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Trick Bunnies Emily Cassell explains that she became a certified trick dog trainer so she could apply the same principles to bunny training, thereby creating a fun way for rabbits and their guardians to interact, build trust and increase their mutual bond. Enter the Bunny Spark Coach...
© Emily Cassell
Tula takes on the agility course: Rabbits have the ability to quickly thread environmental events together in a pattern and have a highly perceptive understanding of what is going on
So, where do you plan to hold your trick classes?” asked the in terviewer from Do More with Your Dog! I hoped she was ready for the answer: “I don’t actually plan to hold inperson classes,” I explained. “The reason I am trying to get certified is so that I can cre ate a Spark group for bunnies.” If you aren’t familiar with Do More with Your Dog! or their trick ti tling program, let me fill in some gaps for you. Do More with Your Dog! was the first sanctioning body for dog tricks. They offer five tiers of ti tling for dogs, in the spirit of providing an avenue for those individuals who simply can’t enjoy the public sports ring: the dogreactive, the fear ful, the ones afraid of getting in a car, the ones with clinical behavior dis orders, the ones whose parents simply can’t afford (or aren’t old enough) to do the “dog sports thing.” The goal is, as the name of the or
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ganization implies, to encourage people to do more with their dogs! I had discovered the fun in trick titling with my dog, Maddie, who was the first Labrador retriever to earn the Championlevel title. She lit erally lost her mind every time I began to rifle through trick props and set up for a training session. Back then, I worked late hours, and this girl would stare at me to begin a training session at 2 a.m. Tricks are addic tive.
Building Trust Enter Hemingway, my first rabbit. Abused, neglected, and just a medical disaster of a creature, he looked and behaved like the survivor of a house fire. After spending countless hours, days, weeks, and months earning his trust, I didn’t believe I would ever actually teach him any
Enter Hemingway, my first rabbit. Abused, neglected, and just a medical disaster of a creature, he looked and behaved like the survivor of a house fire. After spending countless hours, days, weeks, and months earning his trust, I didn’t believe I would ever actually teach him anything. It was a few years later that I realized he had learned more than enough behaviors to qualify for a Novice Trick Dog title. So, I submitted. Later, Hemingway became the first bunny to earn an Intermediate title.
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BARKS from the Guild/January 2021
