In honor of Rabbit Week (July 15-21), I thought it was time to tell a story of a rabbit, a girl, and a science fair.
The girl was me — little Aimee. The rabbit was our family pet, Bun-bun. Bun-bun was an outside rabbit, thanks to some pretty severe animal dander allergies rearing their ugly heads in my brother and me. He had a spiffy bunny condo, made from combining two hutches into one gigantic MegaHutch with a large play space and an enclosed room at each end. One for sleeping and one for potty.
Little Aimee had yet another science fair coming up, and wanted to do something different. She’d won a first place ribbon with a water displacement project the year before, but water displacement is kind of boring. She had this fun, clever little pet and she’d read about a guy named Pavlov — who taught his dog that the sound of a bell meant food was coming. Eventually, just the sound of the bell made the dog salivate in anticipation.
Little Aimee decided she was going to repeat the experiment on her bunny. Pavlov’s Bunny!
Every morning, when she delivered fresh water, pellets, and vegetables, she rang a bell. At first, Bun-bun wanted no part of science. He heard the bell and took off running, hiding in his bedroom until the girl and the ringing thing were long gone. But over time, the little black and white bunny started to make the association that the sound of the bell meant fresh food was on the way. Pavlov was right! Science was smarter than bunny!
Yes, I actually trained my rabbit to respond to the sound of a bell. Bun-bun did other tricks, like he would cutely stand on his hind legs for a bit of carrot — and he loved to cuddle up close and chew on my hair if I stuck my head and shoulders into the cage.
I didn’t win any ribbons in the science fair that year, but I did do an experiment I enjoyed.