Since Gracie is unspayed, hormonal, older, and has been bred before, she knows that if there were a male around, Elsie would conflict with her chances of getting to mate. So reacts by marking her territory with both feces and urine. The sad thing is, her "territory" is our house.
Elsie has never had a problem with litter training. Of course, she has been the only rabbit for 4 years up until this past week. But, even when I smell like the other rabbits from handling them or grooming, etc., she's never abandoned her litter training.
Gracie is now for sale. Sadly, I've been so physically and mentally busy lately that I can't continue to train her out of something that's completely instinct. I'm pretty sure this is something she can't even be trained out of. I know she'll make a perfect house rabbit and litter train very easily if she's the only rabbit in the home.
Not only is this the best thing for me and my family, but it's also the best thing for Gracie. She can never be truly happy knowing that another rabbit is sharing her space. Spaying her would probably calm down her hormones, but since she's an adult already and so stuck in her ways it might not cure anything. She'll be so much happier knowing she's the only rabbit in the house.
Once Gracie is sold, we'll be giving Elsie free reign of our house. I've had Elsie for so long that there's no way I could sell her and keep Gracie. Elsie's my baby. She may be a brat sometimes, but she's like a little puppy dog. She's changed quite a lot too since she turned 3 and a half. She's like a new rabbit. She definitely grew out of her "rabbit from hell" teenager stage!
I'll always love my sweet, social, loving and gorgeous Gracie. You'll never be forgotten, baby girl.