How to stop bunny’s bad habits

[sarahthegemini]

As you may know, Peanut has this annoying habit of digging at Buttercup. It’s not aggressive in any way but it does annoy my little Butter Bean so I’d like to try and stop him. He also digs at me sometimes when I’m sat down which I don’t mind  What can I do to stop him? So far I’ve tried just saying no in a fairly stern manner but I don’t think he knows what no means. Any tips?

[Wick & Fable]

Well, in psychology research on rabbits, an air puff to the face (causing them to blink) is used as the negative stimuli— It’s not harmful unless you blow a food chunk in their eyes, haha, so that’s one possibility. Another possibility is a spray bottle to the butt; just make sure you test the pressure of the spray on your hand or something first because some bottles pack a mighty punch.

Both were used on a day to teach Wick to stop pulling at his pen bars.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[sarahthegemini]

I’m not sure I like the idea of spraying water, especially as Peanut isn’t big on being touched too much. Obviously this means it’ll probably work really well but I don’t wanna scare him. I’ve done some research and found a trick I think might work – shaking a jar of pennies. I think this will be good as I can do it as soon as I see him doing it. Do you have any experience with that?

[Jessica]

I tried pennies in a jar with Amelia, it didn’t really work after the second time she cause she knew what it was. We have recently opted to go the spray bottle route to keep her off the buffet. We have sprayed her three times now and she hasn’t gone back up on the buffet in 4 days now.

Amelia acts out when she wants attention, she jumps on the dinning room table when she wants us to stop what we are doing and pay attention to her. We quit caring if she goes up there she quit jumping up there. She digs at me when she wants pets, I try to pet her as soon as she comes up on the couch or if she nose bumps me, if she digs she gets gently pushed off my lap and off the couch, now she only digs if she is being very impatient. Now she will also box my hand if I don’t let her kiss me before I pet her

[bri_kayyyyy]

Whenever my Henry ever does bad behavior I can usually put him in his home for ‘time out’ and after some time of learning he’s done an action it causes time out. But other cases I (gently) but sternly push his nose away for example nipping a bit too hard when playing. He usually backs up and realizes somethings up and doesn’t usually do it again then goes back to his playful self.
Check out my latest post? I really need answers regarding an important question!

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Jessica on 3/03/2017 6:24 PM

I tried pennies in a jar with Amelia, it didn’t really work after the second time she cause she knew what it was. We have recently opted to go the spray bottle route to keep her off the buffet. We have sprayed her three times now and she hasn’t gone back up on the buffet in 4 days now.

Amelia acts out when she wants attention, she jumps on the dinning room table when she wants us to stop what we are doing and pay attention to her. We quit caring if she goes up there she quit jumping up there. She digs at me when she wants pets, I try to pet her as soon as she comes up on the couch or if she nose bumps me, if she digs she gets gently pushed off my lap and off the couch, now she only digs if she is being very impatient. Now she will also box my hand if I don’t let her kiss me before I pet her

Amelia sure has a sassy personality! 

Hopefully I’ll have better luck with the jar trick. I’ll try it and see if it has any effect. I think I want to keep the spray water technique as an absolute last resort. 

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By bri_kayyyyy on 3/03/2017 7:47 PM

Whenever my Henry ever does bad behavior I can usually put him in his home for ‘time out’ and after some time of learning he’s done an action it causes time out. But other cases I (gently) but sternly push his nose away for example nipping a bit too hard when playing. He usually backs up and realizes somethings up and doesn’t usually do it again then goes back to his playful self.
Check out my latest post? I really need answers regarding an important question!

That would never work for me because Peanut will not tolerate being picked up, plus he doesn’t have a cage. My main issue with physically stopping him and saying no is that by the time I’ve got up to stop him, he’s already stopped lol and then just looks confused 

[Jessica]

Sarah, that was our plan too sadly we did have to use it but it seems to have gotten the point across.

Yes Amelia is made of 100% sass, but she is so sweet and cuddly it worth it

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