Life Skills: Tricks You Can Train Your Furry Friend

This is the easiest skill for your bunny to learn, because it is already something they do. All you have to do is capture it by rewarding them.

But if they are the type of bunny who comes to you when they smell food coming, you will have to hold the food near their nose and draw your hand back so they follow the treat and their rump will naturally go down into a sit. Then mark and treat.

Say the cue word “Sit” before you get them to sit, that way they will connect the word to the action.

Once your bunny knows how to sit, you can teach them to stay. This time you get them to sit, then don’t mark it straight away, say the cue word “Stay”, wait a few seconds and then mark and reward. Make sure that when you are teaching this, you wait one second, then two, and progressively get longer over time before you mark and reward. That way your bunny will learn to wait for as long as you need them to.

If they break their “stay” it is ok. Don’t growl at them, but take them back to the Sit (skill 1) and start again, but marking at a shorter interval this time. It will take time to practice.

This skill teaches your bunny to come when called.

Some people choose to use a verbal cue, by calling the bunny’s name, or a visual cue by tapping the ground, or both. Choose a distinct sound that you won’t use with other tricks, because your bunny will get mixed up.

For example: Tap the ground when your bunny is near you. If they show interest in the tapped area, capture the behaviour. Increase the distance so that your bunny comes running towards your tapping hand.

This is a natural position for a bunny, and is quite easy to train. You just have to mark and reward at the right time.

If your bunny is not wanting to Sit Pretty, you can train it by making the bunny follow the treat and then Sit (skill 1). Then lift the treat up a little so it is sitting on its back feet. This is a luring technique. Mark as soon as they are standing on their back feet, their rump is down on the ground and their arms are up.

You can also call this “pretty” so you don’t overuse the word “sit”.

This skill extends on the Sit Pretty (skill 4) and teaches it to sit still and raise up onto it’s back feet. This is a luring technique, where you hold the treat close to the bunny’s nose and then raise the treat up so it stands up. When they are in position, mark and treat.

Use the cue word “Beg” and a hand over their head as a visual cue. Practice with both cues, both with and without saying the word, and with and without your hand, that way you can ask your bunny to beg without saying anything, or vice versa.

Using a target stick can make skills a lot easier. It replaces your hand for a ball on the end of a stick.

To start teaching how to follow the target stick, hold the ball close to the bunny’s nose, a few centimetres away. Mark and reward any movement towards the ball. Once your bunny learns to look for and follow the ball, you can increase the distance and make sure your bunny is still targeting it, move it slowly, or your bunny will lose interest and get confused. Over time, you can practice putting the ball on each side, or even above the bunny’s head, even on it’s rump.

A target stick will be used in a lot of later skills, so it’s a good idea to train your bunny to use it.

This skill teaches your bunny to go to a mat, blanket, different surface, and stay there until released.

Use the same mat to begin with, and the mat should be placed a few steps away. Each time the bunny is successful, make it a little more difficult each time.

You will have to mark and reward in small steps (called shaping) any movement your bunny makes towards the mat. For example, if the bunny makes a step towards the mat, shape the effort. Then the second time, your bunny may take two steps to get to the mat, then shape the effort. After a while, delay the treat until the bunny puts a foot on the mat. When this happens, throw the treat away (a little way) so the bunny goes to it. Then you can repeat the process when the bunny comes back for more. Continue shaping until the bunny is going onto the mat with all four feet.

Then you can add Stay (skill 2).

This skill is fun for both you and your bunny, because it puts them up a bit. Some people call this Pedestal, Box or Chair, but I call it Apex because it sounds different to any other skill they will learn.

Use a chair, box, overturned bowl, anything that isn’t too high off the ground, so they won’t hurt themselves if they jump off.

To be successful, you will have to use the shaping method used for Mat (skill 7). Rabbits won’t take long to decide to jump onto the Apex, so be really wary of your shaping.

If your bunny is unsure of hopping onto the apex, then use a shorter object, until they are used to it. You can increase the size of the object later on.

It’s good to get your bunny to practice hopping into their travel box, so it becomes fun rather than only going to the vet.

Feed them inside the crate with the door open, or just leave the crate somewhere they can hop in and out at their leisure. That way, they won’t be scared of it when they see it.

You can also mark with the word “crate” and reward them when they hop in. That way they will associate the word with the behaviour of hopping in the crate.

This skill teaches your bunny to jump into your lap.

If you have taught Apex (skill 8), this will be super easy. Teach this the same way as Apex but use your lap instead.

Make sure you mark and reward each little step your bunny makes towards your lap.

This skill is something bunnies do naturally, all you have to do is mark and treat each time they do it.

Place a light and easy to grab object close to your bunny and they will pick it up with their teeth. Capture the behaviour by waiting for them to pick it up. Mark and reward when they do.

You may need to teach this in small steps by letting them smell or nudge the object. Be careful not to mark the push behaviour because that’s for other skills. Start with food, then progress to inedible objects.

Your bunny has to be comfortable running through the tunnel by itself before you can start teaching this skill.

First capture (mark and reward) their behaviour as the go through the tunnel on their own. Add the word “tunnel” right before they enter.

If your rabbit is unsure, lure the rabbit using a target stick by putting it at the start of the tunnel, then as they enter the tunnel, move the stick to the other end to encourage them to go through.

This is a variation of targeting, where you teach the bunny to target with its nose. Once you have taught your bunny to target to a target stick, you can teach it to target to anything else.

Start on the floor with the object you want your bunny to touch with its nose. Make sure the object is close to you. When the bunny goes near the object capture the behaviour. If the bunny touches or interacts with the object, capture it. Don’t forget to say the word “boop” before they touch it.

After about an 85% success rate of the bunny “booping” the object, you can add more parameters, like move the object further away.

Extensions:

• Practice with different objects.
• Get the bunny to “boop” different objects in an order.

This is where you teach your bunny to take an object from your hand, with a command. You will need to teach them Sit (skill 1) and Stay (skill 2) first.

Once the bunny is sitting, hold something for your bunny to take from you, like a piece of cardboard, fabric, a small container, something that is not food. When you tell the bunny to come, and it sniffs the object, capture the behaviour. If the bunny takes it from you, capture that. Then bring in the cue “take” when they are comfortable taking the object from you. Make sure that you use the cue word before they take the object, that way they will learn to respond when you say the word.

This skill is where you get your bunny to hop around an object that they have their paws on.

This is the second step to Paws Up (skill 69).

Get your bunny to put its paws on the step and don’t reward them. Move yourself a little so that the bunny keeps looking at you. If it rotates a little, capture the behaviour. Repeat several times until you get a full circle. Make sure you capture each time the bunny does the right thing.

Over time you can fade out your movement, and change it to a gesture with your hand, and say “Pivot”. Reward any movement from them.

After a lot of practice, your bunny should start moving more fluidly, that’s when you start giving fewer treats. Stop giving treats when they can do a full circle without so much help from you.

Your bunny will press its nose against your ear as if it was telling you a secret.

It will help a lot if you taught your bunny Nose (skill 65) before trying this skill.

Cup your hand as if you were trying to listen to something. Present your hand to your bunny and say “Nose”. Your bunny should rest it’s nose on your hand.

Build up the time the bunny holds its nose against the cupped hand, it needs to hold it there for about 5 seconds.

Now start to move your hand closer to your ear. Reward your bunny if it is holding its nose against your hand as it is close to your ear. Start using the cue word “Secret”. Repeat until your bunny is confident.

This skill teaches your bunny to walk through your legs as you walk.

You must have taught your bunny Weave (skill 76) before attempting this skill.

Spread your legs, as if you were going to take a step, and use the target stick to guide your bunny through as you take a step. Make sure your bunny starts in front of you and ends up behind you once you take the step. Treat your bunny each time it is successful.

Over time, reduce how much you use the target pole, and the treats, and start using the cue word “eight” (short for figure of eight).

It is important that your movements become fluid, so that your bunny doesn’t hesitate to follow you.

Jumping through a hoop keeps your bunny fit and agile. Anything round and big enough to fit your bunny through can be used. Even an embroidery hoop is great.

Start with the hoop on the ground and hold it with one hand, or you can construct something to hold it up. Bunnies will be curious and sniff it, mark and reward when they sniff it.

Some bunnies will hop through, mark and reward. Others you will have to lure through with the treat at their nose. Once they are through, mark and treat.

Eventually move the hoop higher until they are jumping through the hoop.

A bunny kiss when they come over and press their nose against yours. Everyone needs to feel bunny whiskers on their face.

If you have taught Sit Pretty (skill 4), it will be easier, but not necessary. You will have to bend your head down so the bunny can reach your face. You can have the bunny in your lap if it likes that.

Some bunnies may come to sniff your face when you go close to them, that’s when you mark and reward. If that doesn’t work, you can lure them to bring their fae close to yours.

This skill teaches your bunny to push a ball when told to.

This is a base skill for many others, like pushing a ball into a goal.

When you introduce the ball, mark and reward every interaction with it. They will quickly learn that they can push it and get treats.

This is a good skill if you have taught Sit (skill 1) or Sit Pretty (skill 4).

With your bunny sitting in front of you, put your hand out. Most will lean forward and sniff it. Don’t mark that. Wait until they move a paw towards you and mark and reward that.

Keep shaping the behaviour until your bunny places their paw on your hand every time you present it.

You can teach this in both directions – left and right.

Work on one direction first until your bunny has mastered it, then teach the other.

Lure your bunny in one direction using a treat. Don’t do a whole circle at once, start with a quarter and mark then treat that. Take time to get your bunny to do a full circle in the same direction.

You can choose different ways to get your bunny to do this skill, you can train them to follow your hand or finger, but if you choose to use the word “left” or “right”. Start with teaching it with your hand and add the word, then fade the hand out over time by moving it away from your bunny’s face.

This works best if you have taught your bunny to pick something up first with Grab (skill 12). It is a complicated skill and it takes a long time.

With this skill you backwards chain where you start with the final result that you want, and then work backwards.

Get your bunny to pick something up, then place your hand beneath it. When they drop it, it should fall into your hand. Mark and reward this a few times. Then move your hand away a little bit. If your bunny moved to place the item in your hand, you’re doing well. If not, continue practicing with them dropping it in your hand.

After a while of practice, getting further and further away, put the item out of reach of your bunny. If they move to pick it up, mark and reward. Repeat that a few times. Gradually increase the space. Now place your hand somewhere and see if they get the item and put it in your hand.

Hand shake builds trust and helps your bunny learn that touch is a positive experience.

This can take a long time to learn because bunnies are unsure of putting their feet on moving surfaces, like our hands.

With regular practice, and jackpot treats, and your willingness to lower your criteria, will help your bunny learn this skill.

This trick is similar to High 5 (skill 22), except you are closing your hand around the paw and gently holding it. This will take a long time to gain your bunny’s trust.

This is a more difficult skill to teach, because your bunny needs to trust you completely.

This consists of a bunny standing on a barrel or tube. The cylinder will roll, so it’s up to you to keep it still while you are starting to teach this skill.

It will take a while for you and your bunny to figure out how to do this, and it will take a long time.

This skill is a mix between Hand (skill 25) and Beg (skill 5). You get your bunny to rest its hands and head on your hand, while it is standing on its back feet.

It will take a lot of work to get your bunny to trust you, but it will be really cute when they do.

Make sure that you train Hand (skill 25) and Beg (skill 5) first before attempting this one.

This is a super cute skill, where you put your forefinger and thumb together to make a circle, and your bunny puts its nose through it.

To teach this, your bunny has to be comfortable with Boop (skill 14) and Target (skill 6). That way all you need to do is create the circle, and with the other hand hold food in the circle. Your bunny should reach for the food through the circle. Practice moving the food further out of the circle, a little, over time, so that the bunny puts its nose through as far as it can.

Mark, reward and use the cue word “snoot”.

This skill is a lot like Leap (skill 49) where your bunny jumps over you, but with this skill, the bunny stops when they land on you. This is a good skill to get your bunny to jump up onto your back.

You will need a target stick and tap it on your back to make the bunny want to jump onto you. Put a treat on your back so the bunny finds it when it gets up there.

After it’s up there you must teach it to jump down, too. Use another cue word to teach it to jump down. Make sure you choose cue words that you aren’t already using, or sound similar to another word.

This skill is where your bunny weaves between upright poles. It is also called Slalom.

All you need is a target pole, something that sits upright, like poles or witches hats, and then direct your bunny around in a pattern.

For agility courses, the bunny weaves in and out between each pole, then at the end turns around and goes the opposite way.

With this skill, it’s up to you to decide on the patterns you want to teach your bunny. Make sure that you use a different cue word for each pattern. Make sure that each cue word sounds different to all other skill names.

This skill uses Take (skill 15) and the “Give” part of the Pull (skill 35) skill. Your bunny will learn to pick an object up and put it in a container next to itself.

The object could be a stick, pen, ball, anything that is easily picked up by a bunny. The container can be a small tray or a shallow container.

Give the bunny an item that it will hold in it’s mouth, then drop into the container. You will have to practice these two skills separately, then join them together into a sequence. If you have taught Take (skill 15), all you have to do is teach the “drop” part.

Capture each other correct behaviours. Be patient as this will take time.

This skill gets your bunny to run to you from a distance and jump in your lap.

It is a skill that joins Come (skill 3) and Jump Up (skill 11).

If you have taught both of those skills, it should be reasonably easy to join them together in a sequence.

This skill is teaching your bunny to jump high in the air to get to the target stick.

It’s a good idea to teach Sit Pretty (skill 4), Beg (skill 5) and Target (skill 6) before attempting this skill.

When your bunny is sitting on their back feet, hold the target stick above your bunny’s head to make them jump a little bit. Mark and treat if the bunny jumps a little.

Practice getting higher and higher, treating each time it was completed successfully. Use the cue word “bounce” before you lift the target pole up to make the bunny jump.

This is a target stick based skill, where the bunny follows you wherever you go and doesn’t lose concentration.

Have a treat in your hand, and practice walking around with the bunny following the target stick. Every time the bunny follows the stick at a fast pace for a few steps, capture the behaviour.

Increase the duration of the walk, and increase the amount of treats. After a while, lengthen the time between treats, so that you are ultimately only giving one at the end of the walk.

Add the “heel” cue word just before giving the treat. Only treat if the bunny stays at your side. Only reward your bunny when it stays at your heel.

After the bunny has mastered following the target stick at a fast pace, remove it and keep practicing with treats.

This skill is taught in steps, and spend time shaping all of those steps.

It is a good idea to teach Grab (skill 12), Take (skill 15) and Back (skill 36) first, because this skill uses both of them.

Warning

Remember that a bunny is not a dog, and they have to learn to tug a rope. It doesn’t come naturally to them.

When your bunny has a rope in it’s mouth with Grab (skill 15), try gently pulling on it. If it lets it go, try again. Keep trying until the bunny hangs onto the rope and starts to pull back.

Remember that bunnies don’t have strong teeth and this can hurt them if you’re too rough. Use the cue word “pull” when the bunny starts to pull.

When you want the bunny to stop pulling the rope, practice the “give” cue word. Wait until the bunny is pulling the rope and hold out a treat and say “Give”. When it releases the rope, praise it and give it the treat.

You can extend this with pulling an object:

• to open or close a door
• switch a lever
• tug a string to undo a knot (shoelace etc)
• unwrap a present

This skill can be part of a sequence to create a longer routine, this is a reasonably easy skill to teach your bunny.

Walking backwards is made easier when the trainer also walks backwards alongside the bunny, which gives the impression of dancing.

Stand beside your bunny, with a treat and the target stick. Make sure that the bunny is next to you, facing the same direction. Make sure the target stick is at the bunny’s nose.

Encourage it to concentrate on the target stick when you take a step forwards, bring the target stick with you. When your bunny steps forward, reward it with your voice, don’t give it a treat. Then step backwards, and tap the bunny on the rump with the target stick. If the bunny steps backwards, capture it and use the cue word “back”.

The bunny should not turn around, or look at the target stick. It should still be facing in the original direction but step backwards.

As you practice this, and your bunny gets used to stepping once, you can progress to get it to step backwards several times. Over time, the will move backwards with the cue word.

This is a skill for a high jumping bunny, because they have to jump into your arms. You can either get them to do it while standing or seated.

It is very similar to Jump Up (skill 11), but this time you are catching your bunny in your arms. You have to be careful not to drop it, if it jumps crooked or slightly misjudges.

This target stick based skill gets your bunny to walk on its hind legs for a short distance.

This skill is an extension to Beg (skill 5), where you get your bunny to stand on its hind legs and step forward.

Take it slowly, as bunnies are not necessarily good at balancing on their back legs and walking, but when they get the hang of it, they love doing it.

This is a fun little skill to teach where the bunny jumps over your foot at different heights.

Using a target stick will help you teach this trick.

You can also extend it into different foot positions, or even get your bunny to jump off your leg.

This skill is about using the natural bunny stretching poses and capturing them with a cue word. Those cute poses they do when they stretch their back and yawn and the bunny’s front goes down, and rump goes up.

This is a very difficult trick to teach, and you have to be around your bunny a lot to capture the poses when they do them naturally.

A target stick can be used teach the bunny to stretch, because bunnies sometimes will stretch as far as they can without moving their back legs.

It’s really up to you about how far you take this skill, but be careful you don’t hurt your bunny while doing it. Their spines are very fragile and can easily break.

With this skill, you are teaching your bunny to go to its bed on cue. This is an easy skill to teach, and it looks impressive.

First, target your bunny’s bed. Do this by putting a treat on it when the bunny is watching from a distance. You may have to restrain your bunny to do this properly.

Make sure the treat is out of reach of the bunny so it has to hop onto its bed before getting the treat.

Let the bunny go and allow it to go to bed and eat the treat. When you let it go, say the word “bed” to reinforce the action and the treat acts as the reward.

Repeat until the bunny learns that the cue word “bed” has a meaning. If you think you aren’t saying it at the correct time, you can slowly change the timing of the cue word, by saying it before the bunny leaves to go to bed.

Once the bunny learns this skill and is comfortable with it, you can start moving the bed around the room, so it learns that it may not be in the same place every time. This will only work if you have targeted the bed in the start.

This is where your bunny learns to differentiate between items and bring the correct one to you.

If you have taught the skill Tidy (skill 31) and Fetch (skill 24), you can extend it with this.

You will have to give a name to different items that don’t sound similar, or like another skill name. Use brightly coloured plastic items, like a cup, spoon, block, ball, key, rattle, etc. It doesn’t matter which colours you use, rabbits can differentiate different colours, just in a different way to us.

For each item you train the skill, then you can put it all together.

The aim of this skill is to get your rabbit to fetch the correct item and put it in a container, and later you can teach it to bring it to you on another cue, like “give”.

Make sure you capture each behaviour your bunny takes to achieving this skill, take time and practice all the time.

Is a cute skill that teaches your bunny to hop over any obstacle, whether it’s a overturned bowl, a container, a shoe, etc. It’s a good basis for lots of jumping skills.

If you have taught the skill Tidy (skill 31) and Fetch (skill 24), you can extend it with this.

It’s a good idea to have taught Apex (skill 8) first, as it gets your bunny to jump onto a higher platform.

The idea behind this is to get them to jump over the obstacle.

This skill is a base for Leap and gets your bunny to hop over an hurdle. You may want to teach Hop (skill 43) first before attempting this, it is not required but it will make it easier.

Lay the hurdle stick on the ground and get the bunny to hop over it. Capture the correct behaviour, and give the cue word. Once it can do that, increase the hurdle height up about 10cm and try it again. Repeat until your bunny can hop over the hurdle.

Make sure you say the cue word before the bunny jumps the hurdle.

Bounce on the spot can be difficult to teach if you don’t have a bouncy bunny.

The skill is teaching the bunny to jump several times in one place. It is a good skill to teach with a target stick, and if you have already taught “Bounce” (skill 33) the concept will be easier for your bunny to grasp.

Being sneaky is asking your bunny to crawl under something and come out the other side. The object could be a hurdle, a bridge, something reasonably low to the ground, but not too low that your bunny can’t get under it.

Ask your bunny to sit and wait. Place the obstacle in front of it. If the obstacle can change height, make sure that it is about the bunny’s shoulder height.

Walk around the other side of the obstacle and lure the bunny under by showing it the treat. Your bunny may go around, or jump the obstacle, if they have already learned those skills.

It is important to not capture the wrong behaviours, make sure you mark and treat when the bunny goes under the obstacle. Add the cue word when your bunny starts to go under the obstacle.

Practice often and change the height of the obstacle.

This skill is a lot like Hoop (skill 48), only you stand side on to your pet and create a loop with your arms the rabbit jumps directly through the loop.

You will need a helper for this skill.

Start teaching this low down to the ground, just like hoop so that it’s not scary for your bunny. Lure the bunny through your arms with the target pole. The helper captures and gives a treat to the bunny when it is half way through the arm-loop. Add a cue word and slowly progress to standing when your bunny jumps through your arms.

This is an extension of Hoop (skill 19). This skill requires some skill mainly on the part of the trainer. You will pass the hoop from your left to right and because your rabbit knows the command it will jump through it both times.

This skill is based on agility and the skill Hop (skill 43). It is where your bunny jumps over a person on their hands and knees, or laying on the floor (depending on how high your bunny can jump).

A target stick should be used to control the bunny’s behaviour. Start with getting the bunny to walk over your body, by holding the stick close to your body. Once the bunny gets used to hopping over your body, start the three point target, where you tap the floor a the beginning, then hold it in the air over your body, then tap it on the floor on the other side. Once your bunny starts jumping over your body, you can increase the difficulty by crouching, then finally getting on your hands and knees.

This will take time to practice.

Bunnies have a better sense of smell than a dog. Using their nose to sniff things is how they get through their day, so to train them to use it as a skill can only benefit them.

This is a several step skill, it is where a bunny gets a scent and finds the matching scent in an object hidden somewhere. It then sits at the correct object waiting.

In the start, you will need stacking cups, pots, small containers and a bunny-safe smelly something (not a training treat). Make sure the containers have small holes in the base to let the smell out.

Line the cups up in front of your bunny and put the smelly thing under one container. Swap the containers around a few times and ask your bunny to find the item. Use the cue “scent” and it should sniff all containers before finding the right one.

When they find the right pot, tell the bunny to Boop (skill 14) the cup, then capture the behaviour. Once the bunny can find the correct cup and boop it, then they can have the item under the cup.

Practice this until your bunny touches the correct cup and looks directly at you. After that, you can move the scented item away and the bunny should fetch it and bring it back.

This skill teaches the bunny to go to a particular person on cue. Each person should have a cue word, like their name, so the bunny knows who it is to go to. Make sure that the names don’t sound similar to any word you’ve used previously, or like another person’s name.

This is a complex skill and it will take a long time with a lot of patience to master, but when you’ve taught it once, you can repeat the process with as many people as you like.

The person must not interact with the bunny, other than giving it a treat when it goes to the correct person. The trainer has to say the cue word and mark the behaviour, but not give treats.

It’s best to initially teach this with people sitting down. If you have more than one helper, only the correctly named person can give the treat. Any other must ignore the bunny and not even look at it.

It’s ok if the bunny goes to the wrong person, the correct person should call the bunny over to them. When the bunny makes a move to go to the correct person, the behaviour gets marked and the treat is given.

After a while the bunny will go to a person when you say their name.

Bunny sits perfectly still until told to move. Your bunny will literally become a statue in whichever position they are in at the time and not move until released.

It’s good to practice this when your bunny is tired, so there isn’t too much excitement or energy put into it.

This is different to all other skills because it expects your bunny to do absolutely nothing. You have to reinforce the stillness by marking and rewarding. You may have to capture every second to start with, until the bunny gets the idea, but when it learns the command it should find complete stillness great fun.

This will take a long time to teach properly, and you will find it hard to capture at the exact time you need to. It will take time for both you and your bunny to perfect, but when you do it is amazing!

This is one of the most endearing tricks your bunny can perform. It is when your bunny approaches someone and places their paw on their foot (or arm, leg etc), offering friendship.

This is called a gentle contact skill, which doesn’t really come naturally to a rabbit. It will take a while to gain your bunny’s trust.

Sit on the floor and call your bunny over. When it comes up to you, touch its paw. Say the cue word and capture the behaviour. Repeat until the bunny gets used to you touching its paw.

After a while, when you say the cue word and you don’t touch the bunny’s paw, it will want you to, and it will put its paw on your hand. Make sure you capture this and reward your bunny for making the effort of doing it by itself.

Then get a helper to call the bunny over and you say the cue word to see if the bunny will make friends with the helper. If it does, capture and reward it quickly.

This skill teaches your bunny to stay still until you return.

Get your bunny to Sit (skill 1) and Stay (skill 2), or even Statue (skill 52). You can have a helper pat the bunny while you’re setting up. Reward your bunny if it does what it is supposed to do.

Take a few steps back, and say “Stay” again. If the bunny stays, capture it and move forward and give it a treat. Practice this a few times. The trainer must give the bunny the treat.

Then the helper can stop patting the bunny, and you repeat the process again. Taking a few steps back, and saying “Stay”, then moving forward to give it a treat if it does it correctly.

Repeat the process and move further away, if the bunny stays, then move forward and give it a treat.

This skill teaches your bunny to perform an emergency stop. This can be helpful if your bunny gets loose, or is hard to catch because something scared it. The whole point of this skill is for your bunny to trust you enough and consider you as it’s safe place.

To train this, first, tell your bunny to Sit (skill 1) and Stay (skill 2). You can get a helper to pat the bunny while you set this skill up.

Walk away at a reasonable distance, then turn to face your bunny. Don’t make eye contact.

When you are ready, the helper stops patting the bunny, then you call the bunny to you using Come (skill 3). The bunny should come straight to you. If you want the bunny to jump in your arms, join this with Arms (skill 37).

Once you have practiced that until your bunny is comfortable with it, increase the distance.

A more advanced variation on this skill is once your bunny is capable of not being distracted over a long distance, you can add the verbal “Stop” and “Sit” cues and the hand signal for “Halt” as you step forward a few steps towards the bunny racing towards you. The fact you are moving towards the bunny will make it hesitate. If it sits, then say “Stay”, to make sure the bunny stays still. Capture that behaviour. This will take a lot of practice.

If the bunny does the right thing, make sure you let it know by giving it a pat and a jackpot treat.

Every time you see your bunny yawn, capture it with the cue word “yawn”. All you have to do is continually say “yawn” every time you see it, and the more often it happens the more likely they will yawn when they hear the word.

You may have to be patient, some bunnies yawn more than others.

This only takes time to get your bunny to associate the behaviour with the cue word.

This skill teaches your bunny to sniff out a treat in your hand.

All you have to do is hold a treat in one hand, and make a fist with both hands. Hold them about 30cm apart and say “Which one?”. Your bunny should try to sniff the hand that has the treat. If it gets it correct, give it the treat.

Practice that several times.

This is one of the hardest skills to teach, because the trainer must have strong legs. You can either clicker train, or target pole train this skill.

This skill requires the trainer to lay on their back with their legs in the air and the bunny will jump up onto the soles of your raised feet.

Your bunny will need to know Come (skill 3), Stay (skill 2), Apex (skill 8) and Jump Up (skill 11), and then be taught how to join them together to jump onto your feet.

The easiest way to get the bunny to start this trick is to get them to jump on your feet while your laying on your stomach, that way you can have your feet lower to start with.

Tap your feet with the target pole and say “Jump Up”. It may take time to get your bunny to do it. Capture any behaviour that shows progress to them completing the task.

Once they are on your feet, say “Toe” and capture the behaviour. Practice this several times before you make your feet higher, and then lay on your back and have your feet in the air.

This takes a lot of time and practice, but once bunnies learn this, they love it.

You can extend this trick by adding Sit Pretty (skill 4) or Beg (skill 5) when they are on your feet. You may need a helper with the target stick and treat for this.

This is where your bunny hides behind an object.

Your bunny should know Sit (skill 1), Stay (skill 2), Come (skill 3).

Start with a large object and make sure your bunny has room to hide under or behind it. Use the target stick to move the bunny behind the box and say “Sit and Stay”. If the bunny does it correctly, mark and reward it. Never miss an opportunity to capture a behaviour.

After practicing that a few times, stop saying “Sit and Stay”, change it to “Go Hide”, and how it a treat and toss it behind the object. If the bunny goes to get the treat, capture it and praise the bunny.

When your bunny can follow the “Go Hide” cue, slowly wean the treats off, and rewarding it in intervals (e.g every three times), eventually you’ll be able to cut the treats completely.

This skill teaches your bunny to stay still when under a blanket, and stay there until it is released.

This will work if you have taught Stay (skill 2) and Come (skill 3).

Bunnies will usually stay still for a little while when a blanket is dropped on top of them, so all you’ll have to do is capture that behaviour. Capture the correct behaviours at the right time. Use the word “Rug”.

After a while, use the Come cue to release the bunny from under the blanket. Capture the Come behaviour if the bunny does it successfully.

You can also teach this the reverse way, where the bunny goes to hide under the blanket on cue.

This skill is where your bunny jumps up to a higher platform and hops along a narrow ledge.

You will need to Target stick (skill 6) train your bunny to be successful with this. You will also need a narrow platform for your bunny to hop along. Make sure that it is wide enough for your bunny to sit on, or it will feel uncomfortable.

Start with the platform on the ground and teach the bunny to walk from one end to the other. Any little behaviour that can be rewarded, should be. Use the target stick to get the bunny to hop along the length of the platform.

Once your bunny is comfortable with that, raise the platform up a little – 10 cm off the ground. This is where you have to cue your bunny to “jump” onto the platform. Make sure you capture all correct behaviours.

Then join the two behaviours together, so the bunny hops up onto the platform, and then walks along it.

Over time, only reward the bunny once it completes the ledge, then wean the treats off completely.

This is where you teach your bunny to jump into your pocket. Make sure the pocket is big enough for your bunny.

This skill will take several steps to achieve.

First, your bunny must know Jump Up (skill 13) and Rug (skill 64). The Pocket skill is a mixture of both. To achieve this skill, first get the bunny to jump up onto your lap, and then cover it with a blanket while it is on your lap. This teaches your bunny that it is OK to be covered with a blanket on your lap.

The next step is to get the bunny to jump into the blanket on your lap while you are holding it up. After a time, you will be able to change the blanket to a pocket.

Remember to mark and reward each little step.

This is where you train your bunny to jump in a bag and be able to pick the bag up by the handles. Don’t rename this to “bag” if you are going to teach Back (skill 36), because they sound similar.

Your bunny will need to know how to target, and learn that the bag is the target. In the same way as in Bed (skill 41).

There is a while article about clicker training and different clickers.

To start clicker training, you have to get yur bunny to understand that the click means food.

Click and give your bunny a treat. Repeat this about 30 times. For no reason. This teaches the bunny that the click comes with a treat.

Warning:

Never click without giving a treat, and never treat without clicking.

After a while the bunny will come to you for a treat when it hears a click. If it does that, don’t start using the clicker as a calling device, it is only to be used as a shaping tool, not a “Come to get a treat” tool.

This skill is where your bunny learns to touch its nose to your hand and keep it there until it’s released.

This is a great clicker training skill.

Make sure you treat your bunny each time you click.

Move your hand with an open palm (like giving someone a hand shake) in front of your bunny. Your bunny may come forward and sniff it. Say “Nose”, click and treat.

Put your hand back and repeat several times so they become confident in leaning towards your hand and making contact with their nose.

Now start saying “Nose” before presenting your hand, then the bunny should touch it with its nose. Click and reward.

Next, increase the distance by a little bit, between you and your bunny. This forces your bunny to come to you when you say “Nose”. Eventually, you should be able to be a distance away and say “Nose”, and the bunny should come.

For the next part, use Come (skill 3), to make the bunny come to you and put its head against your hand on command.

This skill is exactly like Nose (skill 65), only you touch the bunny’s rump with your hand. Use the cue word “Rump”, and click and capture the correct behaviours.

You can also mix this with Back (skill 36) where the bunny moves backwards.

This skill teaches your bunny to push things with their forehead. This is a natural behaviour, and shouldn’t take too long to teach.

It’s a good clicker training skill. You’ll need a ball for the bunny to push, although it is possible to get your bunny to push other objects, too.

Put the ball on the floor and wait for the bunny to come over and sniff it. When they do, capture the behaviour. Take the ball away.

Each time you present the ball, your bunny should touch it more and more, and you should increase how much of a touch you require before capturing the behaviour.

If the ball moves, capture and praise. Say the cue word “Push”.

Simply build up how far they move the object.

This skill teaches your bunny to sit between your feet while you are standing.

This is a good target stick skill.

Have the bunny in front of you and slowly move the target stick behind you. Reward the bunny if it follows the stick. Practice this a few times until the bunny is comfortable about going behind you.

Next, move the stick between your legs and make sure that the ball is poking out from between your legs. Stop moving your hand, wait for the bunny to follow the stick, if it does capture the behaviour.

Repeat until the bunny is used to it, start adding the cue word “Middle” before you start moving the stick behind you and between your legs.

Eventually, you will be able to gesture with your hand in a sweeping movement and say the word “Middle”, and the bunny should go to the correct position.

Make sure you reward each time the bunny does it correctly. Slowly, over time, limit then remove the rewards completely.

This skill teaches your bunny to put their front paws on a higher object (a step, stool, over turned bowl, rock etc). It makes for great photos.

This is a good target stick skill.

Have the step next to you and the bunny close. Move the target stick to the front of the step. Treat the bunny if it makes moves towards the step.

When their paws are at the edge of the step raise the target stick so that it is above the step. Praise the bunny, capture and treat it. Repeat this several times until it’s fluid, and then say “paws up” and gesture in the same way.

Once they are confident with the movement, you can start to increase the length of time they are up on the object before you capture and reward them.

Get your bunny to cover itself with a blanket.

First, practice Mat (skill 7), to get your bunny to sit on the unfolded blanket.

Offer the blanket to the bunny, maybe practice Take (skill 15) first. Practice getting your bunny to hold a corner of the blanket in its mouth. Make sure you reward the bunny for picking the blanket up off the floor, too. Practice lowering the blanket onto the floor for each “Take”.

If you have taught your bunny to Lay (skill 77), you can get your bunny to lay down on the blanket with the blanket in its mouth.

If you have taught your bunny to Pull (skill 35) it shouldn’t be too hard to get your bunny to pull the blanket over itself.

Practice all of these skills in a sequence. It will be easier to teach if your bunny already knows the smaller skills.

Remember to capture any behaviours that progress towards the goal.

This skill is where your bunny learns to press a button with its paw. This is a mixture of Sit (skill 1), Hand (skill 23), High 5 (skill 16), and you demonstrating the button press.

For this skill you can use recordable buttons, a desk bell, or something that needs to be pressed to make a sound. Some bunnies will pick this up faster than others.

The first thing you have to do is introduce the bunny to the sound, so if they press it they aren’t scared of the sound.

Then allow your bunny to sniff it. Any interaction with the bell must be captured. When the bunny presses the button and makes the sound, make sure you use the cue word.

After learning a single bell or push button, you can extend it to start teaching recordable button language, or even give each different sound a meaning so the bunny can start communicating with you (with buttons like this for example).

This is an advanced skill that teaches your bunny to hop into the centre of a hoop (or shape) on the ground and stay there until told otherwise.

Use large, thick walled shapes so they are easy to see on the floor/grass.

You have to use a behaviour chain (teach it backwards) to be successful with this skill. Lure, shape and capture your rabbit hopping into the middle of the shape.

Here you can extend the skill by getting the rabbit:

• to flick the shape up and hop through it
• pick the shape up and hold it with its teeth
• move the shape to a designated place

This is a two-stage skill teaches your bunny to run around you while you are seated and jump over an outstretched arm.

Teach the bunny to jump your arm first, then use a target stick to teach it to circle your body.

To teach it to jump over your arm, start with your arm outstretched on the floor, and direct your bunny to jump over it. Once it can do that, lift your arm up a little and repeat the process. Your bunny should be able to jump over your arm at shoulder height after a lot of practice.

To teach it to go around your body, use a target stick, so it is easy to direct it. Start with it going around a little bit at a time, until you build up to the full circle around your seated body.

Then join the skills together.

Bunnies love learning and performing agility skills. A seesaw or a teeter-totter is a great way to teach your rabbit to use unsteady ground. You can teach your bunny to go over a teeter-totter by using shaping or luring.

Some bunnies will be able to do it straight away, others will need to learn step-by-step.

Start with the side that is down (you can hold it down to make it more stable for your bunny), and get them to hop onto it, either in the same direction as the teeter-totter or sideways. As long as they are on it, that’s all that matters. They have to learn that it is an angled slope, and they can move on it. Don’t rush this part, because they have to learn that their feet are different heights to run up the slope.

Once they are used to going the length of the slope and jumping off, you can slowly add the falling movement as they cross the middle section of the teeter-totter. Bunnies don’t like the feeling of the ground falling out from under them, so take this part slowly.

Teach your bunny to put a ball through a hoop and try and beat the world record of 7 in one minute, held by Bini the Bunny.

Make sure your bunny has mastered Grab (skill 15) and Fetch (skill 19), now you can extend it by teaching the bunny to put the ball in a hoop rather than your hand.

Find something that you want your bunny to put the ball in, a hoop, basket, box, etc, just make sure it’s small enough for a bunny!

Once your bunny has picked up the ball, mark and reward any movement towards the basket. You can put your hand over the basket in the start because your bunny may be used to targeting to your hand. Then slowly fade your hand out.

This skill gives your bunny exercise.

This skill is good to teach with a target stick, otherwise you’ll have to bend down far and often. Lure your bunny, using the pole, around one leg, then the other creating a figure-eight pattern.

It will take a while to teach, take it slowly, each small step at a time.

This is a harder skill to teach as most rabbits only lay down when they are relaxed. But teaching them how to do this may teach them to relax.

It’s good to start teaching this skill when your rabbit is tired. You may be able to capture it, but you may have to lure them to lay down. When they are sitting, put a treat near their nose and move it down towards the floor, so the bunny’s head is out and down.

Watch for the front arms to move forward and the back feet to kick out. Mark any foot movements that are heading towards a lay down. Don’t forget: Be patient.