Humping, Jumping, and Peeing…

[Deleted User]

…Just another day in the life of Boston the bunny. How do I show her that I’M the dominant one?

Ok, first of all, I talked to the vet today and he said he wants to wait until her medicine is gone (could be another month or two) before spaying her. After the meds are gone, we are supposed to watch her closely to see if the head tilt gets worse or she loses appetite, etc. (For those of you who don’t know, Boston has head tilt, it is now just a slight, constant tilt. The vet just wants to make sure she is at a stable point on her own before putting her under for surgery.

In the meantime, Boston humps us non-stop, is always jumping on the the couch, and now…peeing everywhere!  Looking for advice as to what I can do about these three things until the long-awaited spay.

In regards to the humping, would holding her down at the shoulders and saying “NO”  help to get her to stop? We did this when she would bite us, and it helped a lot. Would holding her down show that WE are the dominant ones and she needs to stop humping? It wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t sink her claws and teeth in while humping!

As for the jumping. I have no problem having Boston on the couch, its nice to cuddle. But we don’t always want her up there. Is there anyway to train her so that she knows she can come up when we want her to, but must stay down when we are not around and she doesn’t have our ‘permission’?

And then the peeing…On the leather couch, and on our RENTED carpet…grrr. With cats and dogs I know you can rub their noses in it, etc. If we did something like that and then put her in her litterbox (in cage and shut door), do you think she would comprehend? Or will she continue to pee as she is going through this stage?

Thanks for all your help in advance!!!!! I’m so happy she’s better, but its easy to take her health for granted when she’s doing these things!

[Beka27]

yikes!!! have you tried getting her a humping stuffed toy or pillow? when she starts to do it, redirect her to that. i have no idea how to keep buns off the couch. once Meadow learned it’s possible to get up there, she hasn’t gotten off since. you could try a squirt bottle, but i don’t think there’s a way you can train her that sometimes it’s okay, sometimes it’s not. either you allow her up there, or you train her that it’s off-limits, always. even then the training might not work. you could try blocking off the couch altogether. as far as the pee, you can’t rub buns’ noses in it. just clean it up and try to watch her better, and when she goes to pee, put her in the litterbox.

i think you’re just going to need to deal with the behaviors until after the spay. maybe confine her in a smaller area unless you can watch her more closely.

[bunnytowne]

oh my goodness definitely hormonal as you already know. well…. I put couch cushions in plastic bags so cotton would quit peeing on the couch my garbage bag chic.  would moving her litterbox to her carpet pee spot help? hmmm. well I never heard of penning them down cuz of humping. giving it a try and see could result in better behavior. could she be competing with the other pets you have in marking? or do you even have other pets. Awe Boston has been going thru a lot head tilt meds hormones. well lets hope these next few days , weeks go by quickly so she can get her surgery yes i sure hope she will be in good shape and able to have the surgery.  dont’ you wish there was a rabbit hormone killing pill so we can get thru this with buns ahaha. they had some in the late 70’s for dogs and we put Geisha on some during her heat.  but wasn’t good to use it all the time. I wanted a show dog. and didn’t want to spay her. these days I know better.

[Sarita]

I agree with Bunnytowne, I feel this is more hormonal than dominance in this case. Also try the plastic on the couch as well.

You don’t want to rub her nose in the pee either – that is not a good thing.

You may end up having to confine her more until she calms down or gets altered.

[BinkyBunny]

Confining her access will also help her understand what is HER territory and what is the “general” territory that she can’t mark in. Even wild rabbits will not mark as much outside of their territory, in a “general area” that is shared by other animals. So you may need to reset the territory lines. Do you have a way to block her off? Like with an xpen?

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Actually you don’t ever want to rub ANY animial’s nose in pee or poo it doesnt work. Think of a three year old (which is as intelligent as we can hope our pets to be, horses maybe along the lines of a four year old). Could you rub their nose in pee or poo minutes or hours after and have a glimmer of hope of expecting them to know why you are doing this? NO way… This is in fact a perfect way to intimidate your pet and have them not like you. Their attention span for memory is only seconds.

Come home, find pee, “what’s this?” -you dog who is happy to see you-“don’t know, water? been there for hours…why are you forcing my nose in this foul water, I’m scared” nope, take it from Dr. Snyder, a leading behaviorist at the U of A never ever rub anyone’s nose in pee or poo unless you just want them to fear you.

Sorry had to go off there I aboslutely hate it when people say they do that ***NOT you allenj I know you were just refering to people doing it not yourself!!

[Deleted User]

I don’t have any other pets…so she’s not marking because of that, although there is a dog that lives below us.

We tried the stuffed animal, and she had no interest, but maybe we’ll try it again. I always thought the humping thing was dominance, like the dominant bunny humped, thats why I was thinking I could get her to stop if she thought I was the dominant one.

Thanks for clearing up the nose rubbing thing! I never really thought about it that way. And I’ve never done it with Boston, but I do remember my doing it to my cat when I was little.

We don’t have an Xpen, but we have a play pen. We took it down when Boston was sick and now have her confined to the living room. (Before the playpen was in the dining room). I’d hate to set it back up in the dining room (way less interaction than the living room), but I think we might have to. The poops keep falling in between cushions on the couch and squishing onto the hida-bed….ewwwww!

[Beka27]

can you put the playpen in the living room? even if you have to temporarily move something else out… it would be worth it to have the continued interaction with her, esp. since she’s not outta the woods yet as far as the head tilt…

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