Agressive couch peeing

[JojoBunny]

Hi, we have a 4-5 yr old male dutch bunny and he is obsessed with peeing on the sofa. He is potty trained and doesn’t pee or poop outside his litter (we find 3 – 5 pellets at his favorite spot sometimes lol). He was already neutered when we adopted him and he’s been with us for 2 years. He’s a really chill bunny and when we’re on the couch and will flop. but the moment we step away he will jump on the couch and pee on it right away. We have tried using cushions to block him, but he would just pee on top of it. We tried using plastic liners and he would gnaw and scratch it till he could pee on it. Our only solution was to buy a large doggy playpen and surround couch with it. The only issue is, at night, he would constantly shake the playpen trying to get to the couch. To solve that, we drape bedsheets over the fence to stop him from biting the fence, he chews up the bedsheets instead. We constantly have to buy new bedsheets for our tiny 1 bedroom apartment lol. We lived this way for 2 years and and have visitors asking why our living room looks like that lol. My wife is pregnant now and she’s starting to get annoyed with his midnight shenanigans lol. Is it too late to fix his behavior now? Any advice would help! Thanks!

[LBJ10]

Hmm…

Have you had him checked out by a vet to make sure there isn’t an underlying problem causing this? Bunnies, by default, like to pee on soft things. His level of determination is a bit over the top though.

[JojoBunny]

We haven’t mentioned this behavior to the vet, we just assume it was normal territorial behavior. We have a cloth couch. He doesn’t have a specific spot on the couch either, he just pees on it as soon as he gets on it. We do notice he loads up on water when he knows we’re about to leave the room (he knows our schedule! lol), but he hasn’t done that for awhile since we put up the fence. He just really hates the couch.

[jerseygirl]

The smart ones are always the hardest to try break out of undesirable behaviours, and your rabbit being a Dutch, well they’re know to be smart cookies.

So he never pees on the couch when you’re all on there together?

but the moment we step away he will jump on the couch and pee on it right away.

To us, that would seem like naughtiness or spite but I do wonder if he thinks it’s his role to “defend” the space yours (including him)? So he’s marking it to define this is his family’s territory?

So currently he has no access to the couch at all?

With a baby coming, it’s likely you’re going to have to continue to block off areas anyway. For bunny & baby! I wonder if you could use Perspex on the play pen so he cannot get to the metal? Or invest in other type of play pen that had solid panels or things he cannot chew at or move?

If you’re wanting to do away with the pen altogether, I can only suggest that you place a litterbox on there each time you’re not there with him (annoying!). Or even place one in front of it?

For overnight, take the seat cushion off if possible & place towels or fabric pee pad and a litterbox on there?

 

[jerseygirl]

Have you ever done any clicker training with him?

[LBJ10]

You just never know, so I thought I would ask. Underlying conditions can manifest themselves in some pretty strange ways. So if you don’t find a solution, then it might be worth exploring.

That being said, I do agree with Jersey. It sounds like he’s trying to defend his (and perhaps his warren’s) territory. The urge is obviously very strong, which makes the habit difficult to break. Desperate times may call for desperate measures. What about making jumping up onto the couch when no one is there an unpleasant experience? Then he might decide for himself that jumping up there to pee is not a good idea.

HRS had an interesting suggestion: https://rabbit.org/faq-training/

Is it a good idea? Would it actually work? We had a little discussion about this and forum members have had mixed results in the past. I think it all depends on your bunny and how they would react to something like that.

[Hazel]

I got nothing helpful to add, I just wanted to say that the thread title made me laugh 😆

Good luck, I hope you can get him to stop.

[DanaNM]

I had an interesting convo about rabbit obsessions with the lead at the rescue I volunteer at, and she draws a lot from dog literature to understand bunny behavior. Often when dogs are obsessed with something it appears to be scent driven. So I wonder if there is some smell on that couch that bun just HAS to mark?

I know at one point Bertha was OBSESSED with peeing in this one corner of the room. I kept cleaning it with vinegar and water… and she kept peeing on it. This went on for months. Then I got the Nature’s miracle carpet shampoo and boom, no more peeing in that area. Maybe whatever you’re using to clean up the pee spots is making him want to mark it more?

You might search for “bunny peeing on bed” posts and see what ideas people have there. Buns often pee on beds for similar reasons (smell strongly of humans and they are soft). I’ve seen some people have a blanket they let the bun pee on and they just don’t wash it so the bun doesn’t need to remark it. It might be kinda gross… but it might work?

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[JojoBunny]

Thanks for all your input! He has no couch access when we’re not watching TV. He has peed on my wife 3 times while she was napping on the couch and once for me. He likes to jump onto the couch and loaf with us, but we shoo him off once he starts to digging or wiggling his butt. We’re not taking any chances with him!

We have not done any clicker training with him, but we’ll look into it, he seems to be a fast learner.

We read about the “bunny peeing on bed” posts before but it didn’t work.

I’ll also look into the Nature’s miracle carpet shampoo.

[Hazel]

Have you ever checked to make sure he’s in fact neutered? I know this is unlikely to be the issue given the fact that he seems to be well behaved besides the peeing on the couch, but since someone else supposedly had him neutered before you got him it might be worth to take a peek just in case.

[JojoBunny]

Yes, he is neutered. lol We adopted him from a rescue group and we went back to his original vet.

[prince dorian the bun]

No advice, but my bun has similar if not so determined couch behavior, so if you come up with something would love to know!  (I was actually looking to post about it, so will just add myself to your thread if okay?)

Dorian is also neutered male, perfect litter box habits outside of this, even fine when he is on my bed. We thought scent driven and have washed everything with enzyme cleaners, put down his blanket (so filled with his scent I’d assume) and no luck. We give him a go every couple of weeks to see if anything changed behavior wise. Currently, couch just off limits to him, but I’d like to not have to step over the play pen fence to get to the couch. And it be nice to have him able to sit with us, I end up sitting on floor half the time.

[JojoBunny]

LOL, you know our struggle too! Some days it looks like he’s over it but once we let our guard down, he’s back it. lol We’re looking into clicker training, but we’re not sure how to make it work in this situation.

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