rabbit weeing on me

Question
i have two female bunnies which i got two weeks ago, one 10 and the other 12 weeks old.  They have time on the couch with me at the end of the day for play and attention.  One of them continually pees on me when we are sitting together on the couch.  it doesn't seem like she is just doing it because she is on me and she has to go, she actually hops up on me, scratches at my clothes which i tell her 'no' for, and then pees on me. As i am new to indoor bunnies #we had an outdoor adult for a few years until she died recently#, i could do with some help as to why she does this and how i can stop her from doing it.  If it keeps happening, i can see the playtime on the house being minimised which is not what i want to do.  Any help would be appreciated.

Answer
Dear Stacey,

Your bunny is marking you as her property.  It's a compliment, of course, but not very nice.

She's too young to be spayed, but eventually this will help stop this type of problem.  Until then, though, you can train her to stop this objectionable behavior by immediately taking her to the litterbox when she starts digging on your chest, and placing her there.  Pat her and stroke her and praise her until she urinates, and only *then* let her out of the box.

If she won't urinate in the box, then let her go after some praise, but don't let her back up on the couch with you.  Just keep putting her down, and then try the box praise again.  Eventually she will get the message that you are NOT her personal property (or litterbox) and start to behave.

At least we hope so.

Rabbits, unlike dogs, have no innate desire to please their humans.  Any type of negative punishment is not well received, and will eventually cause the rabbit to dislike you.  

She has a dominant personality, and she's expressing herself.  You just have to let her know you are "top bun" by doing the box praise exercise over and over until she "gets it."

Good luck!

Dana