So. im seriously consitering….

[MirBear]

Teaching my bun’s agility. hershey seems to be doing a great job of hopping over her x-pen to escape so its probbably time for some training to stimulate them. and twix needs to excersise more but first i have to get her to come to me / stop running from me when off leash..

 

how do i go about doing this? teaching them to jump.

[Free2Dream]

I don’t think it will be worth it, to be honest. I think bunny agility is cruel. Rabbits do not have the instinctive prey/chase drive that makes agility training fun and stimulating for dogs. You will probably just end up terrifying your buns, which I know isn’t your intention. Instead of trying agility, you could provide your bunnies with toys that stimulate their minds and encourage them to exercise. You could try stuffing a ball with treats or pellets or give your bunnies something like a cardboard box that they can explore and chew. This is what I do to provide Oliver with exercise. In addition to the treat ball, he also enjoys other foraging toys like a shoebox stuffed with hay. Sometimes I hide little bits of veggies in his playpen and watch him try to hunt for them.

[RabbitPam]

Agility training is usually recommended as a form of clicker training, which is stimulating to a bunny and operates strictly on a positive reinforcement basis, so would never terrify a bunny. You can check out the clicker training website and if you’re interested, I’d recommend getting the book on the basics of training. It’s a nice way to get your bunny to learn commands and respond, but I would urge you to try this instead of using a leash.

[MirBear]

free2dream, i would never enter them in contests or anything, and they really do enjoy jumping and such on their own so it wouldn’t be scary for them in anyway.

RabbitPam, i cant for the life of me find a clicker. (and i cant order stuff online) so unfortunatly, unless i happen to stumble apon one, clicker is out of the question.

i was thinking maybe if i just make a few small jumps and place them around the yard (hershey uses leashes when outside because i have only one x-pen and twix is harder to catch when on leash. i normally have 3 long leashed tied together) and have her familiar with them so shes not scared of them. i trained my dads dog to go over jumps and after awhile he’d just go over them by himself without commands. and i’m hoping that hershey and twix will just go over them by command but i may try them with leashes if it doesnt work, the only reason why i’d try leashes is because they are used to being on leashes and don’t panic on them.

[foxtailskies]

i trained my dads dog to go over jumps and after awhile he’d just go over them by himself without commands. and i’m hoping that hershey and twix will just go over them by command

I’m not completely clear on this, but it sounds like you want to train your buns to jump only on command…. I don’t think it would quite work that way though Just like your dad’s dog, once they figure out they can do something there’s not much you can do to stop them, whether you tell them to do it or not. Always be careful what you train, sometimes it can come back to haunt you! (For example, I *never* teach dogs to “speak” on command… because it tends to increase their “speaking” when I don’t want them to!!!)

That said, clicker training is awesome! I’ve been too lazy to do it with my rabbits- I’ve also been doing more or less continuous bunny bonding for the last few months so that takes priority!- but I love clicking with dogs. The clickers themselves can be found at the major pet stores (I know Petco and Petsmart both carry them *Edit- I see you’re in Canada, dunno if you have those there!) though they’re rarely prominently displayed. A lot of things will work as a cue though, as long as it’s a quick and clear signal- that’s why the clickers are so convenient. I know some people who blink penlights (works especially well in deaf dogs) or even click a pen, since that’s a nice soft sound that won’t startle rabbits.

If you’ve never clicked before, definitely read up first. There’s a bit of a learning curve for the human before we can teach stuff to our animals! Karen Pryor is the original clicker training guru, she’s got a ton of articles on her site all sorted out by species- here’s her rabbit list (including one on “Teaching Your Rabbit to Jump”): http://www.clickertraining.com/taxonomy/term/43, and a list of articles that talk about the basics of clicking: http://www.clickertraining.com/taxonomy/term/28 Hope you guys have fun!

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