Tantrum

[Kevin]

so about 2 weeks ago my girlfriend and I got a flemish giant! she is the sweetest girl ( at least we were told its a girl ) while she is in her pen, but when I let her roam she leaves territorial droppings ( which I am coping with ) and pees on our bed. Every time she pees on the bed I make sure to immediately place her in her litter box, clean the sheets, and wipe down the area with vinegar and baking soda. the first week I had her, I left her in her pen ( which is about half of my bedroom) so she could get used to using the litterbox and she was doing great! no messes except for the occasionally missed dropping. but this past week when I let her free roam completely, she started peeing on the bed. 

I want her to have the freedom of roaming, so when she makes a mess, we put her in timeout (aka her pen) and after about 30 minutes we let her out. As soon as we let her out she will thump at my girlfriend and leave a dropping on the floor. Then she will jump on the bed and leave a few droppings, but since I’m tired of cleaning sheets, I don’t let her stay too long after the droppings because she pees immediately after. other than this she really is so sweet. she will follow me around the house and cuddle. she also loves being petted. other than the thumping she shows no signs of aggression towards us.

just wondering if anyone has tips on swapping our bunny to be able to free roam, and also any general help with her tantrums. I feel so bad leaving her in the pen, but I also need a clean bed xD. as a side note, I know she is still a baby and she will be spayed around 5 months. this is our first bun so any help would be awesome .

[Asriel and Bombur]

That’s just it. You can’t really do a whole lot until she’s spayed. And stop punishing her for something she can’t control. It doesn’t do anything. A bunny isn’t like a cat or dog. They don’t understand punishment, and it can make her distrust and dislike you.

[Kevin]

Posted By Asriel and Bombur on 12/26/2018 9:45 PM

That’s just it. You can’t really do a whole lot until she’s spayed. And stop punishing her for something she can’t control. It doesn’t do anything. A bunny isn’t like a cat or dog. They don’t understand punishment, and it can make her distrust and dislike you.

i appreciate the response! i am not speaking from personal experience as this is my first bun, but i have done quite a bit of research it seems that other people are having success with similar methods, otherwise i would have never tried it but if you have any information to help that would be nice as well  

thanks!

[LBJ10]

For something like this, I don’t think a “timeout” will be very effective. Rabbits have a tendency to pee on soft things (beds, sofas, etc.), especially if they are not spayed/neutered. This is a territorial behavior, not a litter training issue. They are trying to cover up your scent on things that smell very strongly of you. Plus it just feels nice to pee on soft things. I think your best bet would be to exclude her from your bed completely until she can be spayed. If that isn’t possible, then the old shower curtain trick will work in a pinch. Simply cover your bed when you let her out. If she pees on it, no harm done.

I do agree with A&B. The issue likely won’t resolve until you have her spayed.

FYI – Timeouts are not completely ineffective in certain situations. I found them to be useful for when Leopold (who is deaf) was obsessing about something. For example, if he was obsessively digging at something, removing him from the situation for awhile did seem to help him “forget”. It wasn’t about punishment, it was about breaking a cycle that he was stuck in.

[Kevin]

awesome! Thank you for the Helpful information! 

im going to buy some bed risers tomorrow to hopefully make the bed too tall for her to jump on

[ThorBunny]

Agreed that this will likely not get better until she is spayed. But just wanted to share my experience with these pee wars.

When we adopted Thor (who was spayed), we initially had some “couch wars”, she would hop up, pee and then we would clean with vinegar and water. *repeat*
I think she was just trying to cover up our scent with hers, then we were being so rude by erasing all her hard work

I put down a small towel from her area on her preferred side of the couch. 

For us this worked really well, she hasn’t peed on the couch since. After some time we removed the towel, but now I think she’s lived here long enough that it smells like her without it

[Author]

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