From the last few days when I used the clicker and the target stick at the same time that my rabbits went through their routine of begging for treats on their hind legs, I had thought I had the point about touching the nose to the target stick pretty well-communicated. However, this was obviously not so when last night I took them out on harnesses in the yard. They were just so excited to be out on harness, that there was scarce a teaching moment. Rather, these were moments for me to adjust to them and figure out what was unique and special to each rabbit in her likes and dislikes and behaviors.
So today I tried out the bathroom as the special training area. I only tried it out with one rabbit and was not impressed. I did give her time to explore and to adjust, but just as when she is in harness and distracted, she had none of her usual enthusias for treats. The "training environment" still is too unfamiliar to her. Either that or it was simply too early in the day for her to be awake enough and responsive enough to train. Or even a little bit of both.
The toher thing that occurred to me is that maybe the inter-rabbit competition actually helps motivate them to train. Maybe I should be training them all together all at once, even though that strikes me as counter-intuitive. I really want more control over th training session than I would have with three rabbits each vying for my attention.
I am having trouble locating good little devices to train them to jump over and through. I went to the petsotre today and tried to find a hoop for them to jump through but found nothing but the cat crinkle tunnel. Jemimah used to have one of those and really loved it so I did buy it for her, wondering whether I would just have to cede it up as toy, or could use as boh toy and training device.
I guess I am worried that I won't be able to train the rabbits to "follow their nose" with the target stick. I just should know that it takes some time, and probably a different amount of time for each rabbit.
