what I figured. Teenagers are brats.

And I know he won’t always listen to me (just like cats), but I would dispute the idea that they are not as intelligent and trainable as dogs or any other animal. Heck, rats are trainable, mice are trainable, and rabbits can actually distinguish sounds which makes them more trainable. The idea is never to punish but rather to reduce privileges or increase privileges. For instance, Smudge has now lost the privilege of going in my room if I am not in there because he pooped there twice. Now he doesn’t understand the concept of a “privilege” but he is able to understand that immediately after doing a behavior I said a deep no and removed him from the place where he did the behavior.

It is actually a manner of positive reinforcement and redirection. The no doesn’t need to be loud or aggressive, simply a disapproving no followed by the removal of either object or rabbit works. All they have to do to re-earn the privilege is stop the behavior, i.e. Smudge had to stop pining his ears back and pretending he was a giant attack rabbit. As soon as he stopped doing that and relaxed, I opened the door and let him out. He still went under the table for an hour or so and pouted but when he finally came to interact with me he was his sweet, normal self.

What animals learn best of all is patterns, so training any one is about creating and shaping the patterns consistently, same reaction, every time. Not angry, just no nonsense. Not easy with a lot of animals but way rewarding with all of them.

OK what I really need help with though is learning how to shape the patterns my 5 year old daughter has and experiences…

[Deleted User]

If you can TEACH your bun not to pee, poop or spray on the bed – you will become a BB legend!!!!! Ha ha ha ha…..
Me? Short of locking my Henry out of my room (sucker me – that lasted all of 5 minutes, doh!) I ended up taking the easy way out and having him neutered. Best $$$$$ I have spent on him to this day LOL! The 5 year old kid – no problem! (compared to my Henry) Gotta laugh! Cheers.

[Stickerbunny]

For going back home I find NOISE works better than just showing a treat. Bunnies hearing is way better than bunnies sense of smell or bunnies sense of sight, at least for mine. So, every time they get a CRAISIN they hear a bag rattle first. They know this means “treat” and it gets them running to me no matter what. So, when I want them to go home, I just take a bag and rattle it in their room and they come running in so fast they end up crashing into me. lol If I just show them the treat, they’ll ignore it about half the time.

[Deleted User]

SAME Sticker’s! It’s the rattling bag that does the trick – not the actual craisin! Cheers!

[Hazel]

Posted By Smudge on 02/13/2014 01:52 PM

Not only did he poop on my bed twice this morning, he wouldn’t listen when I said no and clapped my hands about him chewing on my art supply suitcase.

Well at least he simply ignored you. If I tell Oscar not to do something, I get hissed at.

Smudge sounds like a totally normal, teenage bunny to me. Lets hope he doesn’t start to spray your walls with pee…

It seems like you know a lot about animal training. I bet Smudge will one day be the best behaved bun here!

[caudex]

FWIW, Sophie DOES know, “Cage, Sophie!” and goes home when I say it, sometimes even immediately, but usually with a foot flick. It can be done. I rather inelegantly taught her as a baby by saying it while simultaneously shooing her that way, she got happy voice praise and a treat.

Before anyone thinks she is a prodigy, she never learned anything else. Litterbox training is iffy on the days Her Monsterness is especially disapproving. 😛

[Smudge]

Hahaha, if Smudge hissed at me I don’t know what I would do, the image is hilarious.

I laughed at him for both the lunge and the thump because they were so not backed up by anything really. 

I will hopefully have the $$ together to have him neutered ASAP to avoid the wall spraying, pee marking and other hormonal behaviors. 

I highly doubt he will be anything in the magnificently trained category ever being that he is a bun after all, but it would be pretty cool if I managed to get some training in that he was truly responsive to. I did a pretty decent job training my cat as my first animal in my adult life, so I figure that’s something. Everything I have learned through experience and a wonderful teacher.

[DaisyBunz]

Neutering or spaying is so much better for bunnies as it helps them calm down and they don’t have all the hormones! They make such better pets, so both bun and owner is happy. (:

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