How to Teach a Bunny to Roll Over (or Circle Around)?

How to Teach a Bunny to Roll Over

Rabbits love to play and cuddle. They are very conscious about playing with their owners.

But to pet a rabbit they need to be educated. Rabbits are intelligent, social animals that can be trained easily.

Rabbits are trained by many tricks to make them act on your command. They eat, roll over and circle around only if you trained them well.

Training your rabbit to roll over simply takes the trick of how you teach your rabbit to turn around on your command.

How to Teach a Bunny to Roll Over?

Rabbits are very gentle pet animals.

They could be teaching with the easy tricks to play and fun around with you.

In this article, we have discussed a few tips to train the rabbit to roll over.

Make Your Rabbit Comfortable

Training a rabbit is not an easy task, if the rabbit is aggressive or stressed.

It should be noticed that the rabbit is in a relaxed mood and could be trained easily.

Rabbits mostly learn things when they are in a good mood and when treats are offered to them, to make their mood better.

So, it is better to make them comfortable at that place while when you take them to teach the tricks.

Place Rabbit On The Floor

You know that the rabbit does not feel good when they are in hand. So it is better to leave them.

Place your rabbit on the floor and make it stress-free. When the rabbit gets its mood better then start your training.

Let Rabbit Come In Sitting Position

When you place the rabbit on the floor then let the rabbit make a better pose where it feels comfortable and relaxed.

When the rabbit comes to its sitting up position, where it sits on its hind legs back then it means it is ready to be trained.

Pat Rabbit Slowly

When the rabbit sits in its position then pat the rabbit slowly on the head and back to make it relieve from stress.

Pat the rabbit softly and gently, to make them feel safe and relaxed.

Use Treat During Training

Training the rabbit is not an easy task. Thus, you have to be patient while training the rabbit.

You can use a combination of treats and gestures to train them. Thus these combinations could be used in starting the rabbit training.

Lead with the treat. Take the treat in your hand and do make the movement through your hand, as the rabbit will follow to have its treat.

Use a soft voice to call the rabbit, not by shouting. Calling the rabbit through its name makes the rabbit learn more quicker.

Calling their names to make them attentive that you are concerned with them and making them learn.

Your words should be gentle, and you can teach them by command+ prompts.

Use The Clicker

When the rabbit completes its trick, click the clicker to tell it that it has done well, and offer it some treats with lots of verbal praise.

Clicker will help you to make rabbits understand things better than the trick is done is satisfying or not.

When you click the clicker it makes the rabbit understand that treat is coming. Click at the right time, as the desired behavior depends on it.

So the animal will know as the click comes there will be a reward for them too. Then they try to do trick better as each click means a treat for them.

If the rabbit does not do it better, then you have to say no and start to teach it again.

Use Prompts To Teach

You can use different prompts, place the prompt at the bottom of the hierarchy.

You can also use a stick to teach the rabbit to twist around on its back.

These simple prompts can help you better to teach the rabbit in a better way than through verbal.

Repeat Their Training Frequently

Call your rabbit and give it some treat each time for the first few weeks so, that your rabbit may associate the command with the treat.

When the rabbit comes closer every time then start calling it from further away, so it could better act on your command.

Keep Providing A Treat To The Rabbit

Keep providing your rabbit with treats each time as they do the track to roll over, this will make them more conscious to do it better in order to get the treat.

By doing so, the rabbit also becomes happy and thrives to learn more other tricks.

Why Do Rabbits Do Flopping?

Flopping is good for rabbits. As some people think rabbits are nervous or stressed when they flop over on the side.

Rabbits usually roll over when they seem excited or when they are resting or when they are coming to their sitting up position then roll over on their sides.

Rabbits do roll over to lie down in a relaxed position. Usually, they show that they are happy and want to relax for some time after playing.

People think that the rabbit is getting seizures but seizure is much different from the flopping motion.

Thus, during flopping motion rabbits are very relaxed and calm, their eyes are likely closed and their legs do not move.

That is why it shows that the bunny is in the resting position and it is calm and relaxed and there is no need to worry about this condition.

Thus, flopping is the rabbit’s normal behavior that shows you that it is relaxed and does not want any disturbance.

Training Your Rabbit to Roll Over on Voice Command

Training the rabbit on voice command is not easy, you have to make a strong bond with your rabbit to listen to your voice.

You should name your rabbit so when you called it, it must know that you are addressing with him.

Take a treat in your hand and let your training begin.

Give a command to your rabbit to lie down on the floor, without touching it with your hand.

The rabbit will do the “rollover” trick by coming in the lying down position. As it rests on its stomach with its front legs forward and raised its head to do the rollover.

Through this position, the bunny will be easy to roll over on its side without hurting himself.

Thus, make the rabbit able to follow the steps only on your voice command and when it does this offers the bunny with the treat.

Move The Treat And Say Rabbit To “Rollover”

Take the treat in your hand and rotate it around on your bunny’s head so that your bunny nose moves around to have the treat.

Where the treat goes then the rabbit’s head and nose will also go in that direction.

When the rabbit leads its head and nose towards the treat along the path that will the rabbit to roll over as it follows it, the bunny will roll over.

Say “rollover” in a clear and calm voice while you move the treat around the side of the rabbit’s head.

Help Your Rabbit To Keep Practicing To “Rollover”

You can use the free hand to help the rabbit to roll over if it is not getting to roll over on its own then help it.

Keep practicing the trick repeatedly, as it could be tricky for the rabbit to make.

Keep practicing, reward the bunny with the treat as it makes move in the right direction. This will encourage the rabbit to roll over and keep doing its practice.

Keep in mind that the rabbit gets frustrated if you reward him with the treat until it completely rollovers.

Do not forget to praise your rabbit in a kind, humble and excited voice.

Rabbit responds positively to the encouraging voice “good boy or good girl”.

Move Your Rabbit To A Good Training Room

When you are training your rabbit, it is compulsory to move the bunny to a good training room.

It is better to choose a room that is comfortable and free of any distractions that could disturb the rabbit.

Chose a room that has plenty of floor space, a rabbit will move around to notice that the room is comfortable for him or not.

As your rabbit knows how to do the trick, then it will be able to do it outdoor also.

When you start training the rabbit then make sure other family members also know that, so no one distracts the rabbit’s attention during the training session.

Problem in Teaching Tricks to Rabbits

Sometimes, the rabbit’s behavior can be trouble in its training. Rabbits are very intelligent animals.

They respond eagerly to the incentives. But sometimes you also behave in a rude and loud voice that disturbs the bunny.

That the reason comes that the rabbit does not follow your instructions.

When you give rabbit strong punishment or shout or yell at him, make it non-responsive to command.

Food generally acts as a motivator for the rabbit, toys giving can also be a reward for the rabbit.

If you use incentives correctly, then rabbits will respond accordingly.

Generally, rabbits are prey animals, and they can easily get frightened even when you shout at them.

This usually causes them to run and they try to hide in the spaces.

If they show this behavior, it means you have to find a better way to make them comfortable in that environment if you want to train your rabbit.

If The Rabbit Is Stressed

If you shout at the rabbit or the provided environment is not safe or the rabbit does not feel comfortable in the surroundings or if it does not have a strong bond with you.

Rabbits can get scared and easily be stressed by their surrounding. If a rabbit is not feeling good, then it can be troublesome to train the rabbit.

If A Rabbit Is Aggressive

Sometimes, rabbits get aggressive if they are not given the proper environment or do not give them enough time to play or cuddle.

Aggressive rabbit is hard to handle and if proper attention is not provided to them, they can get angry.

Due to the aggressive nature of your rabbit, it becomes trouble for you to train them in a better way.

Always be careful and attentive when you trained your rabbit. The aggressive nature of the rabbit could cause trouble for you to train them well.

Understanding Your Rabbit’s Behavior and Act with Kindness

Understand your rabbit’s behavior – why is he getting upset or why is it not feeling good?

Sometimes your behavior with the rabbit comes between training the rabbit. Training is not as easy as it looks. You have to be polite and patient with your rabbit.

Always remember that kindness goes a long way with rabbits if you treat them well with kind words.

Rabbits are excellent companions and may respond positively to your kindness.

They will act positively on your voice and presence if you treat them well.

You must gain your rabbit’s respect in order to train your rabbit, then you will be successful if your rabbit feels comfortable and safe in your presence.

All rabbits do not love to be stroked, they love to spend some quality time with you.

Spend some quality time while petting your rabbit, so that it feels safe and comfortable with you.

Do not hold your rabbit by ears, as it makes rabbits aggressive. Be kind to your rabbit then they will feel comfortable and secure around you and will easily respond in the training.

Make a Plan to Train Your Rabbit

Start with the simple steps. Carefully make a plan and start teaching your rabbit what you want it to perform.

Start performing that task in small steps, so that the rabbit could know the trick easily through small steps.

You can give the rabbit treats as it completes every step of training.

As the rabbit is performing the task with regularity and confidence, do appreciate your rabbit by using appreciating words like a good boy or a good girl or calling by their names.

When you are training the rabbit, give the rabbit a treat immediately as it acts on your command.

When the rabbit does the roll overstep it returns to its sit-up position after you raise your hand from its head after appreciating.

Then give the reward to your rabbit within 3 -5 seconds of intervals as it may reinforce it to do other things that may reinforce its wrong behavior.

If you want to teach your rabbit to roll over, then start training it by having its positioned very close to you. So, you may teach it well.

When it rolls over, give it the reward. Be consistent with your bunny as it knows why it is getting the reward.

Use the exact commands like “sit” or “up” (your rabbit’s name), every time.

So your rabbit may recognize your spoken words and may relate it with its reward of getting the treat.

Also, add some praising words with the reward such as “good sit” or “good roll” etc.

One can use the clicker to associate the rabbit’s attention.

Thus, during training the rabbit, when you click the clicker, this device tells the rabbit that treats are coming.

Click at the right time as the desired behavior is happening by the rabbit. so the bunny will know that it did this to get the reward.

Give the rabbit treat every time you click the clicker after it rolls over within the few seconds of click so it could enjoy it better, even if you click it accidentally.

As this click means to treat, then the rabbit will try to earn more clicks in order to get its reward and will perform better than usual.

Final Words

In this topic, we have discussed many ways of how you can train the rabbit to “rollover”.

In this topic, the author has discussed the useful ways to train the rabbit to roll over on its side without getting itself hurt.

Here we discussed the training technique and multiple tricks to train the rabbit.

Rabbits love to flop when they are relaxed or happy. They do this for having the rest.

As you are teaching the rabbit to roll over, it must be considered that the rabbit does not have any issue with your teaching behavior.

As you shout or use unkind words, which can be disturbing for the rabbits to learn new things. Use treat while training the rabbit.

Always be humble and kind while training your rabbit, as they are prey animals and be easily get scared and do not learn much.

Always follow simple steps to train the rabbit, as they have good intellectual ability and know what you are doing to train them.

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