Hi everyone....
How are you all?? Doing well here but am exasperated at the moment. Taking my little bun outside is the most stressful task EVER!!! I have a harness leash for her. I just wondered if anyone has done any leash training on their rabbits. If so, what types of things did you do to train him or her?? And, how successful was the training? When I take her outside, it seems to be extremely stressful for me AND for Tootsie, (she\'s a french lop) which I don\'t want to be the case. I want her to learn to follow MY lead, not the other way around. Also, she hates (that\'s putting it mildly) being picked up. I have to use a towel and wrap her in it to avoid me getting all my skin ripped off!!!
Is it possible to \"train\" her to like, or atleast accept, being picked up. Getting her in and out of the house are the most stressful parts of going outside. Anyhow, thanks in advance for any tips on these most exasperating issues!!
Julie
im not entirely sure about the leash thing, im curious too, but someone told me that leashing them can be bad for them if they jet off and are stopped abruptly by the harness, but like i said, thats just hear-say.
for the picking up part, my Lily also hates being picked up, she would scratch a ton at first so I took a pet taxi and put a treat in the back of it so she would go inside and then i would close the door and bring her inside. then i would put the cage on my bed which is by her cage and open the door and sit a bit away from the cage. she eventually would come out and i rubbed her nose and would give her a treat and then pick her up so she would associate being picked up with nose rubs and treats. when i do pick her up and she starts to kick, i make a point to NEVER drop her, but instead stop moving and hold her until she stops. if you drop the bunny, even though its might be physically fine, it will eventually associate being picked up with being dropped, you have to let it know that it can trust you to pick it up safely.
these things take time, Lily has caught on rather quickly, but she already had an owner for 1 and a half years before me, so I guess she was already somewhat used to it and just needed to get used to me.
i dont need to use the cage anymore to get her from the yard when i take her out and she might kick a little, but she wont do it much anymore.
hope this helps a little, im a bunny noob as well hehe, but this is at least my experience with Lily.
I have had great success in training all of mine to the harness. Here\'s how I did it:
1. put the harness on and give plenty of treats, mine all love dandelion leaves so I use those( cut up into smaller pieces). If they leave the harness alone give them treats, if they start chewing on the harness a sharp No will usually get them to stop. Catch them being good.
2. Take them outside, you want them a little off kilter so they will leave the harness alone.
3. Start small, five minutes at first. Make sure that if they seem fearful you are right there to comfort them. Slowly increase the time out and don\'t forget those treats.
You are never going to train your rabbit to walk with you like a dog. They hop and you follow. It is still great fun though.
Never use a collar on your rabbit. If they bolt they can choke or worse break their neck. Always use a harness. The best type is a Roman style harness. I have three of this type and it really is the best. It takes all the pressure off their neck. If you can\'t find a Roman style a Figure Eight will also work well. I buy the cat harnesses as the ones for the dogs tend to be a bit heavy and the bunns feel restricted. I have a 19 pound Flemish that does great on the thinner cat harness.
A retractable leash is also much better than a standard leash. With the retractable one if bunny does bolt you have 16 feet of leeway.
Try working with your rabbit about being picked up. Try to do it at a time when there isn\'t much going on around you. Again treats work wonders. Here is a link that gives you different ways to pick up and carry your rabbit:
http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/care/handling.asp
I hope this helps.
Tina