Help, my bunny is a brat!

[MissPinUp]

I figure instead of posting individual topics about this, I’ll throw everything into one to make it easier.  Ok so first off, Lucy doesn’t understand no at all! I know it’ll take some time, I understand that, but I’ve read everywhere that buns hate loud noises.  Whenever she tries to hop on my desk or my bed, I clap my hands, point at her and go NO!  She’s such a brat because she’ll stop, look at me, and go right back to what she’s doing.  Or sometimes she’ll wait until I turn my back, in the case of jumping on my bed.  Once she gets litter trained she’s more than welcome to be on my bed, but she likes to poop everywhere, all over my spread, on my pillows.  

 

She used to groom me to the point of making me late to work and other things because she’d make it impossible to herd her back to her cage.  She’s getting better at that, though.  I change my pillow cases every week (Even at 20 I’m still ridiculously prone to acne ) and when I do, instead of throwing it in the wash right away, I put it in the floor with this stuffed bunny I have.  I rub the bunny all over the pillow case, set the case down with the bunny on top.  She grooms the case and bunny for about a week, in time for me to put a new one down.  

She’s VERY slowly learning to use the potty.  I know that takes a while, and I’m not concerned much with that either.  I guess my question is will the bratty behaviour subside somewhat when she gets spayed?  I know she’s still young, and she’s definitely a happy bunny, I just want to make sure I’m doing everything allright  

[Sarita]

How old is she again?

[MissPinUp]

4-5 months, I’m not sure exactly, but around there. I know she’s still a baby, it just baffles me that loud noises don’t scare her. I’m at a loss for disciplining her.

[Sarita]

At that age they are very active still and still exploring. I don’t think any animal at this age is very obedient because they have a very short attention span. Also they are going through puberty and adolescence almost altogether since rabbits age much more rapidly than we do.

As for potty training – this is about the time when they start losing any litter training skills they had before.

I think at this point you are doing all you can. I agree that at this point you don’t want to let her on your bed or sofa or any where else where she can have accidents if you can avoid it. Just be consistent with the litter training and keep up a routine – routine is very important – same time of the day for everything and try to vary it. Feed at a certain time, play at a certain time, etc…

I do have a rabbit that is around 5 years old and he still likes to dig on my pillow and bed – not sure what the fascination is with this but it makes him happy and doesn’t harm anything so I just let him do it. So some behaviors just never go away – I guess they have to have something to keep them active.

[Beka27]

She sounds absolutely normal! Don’t worry, she is fine!

[Deb'sBuns]

My Charlie that was such a good bunny a month ago, is being a rotten brat now. He jumps on the rat cage and also tries to eat their food. He attacked my Chinese Crested one day. The poor dog was screaming. He is a big baby though. Screams if you just bump into him. (The dog not the rabbit.) So I guess it’s the age.

[RabbitPam]

She’ll definitely get better after she is spayed.

Bunnies tend to learn better from positive reinforcement than negative. So saying No and clapping, while immediately effective in distracting them, may not make the point well enough.

You might try distracting her away from it with toys or activities that she likes, with a possible treat reward. If she digs, make her a new diggy box or even give her a yellow pages to tear up and chew. You can make your bed off limits for now, but if she likes to tunnel, maybe put an old blanket on the floor and let her tunnel under. They can get absorbed in projects and come back to them day after day.

[Lightchick]

An idea for AFTER the spay, when she’s a little older (because of all the reasons listed above–her being a baby, short attention span, not being spayed, etc, I wouldn’t do this NOW!), if she still refuses to listen to “No” and doesn’t care about loud noises, you can use a water bottle to spray her to back up the “No”. My brattiest bunny will ignore me and glare at me, but the second I even reach for the spray bottle, she’s OUT! She knows I REALLY mean business, then! (But she’s an adult. And she knows what “no” means. She just doesn’t always choose to listen. )

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