Yesterday morning, my giant schnauzer Sophie brought in a wild young bunny (aboutt he size of a coke can). I told her to leave it alone, and she did (Good dog, Sophie!). It was just sort of twitching, laying on it’s side, and, knowing the fragility of baby bunnies, I thought it was on its journey to the big clover meadow in the sky, although it didn’t have any visible injuries. In a couple minutes, I went back and it was gone. I figured Sophie had done something to it. Last night, Sophie and Spike the cat were sniffing around under the dresser. I got out the flashlight, and there was the bunny, still alive. It dashed behind the woodstove and I tried to catch it. It them darted into the kitchen, cat on it’s tail. I thought it went under the stove, but I pulled the drawer out and looked and didn’t see it. If it’s made it this long, I’d like to help it, but I can’t find it. It may be behind the cupboards or refrigerator.
You can buy a catch-and-release cage at most stores that sell hunting and fishing and outdoorsy stuff.
I bought one years ago (I think it cost about $20) to get rid of some squirrels that were getting into my garage, and garbage. You just need to bait it with something … like a cracker and peanut butter or something.
Leaffan - Thanks for the reminder - I have a catch and release cage. I don’t know where to put it and how to tempt the bunny out of hiding before one of the pets gets it. Although tonight I can shut the animals in my room. and some clover and water might draw it out.
Be glad you don’t have my dog Sam. I opened the front door with him on a leash one evening and before I knew it, he had a baby bunny in his mouth. I was trying to pry his jaws apart and screaming at him to stop, but he started drooling and I lost my grip. He swallowed it whole! :eek: He got SERIOUSLY spanked for that one!
Yeah! What the hell was he thinking? I know when my dogs do stuff like that I kick the living shit out of them. It’ll shoot hundreds of years of breeding and instinct right down the pike.
Poor bunny, for sure, but also … poor dog. He was just being a dog (i.e. a carnivore, and a hunter). You can, I suppose, spank a dog for deliberately disobeying a direct command, or for doing something he has been trained to not do (such as get up on the couch) but for just following his own instincts? When you’ve never trained him to not touch rabbits?
I dunno. I think all you did was confuse your dog and make him fear you, that you might go off on him again and spank him when he’s eating a tasty little treat… (Which is how he viewed the bunny: a treat lying on the ground.)
I should state that my “Serious spank” is one good whap, not beating him over and over again. No, I never told him to stay away from bunnies, but he should also no when daddy is yelling “NO”, he should stop what he’s doing (which he does, usually).
I was suprised at how well Sophie did what I asked. She usually brings home the back half of the bunnies. That’s not pleasant. But when I told her to leave it, she didn’t object. She’s a giant schnauzer mix, and an intrepid hunter, but still good with the cats.
Dogs have pretty strong instincts that tell them that stealing food, even from their leader, is a good thing as far as survival goes. It’s a good deal harder to train a dog to drop food than it is to train them to drop a toy. They’re strongly tempted to gulp the food rather than drop it.
purplehorseshoe - No sign of the bunny. The clover doesn’t seem to be eaten. However, the dogs and cats are still interested in the stove area. Of course, having pulled the drawer out, I can see that I had mice at some time. Fortunately, not too many droppings to clean up.
My dog would respond to “drop it”, unless the object she was holding was a live animal. In those situations, we found that lots of praise would prompt her to place the little bundle on the ground and step away from it. (Her hunting skills actually turned out to be a desirable behavior, since we always had trouble with lizards finding their way into the house during the summer.)
