Training Baby Bunnies
Our two litters of Jersey Woolies just turned five weeks old. Cute as button, extremely friendly, and oh-so-fluffy, the bunnies are growing like weeds. Winnie, one of the babies from Lottie's litter, is pictured below.
Since these baby bunnies are destined to be show rabbits, I decided it was high time to start training them to pose. There are only four bunnies total, so I picked them all up, and carried them over to the picnic table. Winchester (Winnie), Remington (Remi), Morning Glory, and Emeth (formerly Echo), all sat obediently and stared at me.
So, in order to pose a Wooly, they have to be up on their toes, but not too far. The front feet should be lined up with the eyes, and the fronts of the back feet should be lined up with the front of the hips. This position is actually natural for them, but they never want to do it on command.
Anyway, I place Winnie on the table, and start to gently push up on her head. She poses perfectly several times, before coming over to lick my face. I decided to move on to Morning Glory.
Glory was not so easy. She bounced around in circles, jumped over my hands, and would not pose. After one okay pose, I let her run off with the other bunnies, who were nibbling obsessively on a tiny leaf. I picked Remi up.
Remi proved to be stubborn, but he did catch on quickly-after I perfected my hand position so that he could keep watch on the other bunnies.
Emeth was the last bunny, and probably the hardest to train. All he wanted to do was cuddle. I tried to scold him, but its really hard to scold a baby bunny, especially one that wants to cuddle that badly. Once I did get him to stop cuddling, he became obsessed with a random stick, which he really wanted to eat! I removed the stick, and continued with the training. Every time I tried to get him on his toes, Emeth would jump right over my hands. I was close to giving up, when he suddenly performed the ideal pose, for a total of five seconds, before he bounced off to play with the other babies.
I returned the babies to their cages, where they promptly climbed on top of their poor mothers, and fell fast asleep.
Since these baby bunnies are destined to be show rabbits, I decided it was high time to start training them to pose. There are only four bunnies total, so I picked them all up, and carried them over to the picnic table. Winchester (Winnie), Remington (Remi), Morning Glory, and Emeth (formerly Echo), all sat obediently and stared at me.
So, in order to pose a Wooly, they have to be up on their toes, but not too far. The front feet should be lined up with the eyes, and the fronts of the back feet should be lined up with the front of the hips. This position is actually natural for them, but they never want to do it on command.
Anyway, I place Winnie on the table, and start to gently push up on her head. She poses perfectly several times, before coming over to lick my face. I decided to move on to Morning Glory.
Glory was not so easy. She bounced around in circles, jumped over my hands, and would not pose. After one okay pose, I let her run off with the other bunnies, who were nibbling obsessively on a tiny leaf. I picked Remi up.
Remi proved to be stubborn, but he did catch on quickly-after I perfected my hand position so that he could keep watch on the other bunnies.
Emeth was the last bunny, and probably the hardest to train. All he wanted to do was cuddle. I tried to scold him, but its really hard to scold a baby bunny, especially one that wants to cuddle that badly. Once I did get him to stop cuddling, he became obsessed with a random stick, which he really wanted to eat! I removed the stick, and continued with the training. Every time I tried to get him on his toes, Emeth would jump right over my hands. I was close to giving up, when he suddenly performed the ideal pose, for a total of five seconds, before he bounced off to play with the other babies.
I returned the babies to their cages, where they promptly climbed on top of their poor mothers, and fell fast asleep.
~Just a Girl on the Homestead
