If you have never owned a rabbit before, you may be surprised to know that they are actually pretty smart little creatures and take well to training. If you are a new bunny owner, or would just like to teach your rabbit some skills, read this article to find out more on what you could get your rabbit to do.

Firstly, you need to convince your rabbit that your lap is a safe (and comfortable) place. To do this, you must not force them to sit with you. Instead, encourage your fur ball into your lap by offering treats and giving them lots of attention when they come close to you. Your rabbit will learn being with you is safe and pleasurable.

Your rabbit needs to chew but you shouldn’t let it chew on just anything. When you get your bunny out of its hutch, make sure they only chew on rabbit-safe items such as seagrass pet accessories. Praise to your rabbit when they chew on the correct thing as this will teach them which items are acceptable to chew and what should be avoided.

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It’s great to get your rabbit out of their hutch on a daily basis to engage them in supervised playtime. However, it’s understandable you may not want your bunny making a mess in the process.

To avoid this, consider litter box training. If your rabbit already has a preferred potty location, set up a litter box in that spot and the rabbit will start to use it. Remember, do not use cat litter to fill the box. Instead, find a non-toxic rabbit litter for your bunny’s box.

If your rabbit goes to the bathroom in an undesirable area of your home, or a location where you do not want a litter box, bathroom training can get slightly more complicated.

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You may want to try moving the litter box a couple of inches every day to gradually encourage your bunny to move their bathroom to your preferred location.

Alternatively, place the box where you want it and block rabbit access to the area they currently use. Put a small piece of soiled litter in the box so the rabbit knows where to go once the old area becomes inaccessible. You can clean the tray once your rabbit regularly starts to use the box in the new location.

To teach your bunny a few fun tricks, you should invest in some indoor accessories such as a target stick and some small obstacles.

Before you throw your bunny into the deep end with an almighty rabbit obstacle course, start with target training. Teach your rabbit to touch the target stick with their nose by holding the stick in front of them and rewarding them when their nose comes into contact with the ball.

Rewards will encourage your rabbit to follow the stick. Once you have this down, you can use the stick to teach your bunny other tricks such as jumping on demand, turning in circles, manoeuvring an obstacle course and so much more.

Training your rabbit can be lots of fun for both you and the bunny. It will also help to strengthen your bond with your pet, so get started today!

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