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My clever bunnies (clicker training)

Silverleaf

Alpha Buck
I started clicker training with Meeple and Nemesis on Tuesday, and they've had two training sessions each per day since then, working with one rabbit at a time with a different-sounding clicker for each one. We've exclusively worked on "charging" the clicker, basically teaching them that a click means a treat will quickly follow. After a couple of days they clearly understood because as soon as they heard the click they'd look round for my hand for the treat, but I decided not to rush and made sure they were really solid on that before I started asking them to do anything.

Today I started clicking and treating if both front feet left the ground - I want to work up to a full sit up/periscope/meerkat position. The first 10 or so times I lured them into position by holding the treat above their head so they'd naturally sit up, but they quickly got the idea and started doing it with no help from me at all.

And my goodness, did they get it fast! Both did really well and were repeatedly sitting up just a few minutes into the session. Meeple especially did brilliantly, sitting up again when he was still chewing the last pellet! Nemesis was very good too. I was really surprised how fast they understood - I could tell already that they are smart, but I wasn't expecting them to learn so quickly.

I'm really very proud of them. :) It won't be long before I can teach a vocal cue like "up!" so they'll sit up when I ask.

As well as sitting up (which to be fair is for cuteness more than anything else) I'm planning to teach them to follow a target stick which will be incredibly useful for teaching other behaviours like going back into their cages, coming when called, going into the carrier for vets visits, etc. I may also teach them to navigate small obstacles like jumps, running through tunnels, and weaving/bending poles.

Very smart bunnies I have. :)
 
That's great. I'm thinking of doing clicker training with my buns. I think Chloe would grasp it really quickly but with Dave I'm not so sure :lol:
 
That's great. I'm thinking of doing clicker training with my buns. I think Chloe would grasp it really quickly but with Dave I'm not so sure :lol:

I bet he'll surprise you! I'd love to hear how you get on. There's loads of good resources on the net telling you how to train, and a lot of videos of extremely well-trained rabbits if you're looking for something to aspire to!

My best tip with two rabbits is to have two different clickers, with different sounds, and work with one at once. You don't want to confuse them by having the same clicker for both.
 
Ahhhhh well done!! My mum somehow (no idea how) taught Petra to hug your knee when you tell her to say thank you.

She only does it for mum though. If i tell her to do it she looks at me like "no. Just give me the treat. Now human." [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]


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Ahhhhh well done!! My mum somehow (no idea how) taught Petra to hug your knee when you tell her to say thank you.

She only does it for mum though. If i tell her to do it she looks at me like "no. Just give me the treat. Now human." [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Aw, that sounds cute!

Do you give her the treat? ;)
 
Haha i do[emoji25]. She just looks do cuuuuuute. And she knows she's the boss!! [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]


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You mean who the mug is
Yup :) They hate it when Matt's away and they're stuck with me: thankfully it's very rare!

I think Aboleth would train well: we shake pellets to get them inside every evening from the open-topped pen. She goes straight down the tube. When (not really if) Lopsy fails to follow, she goes back and chases him down the tube: she knows she won't get pellets until they're both inside! We've been doing this with Lopsy for 6 months, Aboleth only 3, and she's much better at it!
 
I've been wanting to do this with Sheldon for ages - am sure he would pick it up quickly but I tend to lose finger tips when giving him treats so must be careful :lol:

Little did I know that I was training Harley to do the Meerkat pose when she was a baby. Her hutch had a run attached to it (this was before she was bonded with Bobo) so she stood up against the run to get her nightly treat. And to this day - when I open their pen for free range the first thing she does is to ask for a treat by diong the Meerkat impression - I really must get a video of her doing it...it is so cute - and of course she gets a treat :love:
 
Yup :) They hate it when Matt's away and they're stuck with me: thankfully it's very rare!

I think Aboleth would train well: we shake pellets to get them inside every evening from the open-topped pen. She goes straight down the tube. When (not really if) Lopsy fails to follow, she goes back and chases him down the tube: she knows she won't get pellets until they're both inside! We've been doing this with Lopsy for 6 months, Aboleth only 3, and she's much better at it!

Some bunnies are much more motivated than others! ;) That's really clever of Aboleth.

And some bunnies are really smart but just don't enjoy learning so much. But I think they can all learn, smart or not.
 
I've been wanting to do this with Sheldon for ages - am sure he would pick it up quickly but I tend to lose finger tips when giving him treats so must be careful :lol:

Little did I know that I was training Harley to do the Meerkat pose when she was a baby. Her hutch had a run attached to it (this was before she was bonded with Bobo) so she stood up against the run to get her nightly treat. And to this day - when I open their pen for free range the first thing she does is to ask for a treat by diong the Meerkat impression - I really must get a video of her doing it...it is so cute - and of course she gets a treat :love:

Aw, bless! I'd love to see if you do video it.

Would anyone like to see a short video of a training session with Meeple or Nemesis?

Nemesis has started standing up against the cage bars when I go into the room, because I tend to pet him for being so cute. He acts like he's only tolerating the (brief) petting and moves away after a couple of little strokes but he must like it otherwise his standing up behaviour would decrease. I think he's training me as much as I'm training him!
 
Tonight's sessions also went really well. Nemesis needs a little prompting sometimes but there's clear improvement from yesterday, I'm really pleased with him. Meeple is absolutely brilliant - he remembered right away what he had to do and just got in the zone doing beautiful "meerkats".

Nemesis will work for longer periods (I stop after 10 minutes and make him take a break), and Meeple's more focused while he's working but insists on regular binkying breaks! I only train if they let me know they want to, by hopping onto my knee or performing the desired behaviour right in front of me, and if they want to stop or don't even want to start, I respect that. There's no point training if they don't want to - they just don't learn efficiently if they're not in the mood, and I don't think it's fair to force them into anything unless it's absolutely necessary (like taking meds, for example, or going back to the cage after free-ranging time).

My boys clearly like it though. They both kept sitting up for clicks and pellets even though there were some pellets on the floor that I'd dropped that they could have for free (they hoovered up after I indicated that training was over by sitting on the sofa).
 
Sounds like your two are really enjoying it.

Another really useful thing you could train them to do it to eat from a syringe. Some do it automatically if theres something tasty in it but others wont and its good to get a good association with it before they need any meds.
 
Sounds like your two are really enjoying it.

Another really useful thing you could train them to do it to eat from a syringe. Some do it automatically if theres something tasty in it but others wont and its good to get a good association with it before they need any meds.

That's a great idea! I'm confident in my syringe ability (years of rehabilitating hedgehogs) but getting them to like syringes would be really helpful.
 
Okay, I'm going to get a video of training at the weekend. Sorry for the delay!

I've discovered a funny thing. The boys came with changeover food (Allen and Page) but I switched them onto Excel Junior/Dwarf - there are still a few A&P pellets left mixed in the the Excel though. Now both rabbits will eat both kinds, but show a clear preference for the Excel. When I'm training I have a closed handful of pellets and quickly move a pellet from my palm to between my thumb and finger so I can offer it after the click, so sometimes if an A&P pellet slips in there I don't notice.

After the initial couple of clicks in a session both rabbits refuse the A&P pellets as rewards. They'll pick them up off the floor and eat them from their dishes, but they quite clearly tell me that they aren't a good enough reward for a "meerkat". Just now Meeple sat up beautifully - I clicked and offered a pellet but he refused it and sat up again so fast that I didn't realise what was going on. I clicked and offered the same treat, and again he refused and repeated the sit. And then I saw that it was an A&P pellet, and it made sense. ;)

Interesting that he was prepared to ignore a treat he'd already earned because it wasn't the "right" treat. I get the distinct feeling that he's training me to provide only the good treats! Not that I blame him - I wouldn't do tricks for cubes of bread if I knew the trainer also had chocolate... ;)
 
Awwwwww he is brilliant! Clever bunnies

Now I know I'm biased because they are my bunnies, but they really are super-smart. :) The clicker helps a lot, definitely, but they are at least as good at learning as my Labrador was, and they are improving so fast.

And they do really like learning, as Nemesis proved to me earlier. Of course they love the pellets and that's most of the reason why they enjoy training sessions. But when we got to the last few pellets of Nemesis's session tonight I put down the clicker and basically opened my hand after the last click to allow him to finish off the treats (I always like to finish off with a "jackpot" reward like that), and he took a bite, sat up, took a bite, sat up... It was really very cute as he was completely free to eat all of them without any extra "meerkats", but he did 5 repetitions just because.

Adorable.
 
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