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General Rabbit Care & Training Tips
No Live Animals Were Injured While We Illustrated Our Tips <grin> The information is both serious and important, we just thought it might be fun to bring it to you with a bit of humor with the way we worded it and used the fun bunnies! More photos coming soon....
Training and practice are very important. Train your rabbits even in wet grass, it may rain before an event and other rabbits that have never been in wet grass before... this will give you an advantage in competition.
There will be all types of people that will be training their rabbits for Hopping and Agility. You may not have anything in common with them except rabbits... enjoy the rabbits together.
There are many breeds, sizes, colors and types of rabbits. Chose the rabbit breed you would like to have wisely. Read about the breed and ask around before buying.
A great source of information is your local 4H or Extensions Office. Stop in and ask for information.
Be kind to all other competitors. You never know, you may be making a life long friend or meeting your future spouse.
There are certain breeds that should not be used for Rabbit Agility or Rabbit Hopping. English Lops could injure their ears while trying to run the course. Angora Rabbits would probably pick up every stick, leaf and any trash between the start and the finish line. The Giant breeds can jump high and run fast, but the jolt to their joints are hard on their health. COULD THEY PARTICIPATE? Sure they could, but why not just get a breed that would not have problems from the start?
Stay Humble.... or your rabbit may just humble you.
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If you are buying a pet for your child, make sure that you get an appropriate right size. A small child and a giant rabbit is a bad combination.
Call the Veterinarian before the animal gets to the point of... well, the stuffing coming out!!
DO NOT let your dogs or cat train your rabbit. ie, Have your dog or cat chasing your rabbit.
Buy the right size cage for the breed of rabbit that you purchase. That means the rabbit at it's full grown size, not that cute little bunny that needs a cage when you first purchase it.
Rabbits will thrive on a small size piece of fruits and vegetables each day. Don't give your rabbit a full piece of fruit or vegetable.
Overweight rabbits are as unhealthy as overweight people. Feed your animals right.
Patience and practice is the ONLY way to train a rabbit how to manipulate the agility pieces. Practice, practice, practice!!! (and) Bring good treats  .
Do not pick up your rabbit by the harness.
Training is going to take some time. It's not like you can just hook on the harness, wind up your rabbit and it will run the corse on it's own at high speeds.
Make sure that your rabbit's harness fits properly. A proper fitting harness will look tight, but you will be able to place a finger between the harness and the rabbit. If the harness is too loose the rabbit will be too. If the harness is too tight the rabbit will not be able to move freely in it.
A rabbit is not a dog, a doll or a beanie baby. Do not let your child treat as such. Do not expect the rabbit to act as such.
Some days even when you have done everything right, all will go wrong. It might take a miracle for your rabbit to make that jump... and it seems that God will show mercy on you, reach down and carry your rabbit over the jumps.
You alone are responsible for training your animals. Any training you do with your animals is your responsibility. We only tell of what has worked for us with our animals. We can not and will not except responsibility for something so far out of our control, people we do not know, training, who knows how, with animals we have never seen.
[center]Marna Kazmaier - marna@rabbitagility.com
Please visit often as this site, as well as www.theagilerat.com and www.marnasmenagerie.com, are STILL UNDER construction. Thanks for your visit!
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In the high plains of South Dakota, USA