I try to remember how long it took the girls to establish their routine of begging for treats on their hind legs first thing in the morning. I suppose it came into being over months (if not over years!) After just a couple of days they do the target-stick to nose trick pretty reliably, but I haven't tried to combine it with anything, like jumping over a stick or a jump, or jumping onto the cathhouse, or passing through the cat crinkly tunnel I got for them. Still, I don't feel like the behavior really is so solid that they can handle much distraction, like aditional training tasks. Yet I am eager to move on. Because I did have them jumping sometimes over hurdles, I feel in some ways as if we ae taken two steps backward in order to have more solid grounding for proceeding forward again.
And it's not just that I am impatient with actual performance; I am impatient in my goal of teaching them to perform for tricks other than those decadent Vitakraft yoghurt berry and carrot drops. I sprinkled the healthy toppings onto their dinner last night, and I did succeed in giving dried banana away to Maddie as a treat It's just that I know they really want the Vitakraft treats and I am afraid of breaking their trust by not giving them that. And breaking trust is the key. We aren'tgoing to get anywhere in training until they trust me. So I have to be more gradual and sublte in switching out treats. Maybe I should hold a combination of treats in my hand and use which one seems most appropriate at a given time.
It's hard to imagine that this is really going to build to the point that I can get my rabbits to run a short obstacle or high jump course, but I need to work in that direction. I also need to think about what I want to put in my obstacle/jump course. I really wnat to make two more jumps like what Scott and I have already made and then maybe a long-jump style jump, and the kitty crinkly tunnel. That should be enough to keep them busy. Still, it would be nice to have a starting and ending ramp, like the one in the YouTube video. We sould need to put carpet on some wood for that, but we do have plenty of carpet for animal uses.
Today it grows really warm and I don't knwo whether we will get a legitimate chance to train. I am hoping that ini the afternoon thunderstorms will clear everything out, but righ tnow, the sky is very clear. The rabbits will remain sluggish and unenthusiastic in this kind of heat.
