teaching your bunny no

[buggyeyebun]

What is the best way to teach your bunny no. Like if hes digging or nibbling on something. So far ive been snaping my fingers and telling him no. Thought i would ask and see what you guys do. Thanks 

[FunnyBunnyLove]

That’s pretty much what I do. Any undesirable digging or chewing comes with a quick “Honey No!” and a clap of my hands. She stops and hops away. ..usually HAHA

[RabbitPam]

A firm tone of voice saying “no”, and with a hand clap is good, will be learned by the bunny.

But for teaching, generally don’t use negatives. You want to use positive reinforcement for good behaviors so that’s what you bunny would rather do. Give willow toys to chew, make a diggy box, or reward good behavior like going to the litter pan or back in the cage at bedtime. Loud No usually just startles, rather than teaches the bunny to change.

[Beka27]

And remember that a lot of those digging/chewing behaviors are natural so you may not be able to curb them entirely. You may see a reduction tho once your bun is altered and over a year old. Like Pam said, giving plenty of alternatives is the best way to distract.

[buggyeyebun]

OK thanks. He has lots of toys so that should keep him busy. I have a bunch of chew sticks that i bought for my piggies, when i first got them , but they dont really chew on them. He doesnt really dig or chew on things a whole lot, so for. Again thought i would ask.

[Beka27]

Chew sticks don’t always do it for them, you can also try big, untreated willow baskets or other bunny safe toys. Phone books with the covers torn off are a popular option for digging.

[MirBear]

i have a sound i make like a high pitched sound i want describe. and my bunnies know it very well and ofter stop what they are doing.

[Catalina]

I say “Hey! Hey!” and Tansy usually stops what he is doing. He learned it really fast. I didn’t even realize that I was saying “Hey! Hey!” everytime I caught him doing something bad, but one day I realized he was listening to me!

[LucyTwoBunz]

Lainey understands a slow Laaiinneeeyyyyyyy No.  I say it firm but with higher pitch voice.  She ALWAYS reacts but doesn’t always listen!  But, if you go over to her and knudge her lightly, you’ll get a binky (or grunt) depending on her mood.  Gulliver never does anything wrong…hes a really good boy…just misses the box once in awhile…kinda hangs his bun over the edge…

[Kiley Rose]

Nixie is my mischevious bun…sometimes she’ll listen if I say “Nixie, NO!” but it is always followed by a binky from her. I’ve also tried a squirt bottle when she chews the baby gate too much or the carpet under my bed, it gets her to stop but only so she can lick the water up from the ground. -.-

[Michelle&Lolli]

Must be the divatudes! I say No and Eddie listens usually quite well cause he knows he’ll get sprayed with water. Lolli just looks at me and usually goes back to what I don’t want her doing. So I have to get up and shoo her away. She doesn’t respond to water – either her coat’s too thick or she just doesn’t care. LOL And yes, Lolli sometimes does binkies after getting in trouble too. Girls! hehe

[Elrohwen]

In my experience, with my two bunnies, it’s pretty bun-dependent. Hannah is very in-tune with what I’m doing. As soon as I say “Hannah no!” in a firm voice, she gets startled and stops what she’s doing. This is lucky, since she’s often getting into things 😉

Otto, on the other hand, is totally clueless and nonreactive when I talk to him as he’s doing something bad. On the rare occasion when he gets into trouble, he really doesn’t care if I try to tell him no, clap at him, thump at him, etc. The only thing that works is to physically remove him from the situation.

So it just depends on the bunny and what they will respond to.

[RabbitPam]

My bunnies have always understood when I tell them No. They hear it. They would stop. And even though they never met each other, they both have stared at me, then done it again. If rabbits could blow raspberries, they would have done that next.

[Kirstie007]

I’ve found say ‘no’ in a stern, louder voice and not breaking eye contact usually works. If he’s in a really stubborn mood he’ll just stare at me for a while and carry on with what he was doing.

He is learning though, if he’s being stubborn I stand up and repeat the command, he stops what he’s doing and runs off.

I read that in the wild they nudge each other on the bottom to correct each other, I’ve found this works too

Kirstie x

[wendyzski]

You also want to check out The Language of Lagomorphs website.  It has a lot of great info about bunny body language, and you can use some of it to “talk back” to your bun.

Pepper understands “No”!  I means “oh $*&!, momma caught me in the bedroom/on the table/chewing the pillow again”

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Haha, my bunnies do not react to any sort of yelling no or clapping. Sometimes I thump my hands on the ground (like an unhappy thumping bunny). And sometimes I blow at them in the face.

[RabbitPam]

Ah, yes. The bad breath discipline technique. Rabbits run from me in fear first thing in the morning. LOL

[4Lily]

LOL! I was really lucky, Lily already knew “Lily, NO” it’s pretty funny when we say it, he’ll stop & look at us, if there’s no movement, he’ll sometimes go back to doing whatever he was doing, if we have to say it again, we remove him from the situation & he always turns his back to us like we have affended him, or he is so sad that he got in trouble! LOL! If he was digging, we put him in his diggy box, if he was chewing on something we will bring him to his hay & sticks! But most of the time, he does listen & goes to his diggy box or goes to his num num’s on his own & when that happens we tell him “GOOD LILY”! Whenever he is doing something good, we always tell him he’s our good bunny! But as I said, we were lucky he was already trained when we got him, not sure how long it took to train him!

[Michelle&Lolli]

Funnny thing just happened with mine. I am home on a medical leave, so my buns have been free pretty much 24/7 as they have been very good. But last week, I heard them chewing on the door frame. So I get up and go to them and I didn’t say no, but I didn’t yell no. I asked them what they thought they were doing. They knew they were in trouble cause as soon as they saw me…….they scattered for under the bed! It was a “ahhh…run for your lives! she caught us!” type of reaction. LOL Like I couldn’t hear them chewing, but we won’t let them know that. haha

Also if I am around, Eddie will stop and check to see if I’m watching him. If I am, he will hop off like…”I wasn’t doing anything” lol Lolli is my little diva and just gives me attitude. “So? I hear ya. Not gonna listen though” LOL

I have tried “thumping” at them and doing other rabbit behaviors and I just get the “what was that? really, don’t try to be a rabbit”  look  lol

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