A Tail of Two Bunnies

As some may know, and some may not, one of the greyhounds I share my life with is a young two-year-old hound named Bunny. She is a very good girl and is extremely mellow, most of the time. She never raced, I imagine because she is so petite and as a result, she did not come to us as, ahem, easy to walk on the leash as the retired racers that we've adopted. We're working on the issue, and she's come a long way from the leaping trout at the end of the line that she once was. I am in the process of losing some weight from stress eating the last few months and I've decided to be a lot more diligent about taking walks. Bunny is a great companion for this. She's always enthusiastic about going for walks, a lot like Treat was. The other hounds here are less enthusiastic about walking. I get ready and it goes a bit like this:

Me: Who wants to go for a walk?

Bunny: Me me me! There might be people out there who want to pet me!

Lilac: I'm an old lady and my feet hurt! Can't I nap in peace?

Bunny: Pick me! (now dancing in circles) I want to go!

Hawk: My God, the sky could fall at any minute! No way am I going out there! (As he hides in the crate.)

Bunny: ME! Here I am! People are out there waiting for me! (Now at the back door.)

Blueberry: Well, how far are you going to go? I don't want to miss anything, but a lady never works up a sweat...

Me: Okay, Bunny, lets go!

Bunny: Smell you old farts later! I'm going with Mom and people are going to pet me!

This has all been well and good for several weeks, but last week, Bunny met her arch nemisis in our backyard. Perhaps some of you may be familiar with him. He is quite a rascal.




This little fellow has been taunting Bunny from behind the turn out pen for a week now. She would love to get better acquainted with him. It also appears that he and his friends and family have been multiplying, well, like rabbits! They are all over the neighborhood all of a sudden. So, everyday, Bunny heads outside and she is on full alert, in case he's out there.


At first I thought it was simply youthful curiosity on Bunny's part, but then I realized he'd created a serious faux paws. He'd insulted her by giving the rabbit version of flipping the bird, as seen here. He lives to taunt this innocent little puppy. It really is a sad state of the world when those flea-bitten varmints get so uppity that they think they can sit outside a young greyhound's turn out pen and distract said hound from even taking care of business out there. I have a feeling that Bunny is not the only greyhound, or even the only dog suffering this indignity at the moment, but she's not aware of this. She is also not taking this lying down. Bunny has gone on full alert and she is ready to teach those devils in fur suits a lesson. If only she could get close enough. I suspect that one of these days it will happen.

She is definitely on watch now. At first it was just when we'd go out the back door to the turn out pen. Then, one day this week, one of the cheeky little critters leapt out of a shrub as we were walking, did a little rabbity dance in front of her and then skedaddled off. I don't think he was taunting her at that moment, he was probably showing off for some doe that looked like Jessica Rabbit and couldn't help himself. Spring has sprung in a big way here this week. Bunny, however, takes it as a personal affront that he would taunt her so cruelly.

So, now is she not only on the lookout, she has her nose to the ground, sniffing out where they've been and where they might turn up. They do not disappoint her. Those rabbits leap out in front of us several times on every walk that we take. I see Bunny trying to work out in her brain how that rabbit can get around the neighborhood so quickly. It hasn't occurred to her yet that he brought all his friends and cousins with him when the warm weather hit. I'm not sure I want her to figure it out. The fact that they're everywhere might haunt her puppy dreams and terrorize the sweet little pup. For now I'll let her believe that there's only one until she gives up her belief in Santa Paws and the Easter Bunny.

Thursday was the last straw for her though. One leaped out from a shrub, right under her nose. If I hadn't been walking her in a harness, she would have had him. She leaped and then barked her threats after his insult. His eyes got huge, like a cartoon character, before he retreated around the house, probably to leave a pile of rabbit pellets and collapse to recover from his racing heart. She was so close to catching him.

Hopefully he spread the news around the neighborhood that there's a new hound in town, who might be faster than a speeding rabbit. For now, Bunny is dreaming about the day she runs free of the leash and the rabbits finally learn their lesson. I'm dreaming of the day when the rabbits shake off this Spring Fever and we can walk in peace again.