My CornDog was supper naughty all the time and this is how I have corrected her after nothing else seemed to work. I spent the weekend working with her and continued daily until she finally gave in. I let her out of the kennel and sat on the floor and watched her like a hawk. When she did something naughty like eat /dig the carpet, I would say NO loudly and clap my hands, then I would direct her to go back to her kennel for a time out for 10-15 min. I would not pick her up, but nudge her to jump in the kennel on her own. I then would let her back out and within minutes she would be back to her naughtiness. So I would repeat the steps I said prior and in the kennel she would go. This went on all weekend – it was a ton of work but each time she was let out she would go longer and longer before she would go back to being naughty (digging/eating carpet). By the end of the weekend she would go about an hour before she would start to be naughty. And after about a week of making sure anytime she would miss behave out of her kennel I would follow those steps listed above and she started to get the message. Now she can be out for hours at a time, someday she tries to be naughty but as soon as she sees me or hears me say NO and clap my hands – she immediately runs to her kennel on her own. I don’t often lock her in for a timeout any more as she knows and redirects her naughtiness or proper bunny behavior to her own toys. Also it is kinda cute because when she goes in her kennel on her own because she was naughty she gets mad at me and kicks her feet out as she hops back in and then pouts in the corner for a bit but then realizes the kennel is still open and comes back out and request me to pet her.
I should say that the reason I do not pick her up and place her in the kennel is because I feel that is her safe zone to be a BUNNY in any which way she would like. I also want that to be her territory so I keep my hands out except for cleaning and feeding her – I do still pet her when she is in the kennel but only on her command. I hope that makes sense.
Also, I have found that she really likes to chew and dig at a corrugated cat scratcher. But only certain kinds – it has to be something she can sit inside of, not just the flat ones that lie on the floor. And I have found that if her nails are trimmed she is less likely to want to dig at the carpet.
I hope this helps… I know how frustrating it can be and it seems each bunny is so different on what works for them. This is the only bunny I have ever owned so everything is new to me and might not be how others think it should be done as far as training, but I tried everything before this and nothing worked. Also, my bunny is now spayed which has helped tremendously as prior she was getting so out of control even this only worked for a few days before she would start all over again. Now that she is spayed she seems to be maintaining what is ok to do when out of her kennel and what is not, much better.