Training for rodents & rabbits

Training for Rodents & Rabbits

Doing fun activities together with your pet is great fun! Did you know that, for example, rabbits are very intelligent and can learn all kinds of tricks? From playing soccer (nose balls) to retrieving and giving a High Five! Take on the challenge together and enjoy the game with your rodent!

Training your rodent or rabbit is a fun way to spend time together. It strengthens the bond between the animal and its owner. Through training you can really engage with your rodent or rabbit. Real quality time with your animal!

It is very important to build up the training slowly. Of course we want the animals to like it and continue to like it! To ensure that the rodents or rabbits enjoy the training, it is important to work with positive rewards. The easiest means of positive reward is food. The moment the animal does what you intended, the animal gets something tasty.
Note: never punish your animal! Punishment (in any way) is a negative incentive. This will ensure that your rodent or rabbit will experience the training as something negative. You can never force the animal to perform a certain action! Positive reward and a lot of patience are the most important in training. Also, don't train for too long. Start with a few minutes. Do you notice that your animal's attention is weakening? Then stop the training and try again in a few days.

A useful tool to use during training is a clicker. A clicker makes it easier for the animal to link the action to the reward. An example: you would like to teach your rabbit to stand on its hind legs on command. You came up with a command for this and it works! Your rabbit will stand on its hind legs! You say: 'Good!' and pulls a candy from your jacket pocket. The moment you give the candy, the reward, to the rabbit, the rabbit is no longer on its hind legs. Then the reward comes too late. The rabbit will not understand that he is getting the treat because he was standing on his hind legs. We can solve this problem with a clicker! When a rabbit has learned to work with the clicker, you can click when the rabbit is standing on its hind legs. If working with the clicker has been learned properly, the rabbit now knows that a reward is coming. The rabbit needs to learn that the sound of the clicker means a reward is coming. At some point, the rabbit will understand that the click follows when performing a certain action. The clicker helps to time the reward. Of course you can also use a word such as 'goedzo' or 'good' as an alternative to the clicker. However, a clicker is easier for an animal to distinguish. The animals will hear your voice much more often, and not just during training.

There are so many different training games. You can think of thinking games, sniffing mats, skill sets and snack balls. It's fun to alternate with different types of training games. This way we keep variation in the training and it remains challenging.

Varying training with positive reward is very good for the welfare of rodents and rabbits. In addition, it is also a very nice way for the owners to really be busy with the animal!

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