Rabbits make wonderful pets as they are cute and entertaining, and sometimes even cuddly. A well-trained rabbit that trusts you makes a wonderful companion, whether you keep it indoors or outdoors. But does your rabbit understand you when you are petting it and telling it how it is the cutest bunny in the world?
Rabbits cannot understand words, but they can associate words with cues. You can train a rabbit to understand words through consistent training. By using various cues and rewarding your rabbit when they respond positively to these cues, you will be able to communicate with your rabbit verbally.
Yes, verbal communication will be one-sided, but your pet rabbit will soon realize that they usually get a treat of sorts when you talk. They will be more inclined to allow you to cuddle them and listen to what you have to say, and maybe even reciprocate with a little nuzzle, binky, or bunny kiss.
Contents
How Many Words Can A Rabbit Understand?
Some rabbit owners claim their rabbits know over ninety words. No doubt a lot of time, treats, and patience went into training a bunny to have such a high vocabulary. Rabbits are intelligent, and you might feel they understand you when they look into your eyes. The truth is, rabbits don’t particularly care what humans have to say, but they do like yummy rewards associated with words.
You needn’t teach your rabbit ninety words (unless you want to), and you also don’t have to worry about your rabbit eavesdropping on your conversation. At the very least, your rabbit should know their name and “no”, but you can expand on that depending on how much time you can invest into training.
What Words Should A Rabbit Understand?
As mentioned, a rabbit should know their name and the word “no”. A rabbit trained to know its name is more likely to come to you when you call it. Rabbits should also learn the word “no” because they enjoy gnawing on things they shouldn’t gnaw on, e.g., electronic cables and sofas.
Apart from knowing those two important words, other useful words to teach your rabbit include the following:
- “Stop it”. You can teach this in place of “no”, or you can teach both commands.
- “Bed” or “bedtime” are useful commands when you’re training them to go to bed with minimal fuss (if they feel like it).
- “Come here” can be used in conjunction with their name, and they might understand it independently of their name.
- “Go in” is a useful command when you want your rabbit to go into its cage.
- “Snack time!” You can use a general term like “Snack Time”, or you can teach your rabbit the individual snack names, for example, “carrot”, “raisins”, “toast”, or “banana”.
- “Breakfast time” can be called when you feed your rabbit in the morning.
- “Dinner time” can be called when you feed your rabbit at night.
How Can I Teach My Rabbit To Understand Words?
When training your rabbit to understand human words, you must be consistent in how you train; this means being consistent with rewards for good behavior and consequences of bad behavior. It is through your persistence that they will learn to associate words with cues; you might end up having a rabbit with a high vocabulary.
Teaching a command with a cue is called ‘conditioning’, a term made famous by Pavlov. However, instead of a dog as Pavlov trained, we’re working with cute and clever little bunnies that can be rather stubborn and have selective hearing. To teach your rabbit a word, you will need treats, a cue to associate with the word (some people use clickers instead), patience, and a good sense of humor.
Cues can be verbal (i.e., words) or non-verbal. Rabbits can learn from non-verbal visual cues like gestures, and they can pick up on invisible cues like the tone of your voice or your emotions. WikiHow offers tips on how to train a rabbit and to teach it to come to you when called. Read on to discover the basic steps of training your rabbit to understand words.
1. Find Out What Motivates Your Rabbit
Rabbits are motivated by food, so find out what makes them happy, and keep it for training. If you try to treat them with their normal food, they would rather eat it straight from their food bowl. When you use snacks they like, they will be more inclined to associate your cue with the word you are trying to teach them.
Treats should preferably be fruit, vegetables, or greens that are given in moderation. Too many treats can upset the stomach and result in diarrhea. Some treat suggestions include kale, sliced carrot, and blueberries. You can find out what foods they like best by placing small amounts around their feeding station. If they gobble it down, it’s a treat. If they leave it, it’s not a treat.
You may find your rabbit is skittish and unwilling to come out when you are around – even with yummy food. A rabbit’s instincts remind it that it is prey; a rabbit that does not feel safe is unlikely to do anything but hide away and be alert. You might have to train your rabbit to trust you before you can attempt to teach it to respond to words.
2. Be Prepared To Give A Lot Of Time To Training Your Rabbit
Once you have established your rabbit’s trust, you can begin with training. Two or three daily sessions of between five to ten minutes are recommended to keep your rabbit interested in learning. The more consistent you are with reinforcing the desired behavior, the more chance your rabbit will have of associating the word with the cue and treat.
3. Position Your Rabbit For Training
As the trainer, you must prepare the learning area and set your rabbit up for success. The place you choose should be in accordance with what you want to teach your rabbit to understand. For example, should you want to teach your rabbit to go to bed when you say the word “bed”, you and the bunny need to be positioned near the rabbit’s sleeping place during training.
If you are training your rabbit to know its name, you can watch this video to see how this trainer taught her bunny, Ellie, the Elusive, to come when called. The trainer found that Ellie did not respond well to clicker training but responded better to verbal cues, so she removed the clicker as a cue in her training.
4. Start Training With A Plan In Place
When teaching your rabbit to associate a sequence of events with a command, it is best to break up the sequence into small steps. For example, if you want your rabbit to hop off to bed when you say “bedtime”, it will take lots of rewarding for each step in the right direction. You can slowly lessen the treats as your rabbit starts to master the sequence.
When your rabbit responds correctly to the word you have taught it, offer rewards and praise in a happy tone, and stroke your rabbit if it likes to be petted.
How Long Does It Take To Teach A Rabbit To Understand Words?
A rabbit can take a few months of frequent and consistent training to learn a word. According to Vet Street, rabbits are very smart and can be easy to train, as long as you have the right incentive for them. As mentioned earlier, rabbits can be quite stubborn and so will do things if they feel like it, so best find out what makes them binky with happiness and start training.
Conclusion
Rabbits are not born with the ability to understand words but are smart enough to be trained to respond to words. You can teach your rabbit to make a connection between a word and an action by rewarding and praising your rabbit when it does what you are training it to do. Teaching a rabbit words takes time, patience, trust, and consistency, along with an important incentive such as treats.
