Sunday, September 14, 2008

Everyone poops (but, dude, only dogs eat it)

Hi everybody! No, I'm not dead. I've been putting off posting for a host of reasons, not least of which is that I was having problems writing an interesting "Here's the story of our move and our new life" type post. And I was whining to the husband (as I am wont to do), and he said, "Um, so don't?" (Actually he said, "Dear god in heaven, stop talking about it and right about something else then," but paraphrasing is everybody's friend.) So, suffice it to say that we're moved, and I'm employed, and more on that another time. Today, though, I want to talk about poop.

Specifically, I want to talk about bunny poop, and its effect on my dog. (I should probably have warned you two sentences ago to stop now if discussions of gross dog habits bother you.) Our little piece of Midwestern heaven is Happy Bunny Land. There is lots of grass and very little traffic, and oh, how the bunnies love it. In our first weeks here, we noticed that the dog, when released into the yard, would sniff around very intently as if on the trail of something. "Oh, how cute," we said to ourselves. "The boy's hunting instincts have been awoken. He's on the trail of something, ha ha."

Then one day, I was out with him when I noticed an errant piece of dog poop. Next to it was a little pile of bunny poop. I went to get something with which to correct the situation, and when I came back, the rabbit poop was gone. The dog had been sniffing there, and the only reasonable conclusion to draw is that the dog ate the rabbit poop.

I fully realize that asking the bunnies of the neighborhood not to poop in our yard is like asking the kindergarten teacher not to bring in paste. The fact that my dog is not the brightest crayon in the box is not the fault of the rabbits (or the squirrels, or the raccoons, or whatever else may be providing my dog with mid-day snacks). And it doesn't seem to make him sick or anything. I just wish that he wasn't so intent about the whole process. If he thinks there's some in the vicinity he will ignore everything (with the notable exceptions of his tennis ball and the word "treat"), until he tracks it down. We feed him, play with him, allow him to share our home, and yet we lose out to rabbit crap. It's enough to make me weep. Or gag. Or, I don't know, fix the gap in the fence that lets the bunnies in.

On reflection, I think I'll stick to weeping and gagging.

1 comment:

Melinda said...

I'm going to ignore the fact that I learned of your employment through your blog(!) and focus on the shit-eating. Did you never experience the insanity that was Frodo in our backyard at our last apartment? All she did was eat rabbit shit. Like, literally, that was all. she. did. On the days we actually let her out in the uyard for more than a few minutes, her poop would be black that evening. Because apparently when you shit out the reconstituted shit of other creatures, it comes out looking like tar.
That is all.