Hello,
Thank you in advance for any help and advice given, I have been a long time reader of this forum.
Mildred is a 4 year old dwarf lop who has been neutered. She is generally a very sweet natured rabbit and has never bitten anyone. She has the run of the living room and she has a hutch which has her litter tray in it. Mildred is deaf.
We moved house about 2 months ago. Since the move Mildred has decided that she owns the sofa and it is one of her new favourite places to sit. My partner and I were lying on the sofa the other day and she hopped onto the sofa and peed on us twice. We cleaned the pee off with bunny safe cleaning product. For the last few weeks every time one of us sits on the sofa she will hop on to the sofa and start nipping our clothing. She is persistent and it is pretty clear she wants us to get off the sofa. As I mentioned before she isn't a biter and I have been dealing with the problem by putting my hand in front of her (she won't bite skin). She will run off and then run back and try and move me again. This goes on for a while and eventually she will give up and I can sit in peace. She is quite clearly angry though and will shake her head in frustration. This is out of character, she hasn't ever shown signs of being territorial before.
All of the guides I read say that saying no is the best way of getting rid of problem behaviour, since Mildred is deaf this isn't possible and I would really value any advice as I would really like to sit on my sofa in peace. What should I do?
Thanks again for any help
Thank you in advance for any help and advice given, I have been a long time reader of this forum.
Mildred is a 4 year old dwarf lop who has been neutered. She is generally a very sweet natured rabbit and has never bitten anyone. She has the run of the living room and she has a hutch which has her litter tray in it. Mildred is deaf.
We moved house about 2 months ago. Since the move Mildred has decided that she owns the sofa and it is one of her new favourite places to sit. My partner and I were lying on the sofa the other day and she hopped onto the sofa and peed on us twice. We cleaned the pee off with bunny safe cleaning product. For the last few weeks every time one of us sits on the sofa she will hop on to the sofa and start nipping our clothing. She is persistent and it is pretty clear she wants us to get off the sofa. As I mentioned before she isn't a biter and I have been dealing with the problem by putting my hand in front of her (she won't bite skin). She will run off and then run back and try and move me again. This goes on for a while and eventually she will give up and I can sit in peace. She is quite clearly angry though and will shake her head in frustration. This is out of character, she hasn't ever shown signs of being territorial before.
All of the guides I read say that saying no is the best way of getting rid of problem behaviour, since Mildred is deaf this isn't possible and I would really value any advice as I would really like to sit on my sofa in peace. What should I do?
Thanks again for any help