Disciplining a rabbit?

[amyenb]

Is there an effective way to discipline a rabbit?

Can you do it the same as cats, i.e. light smack on the bum or a squirt of water?

I am having trouble with my bun being territorial and naughty. I have tried the 'clapping your hands and saying no' method but it is not working anymore - she just ignores me.

Firstly she keeps eating the kittens biscuits, we tried putting his food higher on a small platform but she is able to jump up onto it now.

She also has a thing for peeing and pooping at our front door.. (obviously this is not pleasant for when people walk into the house). For the last two months we have had a pet gate in our hall way - we had to cover it with netting as both the kitten and bun were small enough to squeeze through the gaps. It worked for a while but the kitten slides through the side and goes through the netting, my bun hadn't figured that out.. until she saw him do it today and now she pulls down the netting and goes and wee's all over the place on the other side.

We can't put a litter box there as it would block us from opening the front door and its not exactly a nice thing for people to see when they first walk in!

She is litter trained and de-sexed. She uses her litter box any other time apart from doing her business at the front door again now that she knows how to get over to the other side.

Any suggestions on disciplining her?
We use a water bottle with the kitten and that seems to work - but not sure if it would have the same effect on a rabbit..

I don't know what else to do, how can I stop her from being so territorial?

 

[linzi1loveanimals]

The two problems you have with water or a smack are; your bun is likely to respond by biting you or hating you. Neither of which are an ideal relationship to have with your bun. Its the strange smells from the outside that's causing the weeing by your front boundary to the buns home. You need to make her territory smaller for a while till she learns the front door isn't hers. Can you restrict her space to upstairs or an area with a solid door - but more than one room on a temporary basis till she gets the picture?

 

[Sky-O]

I would suggest cable tieing mesh over the baby gate.

Have you cleaned the area she deems as a toilet with a distilled vinegar solution? That can eradicate the smell, so she should not consider it a toilet anymore.

I would suggest blocking her off from the kittens food.

To be honest, your bunny just sounds like its being a bunny. She has spirit and is interested. She probably sees it all as a game.

There is no effective way to 'discipline' a rabbit because they are a prey species and will just change their behaviour towards you. You can train them, like clicker training, etc, so potentially that might be an option.

Really though, there's nothing wrong with her behaviour, she's being a bunny, so its down to you to work out ways to avoid these issues as much as possible.

 

[Morgana]

Yeah I agree, she doesn't know what she is doing is wrong, so if you do something as a small punishment, well she won't really know why you're doing it.

For trying to train bunnies, the thing I would do is give them a small treat (like a cube of apple or carrot) if they do something good, like if you see her use her litter tray, or if she comes when called, or is good being handled or lets you brush her, etc.

That way she'll associate you with yummy treats, not with being punished.

I guess just try your best to keep her away from the door to stop her, is the only thing really.

 

[Sky-O]

Yeah I agree, she doesn't know what she is doing is wrong, so if you do something as a small punishment, well she won't really know why you're doing it.

This is what I was trying to say, but said far more eloquently. Following on from that, if she doesn't realise she is doing wrong, she will just see you as being nasty to her, and that is why her behaviour would change towards you.

 

[prettylupin]

I would suggest cable tieing mesh over the baby gate.

Have you cleaned the area she deems as a toilet with a distilled vinegar solution? That can eradicate the smell, so she should not consider it a toilet anymore.

I would suggest blocking her off from the kittens food.

To be honest, your bunny just sounds like its being a bunny. She has spirit and is interested. She probably sees it all as a game.

There is no effective way to 'discipline' a rabbit because they are a prey species and will just change their behaviour towards you. You can train them, like clicker training, etc, so potentially that might be an option.

Really though, there's nothing wrong with her behaviour, she's being a bunny, so its down to you to work out ways to avoid these issues as much as possible.

:thumb:

Unless you want to teach her a learned fear response then no you can not discipline a rabbit, it is unnecessary. As Sky-O says she is simply behaving like a rabbit and testing out behaviours to see how you respond to them.

From what you describe I also don't believe her territorial behaviour is motivated by animosity but more by insecurity. Female rabbits in particular can get very distressed by disruption and invasion into spaces that they consider to be their own and this can manifest as what us humans experience as 'naughty behaviour' but it isn't. She is clearly trying to communicate something very important to her with you in the only way she knows how. Does she have her own space that no one goes into? Including the cat? This is vital, as is I suspect some routine to her day, as well as places that she can feel secure in without invasion. I hope that makes sense. If you relax around her and don't respond to her negative behaviours by clapping or saying no, just simply ignore her consistently - even if she pees, or remove the trigger (move the kitten's biscuits somewhere she doesn't go at all) then you remoeve the trigger for the behaviour and eventually the behaviour will disappear. Every time you react you reinforce the learned response that it gets a reaction and you are taking notice of her behaviour which is very often the point!

You need to isolate each behaviour and find ways around it to avoid it happening at all. Good luck x

 

[fluffiebunnie]

Is there an effective way to discipline a rabbit?

Can you do it the same as cats, i.e. light smack on the bum or a squirt of water?

I am having trouble with my bun being territorial and naughty. I have tried the 'clapping your hands and saying no' method but it is not working anymore - she just ignores me.

Firstly she keeps eating the kittens biscuits, we tried putting his food higher on a small platform but she is able to jump up onto it now.

She also has a thing for peeing and pooping at our front door.. (obviously this is not pleasant for when people walk into the house). For the last two months we have had a pet gate in our hall way - we had to cover it with netting as both the kitten and bun were small enough to squeeze through the gaps. It worked for a while but the kitten slides through the side and goes through the netting, my bun hadn't figured that out.. until she saw him do it today and now she pulls down the netting and goes and wee's all over the place on the other side.

We can't put a litter box there as it would block us from opening the front door and its not exactly a nice thing for people to see when they first walk in!

She is litter trained and de-sexed. She uses her litter box any other time apart from doing her business at the front door again now that she knows how to get over to the other side.

Any suggestions on disciplining her?
We use a water bottle with the kitten and that seems to work - but not sure if it would have the same effect on a rabbit..

I don't know what else to do, how can I stop her from being so territorial?

:shock::shock::shock::shock::shock::shock: You should never "smack" any animal :shock::shock::shock::shock::shock:

 

[Ambience]

Is there an effective way to discipline a rabbit?

Can you do it the same as cats, i.e. light smack on the bum or a squirt of water?

I am having trouble with my bun being territorial and naughty. I have tried the 'clapping your hands and saying no' method but it is not working anymore - she just ignores me.

Firstly she keeps eating the kittens biscuits, we tried putting his food higher on a small platform but she is able to jump up onto it now.

She also has a thing for peeing and pooping at our front door.. (obviously this is not pleasant for when people walk into the house). For the last two months we have had a pet gate in our hall way - we had to cover it with netting as both the kitten and bun were small enough to squeeze through the gaps. It worked for a while but the kitten slides through the side and goes through the netting, my bun hadn't figured that out.. until she saw him do it today and now she pulls down the netting and goes and wee's all over the place on the other side.

We can't put a litter box there as it would block us from opening the front door and its not exactly a nice thing for people to see when they first walk in!

She is litter trained and de-sexed. She uses her litter box any other time apart from doing her business at the front door again now that she knows how to get over to the other side.

Any suggestions on disciplining her?
We use a water bottle with the kitten and that seems to work - but not sure if it would have the same effect on a rabbit..

I don't know what else to do, how can I stop her from being so territorial?

You can only use positive reinforcement with bunnies. Disciplining a rabbit is not an option, nor a cat to be fair. I have also got some very territorial buns and the best thing for them is lots of love.

It's really not fair to try discipline a rabbit in the way we would do a child for example- by giving it a smack (although i'm not sure if it's illegal to do this even nowadays).

It's not actually benificial at all to punish a rabbit, as the rabbit just associates you with pain and is more likely, not less likely to be responsive.

Unfortunately you will have to accomadate the buns behaviors not the other way round. Perhaps your bun would be better as an outdoor bun with a large enclosure and outdoor pen?

I would look at the alternatives for helping your bunny , rather than trying to get the bunny to do what you want. This is just not possible with animals- no matter how much i want misty my cat to poo in the litter tray- sometimes she will do it over the side. I can't make her go in the tray by punishing her for making a mistake. It's just life and it just happens sometimes. I'm sure you bunny isn't going out of it's way to pee at the door, it's just a habit behavioral trait it has.

It would be like asking you to change your personality- it is better to accomadate the buns personality more effectively than try and punish it into being submissive. I'm certain this won't work.

As for what you can do- definately consider your bun being outside if you don't want the mess in the house. The only other option is keep cleaning. I'm sure alot of bun owners here will say this is just part of there daily routine that they have to live with. Obviously lino floors helps the process and other paved kinds of flooring, rather than carpets. The joys of being a bunny owner so to speak.

Is there any option for the outdoor setup? I hope you find something that works for you xx

P.s my rabbit adonia eats cat biscuits if she is out and i've forgotton to take them up. I always work around the bunny, not the other way round. She pees on the lino occasionally and i clean it up. She is closed in her cage when the cats are being fed. Can you not pen off the biscuits or put them somewhere else in the house?