Peeing on Bed/Couch

Question
Hello,
We have a mini Holland Lop who is about one and a half years old. He is very sweet, and very well house trained. He only pees and poops in his litter box. We have not allowed him on our couch or bed because when he was young, he peed on the couch, regularly. We chalked it up to territorial behavior, as he was an un-nuetered adolescent at the time. The other day he hopped up on the bed while I was on it. He has never been up there before, but it is lower now and he can reach it. I let him stay because he seemed to love it and I thought that my presence would let him know that it was not his. He continued to enjoy the bed, incident free for the next 10 days, flopping on it, binking on it, etc. It was very nice for all of us. Then he just let loose and peed on it. It wasn't spray, but full pools of pee, as if he was in his litter box. So we are now not allowing him up there, even though he loves it. It seems to us that other rabbit owners have their buns up on the bed and couch without trouble. Why does he always end up peeing on our couch or bed? Is there any chance of ever letting him enjoy those places without the risk that he'll pee on them? How can we let him up there without him trying to own it. I thought that sharing the space would work, but...Not sure what to do. Thanks for the help.

Answer
Dear Eric,

Your bunny is enjoying himself so much up there that he *has* started to mark it as his own, which is why he's puddling up there.  This is a tough situation, but here's what I'd advise.  

Let him up on the bed to play for a while, but after about five minutes, gently pick him up and bring him to his litterbox.  Place him in it with much praise and petting, and gently keep him in the box until he does pee.  Once his bladder is empty, you can bring him back up on the bed for more play with much less danger of his letting loose.  

Do this periodically when he's up on the bed, making sure he empties his bladder in the appropriate place, and then allowing him up on the bed only when he doesn't have to "go."  After a few days of this, he should get the hang of it.  But if not, keeping a regular schedule of "oops...time to go to the litterbox before we have an accident on purpose" should keep your bed pee free.

For additional great tips, please see:

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/litter.html

Hope this helps.

Dana