Bless my little Pug's heart, but he just doesn't have a ferocious bone in his body. Usually we appreciate this about him, and b/c of Los' being bitten by Pit Bull's, etc. in his youth, that's why we chose a super friendly breed... BUT lately I've been seeing more bunnies than usual in our back yard. We used to have 10 baby bunnies (not by our choosing) in our backyard, and encouraged them to leave asatch (as soon as they could hop). Since then, we've barricaded every possible entrance point to our yard. Except one. Our gate, which we built ourselves, goes to where the grass used to come to, when we had grass. But since we built the flagstone path, there's now a few inch gap in that space, and believe me, a few inches is all bunnies need to get through. It is amazing how flat they can make themselves.
Luckily for us, we don't have a ton of plants that bunnies like to eat. Our neighbors have had many plants destroyed by bunnies, so they have more reason to be frustrated. What we have, however, is a lot of good hiding spots for bunnies, so after they get their fill elsewhere, they seem to think it's okay to come over here and hang out, and disperse their pellets, if you know what I'm saying.
This is not cool. Especially, and most gross to me, because then Burly will eat said pellets, and vomit. SO- I've been trying to teach my dog to hunt the rabbits. But let's be honest, he has no hunter in him. So my second thought was just for him to chase them, and scare them away. Yeah, that's not working out so well either. Hate to say it, but they are way smarter than him. When I let him into the yard, he could be 5 feet from one and not sense it; a byproduct of having a smashed nose, I suppose? They have zero fear of him. By the time he does see one, and makes his jolly attempt to bound after it, they're well on their way to safety at another home, under the gate. I don't know if he even realizes it's another animal, and intruder at that, or if he just thinks they are like a moving tennis ball. He loves playing fetch, maybe I should spraypaint the bunnies bright chartreuse?
Anyway, so yesterday I had had it! So after seeing 4 bunnies in my yard, I decided to bring in the reinforcements. Burly's two best friends are our next door neighbor Lab and German Shepherd Gwen and Miss Parker. They are all fun and games when it comes to hanging out, and they have sleepovers with Burly, etc. but when it comes to hunting rabbits, they mean business. One time (super gross), Miss P brought in a dead rabbit and laid it the feet of our neighbor while she was iChatting on the computer. You can imagine how grossed out Joelle was:) I'm actually amazed that Miss P didn't devour it immediately after seeing what went down yesterday!
So, they came over and Miss P immediately began hunting the little varmint. I had to sacrifice some hostas and my bell pepper plant in the hunt, but they were worthy casualties of war. After 20 minutes of futile effort, I saw the bunny hiding under a geranium right by the gate. So I went over to the gate and called Miss P, she swooped in from one direction, and like athletes executing the perfect play, Gwen covered the other angle. When the bunny came out, it had no chance, as Gwen pounced on it. It all happened within 3 seconds, but it was like watching those nature shows on tv, or the Planet Earth series, where they show slow motion of beast on beast. Gwen had it in her mouth and Miss Parker came over and ripped the bottom half off of the bunny off (to share with her sister, naturally). One second I saw guts hanging out, the next, the bunny was gone, just like that. I'm pretty sure they didn't even chew!
Meanwhile, my little dog was biting the heel of Gwen, naively thinking that they were playing a game. Little did he know that a small victory had been won in the great battle of the garden. If these dogs could high-five, I would have high-fived them right then, proud of their accomplishment. But I sure as heck wasn't going to allow them to lick me! Thus ends this chapter of the garden bunny saga.
4 comments:
Shut up. Are you for real? I can't decide whether to cyberly high 5 you, or be completely horrified. A little bit of both. Mostly though, I'm laughing hysterically!
YOU ARE A RABBIT KILLER!
You inspired my new new FB status, "Casey is an animal lover+ a rabbit killer." Creepy. I'm partly horrified too, like, what did the rabbit ever do to me, except crap everywhere and make my dog puke... but mostly I'm gratified. One down, a million to go.
Oooooooh that's a disturbing story. Please consider a more humane way of dealing with critters, like squirting a line of dishsoap from side to side underneath the gate. This has been an effective deterrent to wildlife at the home of Burly's uncles who just bark at critters. A high5 to their little pacifist nephew.
whoa friend. that was intense. you are a great story teller--i feel like i was there, cheering from the sidelines, as the great battle for the garden was taking place. poor burly, just a sweet little thing, happily unaware!
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