Shiner and the bunny rabbit

I know, I promised a race report today, but something else happened while I was performing the bi-monthly mowing of my yard today.

But before I tell the story, I should explain a game I play with Shiner. We simply call it "Squirrel!". It's very simple. I look outside and see a squirrel. I say "Hey Shiner, there's a squirrel outside." Shiner looks at me, looks out the window and then clumsily runs throught the dog door. He attempts to catch the squirrel. He never succeeds. But he never quits trying.

So fast-forward to today. I was mowing along the side of my house and Shiner was in the back yard just watcing me. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot a baby bunny rabbit scampering towards the front of the house.

"How cute," I thought to myself. I am sure the lawn mower scared the poor little critter. I then turn around to mow another strip of the yard and start walking towards the back yard where Shiner was staring at me through the fence.

All of the sudden, I see the bunny again. It was once again running away from the lawn mower. But instead of running to safety, the damn thing ran right to Shiner. I am not sure if it was blind, scared out of its wits or just stupid. So I just watch it run right into Shiner's grasp. There was nothing I could do.

Of course, Shiner did what any good carnivore would do. He pounced on it and then picked it up in his mouth and pranced around the back yard like a proud hunter, bunny in mouth (those are the hind hanging from Shiner's mouth in the picture). I yelled at him to drop it, and like the obedient dog that he is, he did drop it. But I figured the damage had been done. I walked around to the back yard, forced Shiner inside and went back to pick up the carcass so I wouldn't mow over it, making an even bigger mess.

Only I couldn't find it.

Maybe it wasn't really dead and hopped away.

Or maybe it was well hidden in the grass.

Either way, I didn't want to mow over it. I figured if it was there and anyone could find it, Shiner would. Therefore, I let him back out.

Sure enough, he located it. And it wasn't dead. But it was hop-hop-hopping away.

Or at least trying to.

Shiner then caught up to it and the bunny froze. That is the bunny by Shiner's right paw.

This is where things got interesting. Instead of picking it up and treating it like a living chew toy, he just laid down next to it. He almost appeared protective of it. He went as far as to chase what I presume to be the mother rabbit, who was watching this unfold from the neighboring yard, to the far corner of that yard.

He then went back to the baby bunny. He just sat there next to it. Watching it. Sniffing it. Taunting it.

I was torn. I didn't know what to do. On one hand, maybe Shiner just wanted another friend around the house.

Or maybe he was just waiting for me to go back to my mowing so he could continue to play with his new chew toy. Especially because it squeeks, too. (how many of you knew that rabbits squeek when carried in the mouth of a 90 lb dogs). Plus, he has a history of bringing those "living chew toys" into the house and i didn't want to deal with that mess again.

That is when the neighbor kids, age 5 and 7, appeared in their back yard and asked what I was doing. At that point, I knew I couldn't leave the bunny with Shiner out of fear seeing a dog playing with a bunny might freak them out.

Instead, I did the only decent thing a neighbor could do and transported the bunny to the kids backyard and made it their problem. Amazingly, like Shiner, they watched it. Sniffed it. Taunted it.

OK, maybe they didn't sniff it. But there was definitely watching and taunting.

Eventually they caught it and put it in a box.

They even went as far as to make a grass bed for it and left it lettuce for dinner.

They are even talking about turning it into a pet.

I give it two days.

And I am also wondering how many more brothers and sisters this little guy had because if they happen to appear in my back yard, this scene will be repeating itself.