Rabbit Dressage

Have you heard of rabbit dressage, aka rabbit show jumping?  Neither had we until about a year ago.  We were looking up something regarding bunny care and came upon an adorable video of jumping bunnies.  Trevor became obsessed with the idea of training Trouble to jump like that.  

For Trouble's birthday in October, we gave him a harness so that we could begin training. Let's just say that Trouble was not interested in wearing a harness and foot-flicked us repeatedly (the rabbit version of swearing) to show his displeasure.  Trevor was not deterred. Ever since, he's been asking Steve when they could build a bunny jump to start Trouble's training.  Finally, they built the jump.  Here's Trevor sanding the last part:  

And here he is after spending all morning building.

Trevor was DYING to try out the bunny jump, but the glue really needed to dry overnight.  He was having such a hard time waiting that we brought the jump indoors just before bedtime, clamps still on, and showed it to Trouble.  He was immediately curious and sniffed the whole thing, but didn't jump over it.  That changed when I got out a piece of broccoli (his favorite treat).

Within two days, we had Trouble successfully jumping over 3 bars.... when he wanted to, that is. I don't know if it's true of all rabbits, but Trouble is more like a cat than a dog when it comes to wanting to please us. Unlike a dog who will happily do whatever you ask him to do, Trouble knows what we're asking him to do, but chooses whether or not he feels like doing it at that moment. Sometimes he comes when we call him, but sometimes he just looks at us and chooses not to come, just like a cat. The same is true with the jumping. Still, we'll persevere.