Tula takes on the target stick: Rabbits are smart and enjoy the mental stimulation of learning tricks © Emily Cassell
Rabbits are highly sensitive, smart, and sensible. They quickly thread environmental events together in a pattern and have a highly perceptive understanding of what is going on. Teaching them is not unlike teaching puppy class, where you watch the puppies catch onto the behavior more quickly than their humans realize they are learning something. Rabbits respond quickly to the environment, which makes them perfectly suited to learning patterns and chaining behaviors, which often means that the rabbit has learned the behavior before the trainer even realizes it.
Our team has rapidly grown, and the species that we are hosting has grown with it! Guinea pigs, goats, cats, and even sheep have shown up in our group, working on their trick titles. All of these “untrainable” animals are learning to do things like target, spin circles, and jump hoops. Their humans are building relationships that are trusting, loving, and fun.
(Issue 46, January 2021, pp.50-53). Read article