I know that some buns just don’t seem to have the urge, but mine definitely *does*. He is free-range all the time, but currently I have to block his access to the bedroom because he immediately wants to pee on the bed. He was the same with the sofa, although I now don’t *have* a sofa so he’s usually fine everywhere except the bedroom. Except that last night I slept on cushions on the living room floor because I have a friend visiting, and twice in the space of a few hours this morning he peed on the cushions where I slept.

I wish I could understand exactly *why* he feels the need to pee these places?! I know it’s presumably something about territory and scent marking (note: he is neutered as of a month or so ago, but he’s been consistently prone to bed/sofa-peeing since I got him aged ~9 weeks), but.. what and why? Is he peeing there because he thinks I’m threatening his territory? Or is he trying to contest me for *my* territory? Does he think he’s just marking it as a place we share? And whichever of those may be the case, how can I help him feel secure in our joint ownership of the space to the point that he doesn’t feel the need to mark it this way?

I can’t figure out what the common factor is at all, it’s so frustrating! I thought it might be things raised above the floor, but that’s ruled out by peeing on floor-cushions (and by not peeing on dining chairs which he can jump up on). It’s not just about people sleeping there, because no-one ever slept on the sofa. It’s not just about people spending *time* there, because no-one even sat on the sofa (and I sit on the floor cushions all the time!). It’s not about soft fabrics because the sofa was leather and his bed-peeing was undeterred by covering it with a shower curtain (plus the living room floor is carpet, and there are cushions and blankets around that he doesn’t feel the need to pee on). I know that no-one really *knows* the answers but.. does anyone have any theories or evidence, or any information that might help me figure out the reasoning? It is definitely not a lack of general litter box ability, because he is 99.9% consistent with that outside of these very specific exceptions.

Aside from all that, if I can’t ever know exactly why he does this, I want to know if anyone has ever successfully taught a bed/sofa-peeing rabbit to *stop* doing it? And if so, HOW? I can’t really use any solution that involves preventing him accessing the bed completely (other than just blocking him from the room as I do now, which is really not ideal) – I’m not going to put gates around my bed, and because he’s free range full-time I can’t be constantly on-guard to teach him that it’s forbidden territory. (In fact I initially *did* try to do that, and for a while he seemed to understand he wasn’t allowed to get on the bed at all. But then I went away for about 48 hours and he realised he could get on the bed, peed all over it, and wouldn’t re-learn the fact that it was forbidden after I got back). I really just want a solution that will let him spend time on the bed and cushions without peeing there.

Sorry this is so long and rambling, I’m just frustrated! I love him so much and he is incredibly well-behaved, he’s otherwise perfect at using his litter box, friendly, chilled out, and I’ve got free-range rabbit proofing down to an art. It’s just this one issue that causes so much stress, and I wish I could find a solution!