Chapter 11: Clicker Training
Judy slept peacefully until the sun woke her up with its bright light. Judy yawned and stretched as she woke up. Nick sat on the other side of the couch as Judy woke up.
"Good morning Carrots. Did you sleep well?" Nick asked kindly. Judy smiled at her friend.
"I slept well, thank you. ... Nick? Why is that bag of carrots in a blanket?" Judy asked nervously.
"Well, the doctor gave you laughing gas to help you when they trimmed your teeth. But, the laughing gas was a bit too strong so you acted all goofy yesterday. You even thought that bag of carrots was an actual baby," Nick told his friend. Judy's ears dropped and she covered her face with her paws.
"Oh my gosh!" Judy said, clearly embarrassed. Once she took her paws off her face, Nick put a paw on her shoulder.
"Judy, it wasn't your fault. You had no control over the laughing gas. Everyone makes mistakes," Nick kindly told Judy. Judy smiled and nodded knowing Nick was right.
"Want anything to eat or drink?" Nick asked. Judy told Nick what she wanted for Breakfast and he prepared the meal. After Breakfast, Nick cleaned the dishes and went to take a shower. As he showered, Nick remembered getting a book, something about Clicker Training. Nick knew Clicker Training was common for certain animals, like dogs for example. But a bunny? Could Nick train Judy as payback? Well, he would have to test that idea. After getting out of the shower, he let Judy shower and Nick went to read the book he had. Shockingly, the book had included a free, green clicker as well.
"Okay, let me see. Determine a behavior you want the animal to do, list steps to complete the training tasks, do steps bit by bit so animal gets used to them, do steps in continuing order with said animal making g more progress each time. In order to preform task, a cue must be given so animal knows what to do. Once animal recognizes cue, it will continue doing steps until the order of steps is complete and continue to improve. Positive reinforcement helps motivate animal to continue behavior it is being trained to do. As long as it gets the positive reinforcement, the animal will keep following the cue and steps knowing it will be reinforced afterwards. Do not show negative reinforcement unless animal misbehaves. No forms of punishments are needed for simple training tasks. And if animal does task with no cue, no reinforcement is given to the animal due to not being cued. The cue is the animal's clue to do the tasks for training. A simple training task is training dogs to sit, stay, speak, etc. Hmmm. Very interesting," Nick read while his friend got ready for the day.
Nick then thought of three different training ideas for Judy to do. Give a hug, handshake or other forms of greeting when she heard the word "adorable", jump in fear and hide when she heard the word "Boo", and jump on all fours whenever she heard the words "hop hop". It was going to be a lot of training, but Nick knew it was possible.
He brought the clicker with him into the living room, and put it in his pocket before looking for some options for lunch. Judy came out of the shower, and lied down on the couch. Nick noticed this and got a glass of water and some medicine Judy had to take.
"Okay Carrots, time to take your medicine. It will help with your sore mouth," Nick told his friend. Judy nodded and took the medicine before drinking the water. After Judy was done, Nick decided to try out his training methods.
"Hey Judy. Have you ever been told how adorable you are?" Nick asked kindly. Judy smiled, and gave Nick a hug.
Click! went the clicker as Nick hugged Judy back. So far so good.
"Carrot?" Nick asked handing Judy a bowl of the orange vegetable. Judy nodded and took a carrot before biting into it.
"Say Judy, want to watch a movie?" Nick asked politely. Judy agreed, and Nick put in a scary movie. For hours they watched the scary movie, while Judy hugged Nick for safety. Nick hugged back.
"It's okay. It's just a movie... it's just a movie!" Judy told herself, trying to calm down. However, her words of comfort weren't working as Judy continued to shake. Suddenly, a ghost appeared on the screen of the TV exclaiming "Boo!".
"Ahhhhhhhhh!" Judy screamed before jumping in the air, then hiding under her blanket.
Click! went the clicker again before Nick grabbed a carrot, lifted the blanket and offered it to the frightened bunny under the blanket.
"Carrot for my Carrots?" Nick asked before Judy accepted the carrot.
"Okay Judy. The ghost is gone. You can come out now," Nick told his friend before Judy crawled out of the blanket. Judy carefully crawled out of the blanket and went over to Nick and hugged him. Nick hugged back.
"It's okay Judy. It's just a movie," Nick said calmly as he hugged her. They kept watching the movie until the ghost appeared on the screen yelling "Boo!"
"Ahhhhhhhhh!" Judy screamed again, hugging Nick and covering them with the blanket.
Click! went the clicker before Nick offered Judy a carrot for the third time. Judy took the carrot and ate it.
The next several days were pretty normal too. Judy relaxed as Nick played board games with her, talked, and watched movies. Then one day, Nick thought of something.
"Say Carrots, I've never seen you hop on all four paws. Is it okay if I see you do it? I just wanted to see what it looks like," Nick suggested to his friend. Judy nodded. She was feeling well enough the hop. It had been about two correct so weeks since her surgery, so she figured she would be fine. Judy got off the couch and got on all fours, ready to hop.
"Okay Carrots. Hop hop!" Nick told Judy. His bunny friend obeyed, and hopped on all fours.
Click! went the clicker until Nick said Judy was good and gave her a carrot. Nick had Judy hop on all fours a few more times, clicking the clicker and giving her carrots each time she hopped.
"Hi Clawhauser. How are you?" Judy asked walking up to the front desk.
"I'm doing good. Hey, did you see that old book about animal training? It just got put into stores again," Clawhauser said before getting out his copy of the book. Judy looked at the book curiously.
"May I take a look?" Judy asked politely. Clawhauser let her have the book. First, she saw the clicker that came with the book. It was yellow. Judy pressed on the clicker and heard a familiar click sound. She then proceeded to read some of the book context. She only read for a good few minutes or so until she realized something. She gave the book back to Clawhauser and bid him a good day. Now she had to find Nick. It didn't take long until she found him sitting on a bench next to the main lobby area where police mammals entered the building.
"NICKOLAS WILDE! I can't believe it! You clicker trained me?!" Judy exclaimed as she walked over to him, clearly angry.
"What? Why would you think that? Besides, you look pretty adorable when you're mad Carrots," Nick replied in a fake surprised response. Judy was pretty mad at Nick, but couldn't resist the urge to at least give him a side hug. After the hug Judy stepped back.
Click! went the clicker as Nick pulled out a bag of carrots, and offered one to Judy. She shook her head.
"Don't even try Nick! I saw Clawhauser's book. You've been training me!" Judy exclaimed in frustration. Nick nervously chuckled before running off. Nick ran straight to the laundry room, hoping Judy wouldn't see him as he hid under a bed sheet.
"I know you're in here Nick. Come out!" Judy screamed still pretty mad.
"Boo!" Nick said as a ghost. Judy saw him and screamed before Nick threw the sheet on top of her. This only caused Judy to struggle under the sheet.
"Hop hop," Nick said calmly as Judy suddenly was on all fours hopping toward the lobby as Nick followed.
Nick: Yes, we're tied three for three! Who do you want to see win?