bunny tales: a short story

for the past several weeks our puppy, Allie, has parked herself on the chair in the living room which overlooks the backyard or at the dining room window overlooking the front.  every. single. day.   like clockwork she comes in, runs a circle in the living room, grabs her bone, bounces upstairs, jumps on the bed, drops the bone on Cody’s head, runs back downstairs and then parks it at a window.  (if she ever misses a step she starts over – it’s quite funny!) then she waits.   

waiting with dad

as soon as a living creature catches her attention it’s on! she runs sporadically from the front to the back or the back to the front* often barking and jumping making us fully aware.   she gets so excited. for what, exactly? birds, squirrels, bunnies, ducks, people, even flies.  basically anything that moves! 

in her own mind she’s a masterful hunter.  of course that’s of anything young and defenseless.  in the past few months she has managed to kill a baby duck, baby bunny, countless flies and most recently all of our newly hatched robins.  however, she wants nothing to do with the slightly pudgy, fun-loving, lab puppy across the street.  his name is Max.

what I can’t understand though is her gentle kill nature (if there is such a thing).  we’ve already established that she savagely destroys her toys by shaking them violently, ripping them open with her teeth and tearing into them with her claws.  but with these animals she seems to just carry them around until cody can catch her and dispose of the remains.  if only i could read that little puppy mind; it’s bizarre to me.  she's a true predator.

despite the fact that i’m convinced no other critters live in our backyard her routine has not changed. after she has dropped her bone on Cody’s head she runs back downstairs and parks it at a window, waiting for something to move.  still. every. single. day.

hoppy spring! 

(*side note: we have a trail at the back of our house that connects the neighborhood to the elementary.  we also have a sidewalk out front.  Allie can see both from her perches.  when anything moves out front she automatically thinks it will appear out back since she has seen people on both sidewalks. to her that must mean the yard and sidewalk wraps around the house. such a smart, logical puppy!)

 with the bone on her birthday