There are many different ways a bunny can jump. She can jump over a pole, through a hoop, onto a platform, or into a basket. This trick teaches your bunny to jump over a pole, but with some creative baby steps, jumping can easily be generalized to jumping in other situations.
Ferrets + Fish + Guinea Pigs + Rabbits + Rats + Small Pets
What Do Dolphins Do for Christmas?
By Karen Pryor on 12/01/2004Christmas in Hawaii is always a little different. Santa might wear flip-flops instead of boots, a red pareu (sarong) around his opu (stomach), a red hat, a red lei—and nothing else. At Hawaii's Sea Life Park, where I was head trainer for a decade in the '60s, we put on dolphin shows many times a day, and sometimes had big crowds of school children. Naturally, we thought of Christmas-type events: dolphins pulling Santa's sleigh—with gift-wrapped buckets of fish and a Hawaiian poi dog riding on top of the sleigh—that kind of thing.
Fish Enrichment
By Karen Pryor on 12/01/2004We don't often worry about the mental state of a fish, but fishes enjoy stimulation and something to do, just as much as land animals. Aquarists know that the environment is important for keeping fish in good health or bringing them into breeding condition. That doesn't just mean places to hide and clean water to swim in; it can also mean a variety of foods including live food to chase, the right tank mates, the right plants, and, yes, an opportunity to learn.
Clicker Trained Bunnies Gain Confidence
By Karen Pryor on 11/01/2004Animal shelters are taking in more and more "house bunnies" these days, and looking for homes for them. Bunnies make great house pets; they quickly learn to use a litter box, they're clean, they are active in the evening when you get home from work, and they can be very amusing. The bunnies in shelters have usually been spayed or neutered as well, so you can have more than one without worries.
Clicker Trained Rats Make Headlines
By Gale Pryor on 05/01/2004On May 18, readers of the New York Times were treated to a front-page story on mine-sniffing Gambian giant pouched rats. The reporter, Michael Wines, traveled to Mozambique to discover the latest breakthrough in mine detection technology: a squad of rats, outfitted in tiny harnesses and hitched to 10-yard clotheslines. When the rats catch the scent of TNT, the give-away for a buried landmine, they deliberately scratch the earth.
