Tyler as Top Bun; four paws on, on the couch with a fresh bag of organic spring mix.
Yes, the Spots are still in training. Three out of four meals involve some sort of interaction and behavior molding. It seemed like one drawback to sitting on the floor and asking for four paws on was the unsteadiness of the terrain (i.e. my cross legged leg) so we have some meals on the couch. It is great fun to see them flying on and off it. Tyler takes it at full speed from far away, Sydney is more circumspect and will dilly dally around on the floor before suddenly appearing. At the start of each session they are eager to have a bit which they often take off the couch to enjoy on the floor. As time goes on Tyler will stay and have a good nosh while Sydney looks on from below. Sometimes they will both be up and eating, though this is a bit crowded. Sydney usually comes up later and often we have a good long chat over a snack.
One difficulty is rewarding both rabbits at once and taking a photo.
With both rabbits I am stroking them more while they eat, not too much to annoy them, just trying to git them more used to being touched all over. I do touch and pet them when they have their morning pellets, which is not a training session (I just want my tea, please). One thing I have learned is to favorite treats in reserve for introducing new levels of behavior. This is how I convinced them both onto the couch at once. In the case of the Spots apple bits is the ultimate lure. Sydney will do anything for oat groats and she may well have to prove her love for them in the future!
It is nice to have two buns side by side with paws on.
At this point the beneficial side effects of Spot training seems to be that they both are less likely to run away when they hear the kitchen door open. Tyler is once again allowing me to pet him more, in the beginning of training he had stopped letting me pet him (yes, my little heart broke into 10,000 pieces). Sydney is getting more friendly and jumped onto the couch with me, briefly, yesterday to see what I was doing on my laptop.
Sydney with four paws on, the yellow things are Calendula petals a favorite bun dessert.
Rabbit's Guy gave us a very nice award, Lemonade (see it to your right), for Spot Training and we would like to pass this on to Mum of Critters for her new bunny and to Alice from Potentially Nervous for her atmospheric and fantastic bunny photos.
15 comments:
ah HA! by george i think i got it or maybe i think i get it...whatever the case i'm sure it's an honor!!
xo~'alice'
Behaviour moulding? sounds difficult :P
Great pictures of the bunns. Also wanted to wish you GUNG HEY FATT CHOY or GoNG XI FA CAI..Happy Chinese New Year :D
It sounds like they're really coming along. I had heard bunnies trained easily but have never tried it myself. I wonder if I could teach Cadbury to do tricks?
I imagine your lab coat is covered in cute little paw prints and sweet little green smears. =:0)
Very nice work coming out of the Rabbitlab these days. Maybe you'll get a paper published out of this, Professor.
Ah those gourmet bunnies!
I can't see rabbits anymore without thinking of you and your little creatures, you know!
they are diong well, so well in fact that I've given them an award too, find out more on my blog (these things always come along in pairs)
It's really interesting to hear about this training you're doing. It sounds fun. Lucky rabbits they are.
Four paws on is nothing to sneeze at. Most impressive, ma'am. Who said you can't teach an old bun new tricks?
Sweetness!
Boy - the progress, the progress. Yup, cuddling a willing bunn is a nice thing!
I know they train chickens to play basketball by givng them a corn kernel everytime they move in the "right" direction ... so I suspect you are on to something here.
Maybe I sense a lemonade story ...
I think the chickens would do anything for cracked corn. And grapes. For the dog, it would be cheese.
(Do the buns not find calendula petals bitter?)
You're doing well, and Sydney and Tyler are getting a little bit bolder by the day. Doesn't everyone think that the bunnyboys are more trusting than the bunnygirls, in general?
If I were ever to bring in the three bunny girls that live in the garage, this is surely the approach I would take - they're so very shy and hide in the corner all the time!
Well let's see ... Chico, Racer, Benji, Baxter, Lucky, Winston ... boys. Only Winston does not like to be picked up and held and snuggled and petted.
Savannah, The Princess, Zoey, Goldie ... girls. Only Savannah is fussy like that.
We found, generally, that if you get them very young and hold them lots, then they like that. Winston is the exception that proves the rule. Savannah was a "bred-doe" when we got her.
Good for you! I need to do more of that with my two. They hate being held!
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