My rex girl used to nip me all the time, but she adores my partner and never has him. After her spay, she stopped doing it so much. But, she still runs up and gives me the occasional nip if I am cleaning her litterbox or touching her stuff. I taught her not to do it hard though by every time she would nip me, I would say “no” and push her gently away from me, holding her away so she couldn’t nip again. I kept treats on me, so when she came up to me nicely, I would give her a tiny treat, if she came up to nip me, she’d get told no and pushed away.

Yours is still pretty young, so I imagine you haven’t introduced fresh to her yet. In which case, treat bribing won’t work yet. Tell your wife instead of an EEEEEK make a high pitched squeal, like a rabbit being hurt. Turning her back is good. It’s normal for bunnies to nip each other, it’s part of communication and your baby probably just hasn’t learned how to communicate with humans yet.

Also, remember bunnies are very sensitive to smells and such. So, if your wife wears perfume, hand lotion, nail polish etc she could try leaving it off one day and seeing if maybe the bun just isn’t a fan of her personal product smells (also, if your wife pets a cat or dog at a friends or something, she’ll smell of predator). If I smell off to my girl, she’ll thump and run away from me.

And, for initial bonding, it’s good to let the rabbit make the first moves. She can try laying in the floor and ignore the bunny, see if she still attacks. Best to wear thicker clothing when doing this in case of nipping.

Bunnies, particularly in-tact hormonal teenage bunnies, like to pee on soft things that smell like their humans (bed, sofa, etc). Sounds like your bunny is claiming the sofa and your wife tried to keep her from doing so. I would try to block her access to the sofa until she is spayed and her hormones calm down.

Don’t you just love a bun with a little attitude?! My Marlee is a little diva thumper too!