High Expectations

I have three rabbits, soon to be four; and my fiance has 12 cats. We live together in a mountainside paradise, in a farmhouse built in 1844 on South Mountain in Western Maryland.  A month or so ago, I saw videos on YouTube of Rabbit Jumping and was immediately enamored of training my rabbits to perform such stunts.  I started to train them with a little jump that my fiance made for me, and even posted my results as "Rabbits in Harness II -- High Jump on YouTube,  which can be seen at 

 

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=MyRabbits

 

Then today on YouTube I saw a video of "clicker-trained rabbits" doing an obstacle course. I was, of course, immediately both charmed and curious.  I researched this matter on the web, and ended up buying the downloadable eBook for training rabbits, three clickers (to be delivered by UPS) and a PET (also to be delivered by UPS). Needless to say, I am eager for these items to arrive so that I can commence with clicker training.

 

I believe that the "girls"  -- my rabbits Dorcas, Jemimah and Maddie -- will take to it readily. They already beg for treats every morning by standing on their hind legs to earn the treats.  I figure that's a perfect place to introduce the clicker.  But I also realize that I need to think about a training space -- should it be the bathroom or should it be their very own Rabbit Room (because my fiance has 12 cats, the rabbits are confined to the other bedroom -- the Rabbit Room, except when we take them out to graze in their pen in the front yard).  

 

So I admit, I have high expectations. I see the clicker training as that which will enable me to do high jumping with all my rabbits.  I probably shouldn't place these expectations on them. Though they already go over a small jump for me, Dorcas and Jemimah are five years old and Maddie is two years old.  But maybe even with the clicker, old rabbits can learn even newer tricks.  

 

ANd I would like to be able to train the cats, too, just because I think it enhances the owner-pet relationship. I am just not sure what I would want to train the cats to do.  Several of them do not consistently use the litter pan, and it's hard to identify the culprit with this many cats so I don't think the clicker will have any effect on that, but if anyone knows any tricks for that, I'd certainly like to hear.