While we know just how popular dogs and cats are as pets, you would be surprised to know that rabbits are actually not quite far behind. These fluffy little cuties are actually quite intelligent. So intelligent, they can easily be trained to perform some major tricks for you. And this would also allow you to bond with them in such distinctive ways. Now I will be sharing some of the leading ways in which you can confidently have your little furry one come running to you as well as snuggling with you becomes all the more special too.
One of the major things to teach them is to have them learning their names and come running to you when you call them out. At first you just want to call their name (or whatever cue word you want to use) when they are already next to you and while they are taking the treat from your hand. The goal of this first step is to simply help your rabbit associate the sound of their name with the reward of a treat. You’re teaching your rabbit to recognize the cue.After a couple weeks of calling your rabbits name while you hand them a treat, try calling their name when they are not next to you. If they approach, hand them a treat to reinforce the cue. Continue to call them periodically throughout the day to reinforce the trick. If they don’t approach you, then it means they don’t recognize the cue yet, and you should continue with step one for a little while longer.
But the kind of name you give them also matters.Rabbits will have a harder time understanding long names with a lot of syllables. Picking a nickname they can understand will be easier to teach them. You’ll also want to say your cue word with the same intonation every time, so your rabbit will be able to recognize the word.
Also teaching a rabbit to give kisses is a surprisingly easy trick. Some rabbits will be able to figure this out in less than a day. First you need to teach you rabbit that they need to look up to get the treat.This way they won’t get confused and start sniffing the ground, thinking you dropped it. After your rabbit starts to follow the treat up without getting confused, bring your hand close to your face with the treat. After you get the rabbit’s nose close to your face, close your fist and hide the treat in the palm of your hand. As soon as your rabbit sniffs at, or near, your mouth, make a kissing sound and give them the treat. The kissing sound works like a clicker so your rabbit will know what they did to receive the treat. After a few rounds they’ll make that positive association with the sound and they’ll be able to repeat the trick easily.
When it comes to making your rabbit use a litter properly, training them to use a litter pan is relatively easy, as they prefer to eliminate in the same location. Half of the battle is finding the spot in your home that the rabbit has already claimed and then putting a litter box (the bigger, the better) there.But what if your bunny picked a less-than-ideal corner of your home to do his business? One option is to gradually move the pan to a more desired spot. For more drastic cases, you can move the box to the preferred location and add some soiled litter to the mix so the rabbit knows it’s his. Placing the box in a small room, or limiting the animal’s access to a small perimeter around the pan will help drive results. Adding a small handful of hay to one side of the box can encourage the bunny to hop in.
Pet rabbits can be easily trained to do many of the daily things you need them to do, like hopping up onto a scale or right into a carrying case. (The latter is much better than simply picking up the rabbit if you need to travel with them; unlike cats or dogs, rabbits are wholly prey animals, so they might get very freaked out when a human goes to pick them up. But if you can train a rabbit to hop right into a carrying case for a trip to the vet? That’s ideal.)
