I was wondering what resources you can recommend for training a rabbit. I know in the book "Eric Sharp's Specialised children's Entertainment" there is a routine where the rabbit knocks a wand off a top hat repeatedly. I cannot find this book available anywhere. So do any of you know where I can learn to train a rabbit to do similar (or the same) routines? Thanks.

-Paul

Hey Paul,
When I was doing a lot of kid shows and had 5 rabbits, I accidently discovered that whatever you push in front of their nose they will usually pick up. So I thought I wonder if they will pick up a playing card. I had one of my kids pick a card, controlled it to the top of the deck and when I put the deck down on the floor and moved all of the cards around making a big mess of a pile of cards, controlled the selected card and pushed it righ under the rabbit's nose, she picked it right up. It turned out to be one of the highlights of my kid shows. Had the kid sign in in crayon or big magic colored marker and when the rabbit picked up the card, had my assistant shoot a picture and let the birthday boy or girl retrieve the card in exchange for giving the rabbit a carrot. The kid got a great picture plus their signed card back, got me a bunch of extra bookings.
Bill

Thanks for the info Bill.

How did you train the rabbit to do that?

Most rabbits, especially dwarf bunnies should pick up most things that are pushed directly right in front of them, at least the 5 I had always did. The larger motion of pushing the mess of cards around on the table or better the floor, covered the motion of controlling the selected card under my thumb..hope that helps..
Bill

So somebody has to have some resources on how to train rabbits and doves. You workers with animals, how did you learn how to train them? From a book, dvd? Which ones?

Most of the tricks that I was able to teach my animals was discovered by just watching the animal do stuff naturally and then thinking, wow I wonder if I could get him or her to do this trick. I've got 2 Macaws currently that will pick the selected card from a shuffled deck every time without using marked cards or putting anything on the card that leaves a scent or smell...they never miss.
Bill

There is a thread here with a "How to Train Your Rabbit" book, which I never got. I would just reiterate that some rabbits will "pick" a card in their mouth (although my Dutch usually bites through the card). As someone (Tricky Ricky?) recommended on another post, take a deck of cards to the breeder and get a rabbit that will pick cards. Not all of them will, and it may be instinctive rather than "trained." The breeder did tell me that if you want kids to handle it a lot, you need to give the rabbit time in your hands. There is also a cute trick breeders can do to make the rabbit look like it's praying or playing dead with paws out. Other than that, I don't know how well rabbits can really be "trained." Good luck.

By the way, even if they can't be trained that much (although mine hops freely through the house and only poops in her cage), they are still well worth using in magic shows, especially for families and/or kids. There is no substitute, despite what all the "sleight" guys say about how we need boxes and gimmicks and are hiding a lack of talent behind a cute furry animal. It may be true in my case (it's okay; I can take it), but I would wager that kids will take a well-executed rabbit appearance over the most amazing card flourishes any day. When kids laugh and gasp, how you accomplished this is merely a detail.

Paul, there are many excellentent videos on training doves. Greg Frewin's course is great, but it is expensive. Tony Clark covers training also. Dan Sperry has one, not to mention others. I have many more videos on doves, but I cannot remember all the content right off hand, so I'm not sure how involved the others are on training doves.

Paul: I have a book titled "Training Rabbits for Fun and Profit - Training Performing Bunnies and House Pets" written by Dave and Helen Emery. It's a staple bound book with card stock cover, copyrighted by Magicland Publications in 1990. The address listed after the copyright information is PO BOX 4914 Orchards, Washington 98662.

The book is 27 pages long and is written by a performer who shares his personal experience in training rabbits over his years of performing. I found it listed on eBay one day a few years back for (as I recall) around $10. There's obviously not too many books on the subject and I thought it was a good buy...which it turned out to be. Perhaps placing a "Want to Buy" listing in the Books & Lecture Notes for Sale & Trade section of the Café might be a good place to start. I did a google search and came up empty on both Magicland Publications and the book title. But the book IS out there and I wish you best of luck in finding a copy!

MagicAL

Thanks for the suggestions.

Try "clicker training".

How do you use a clicker to train a rabbit?

Try a seach on Google, I think this was on a talk show years ago. Using a clicker to train a rabbit, holloween is here so you can stock up on clickers.

Clicker training is like a signal to the rabbit! 1 click means one thing 2 clicks means something else etc you use the clicker training to suit your needs! http://www.binkybunny.com/catalog/gettin......bbit.htm

hope this helps!