Barking at Bunnies

Bow-Wow, and Wow-Bow—Last week was worthy of that verbal back-flip …

First, I took at least two long walks in the snow every day. One day when I went exploring the prairie, I met a littler dog named Brady who smiled at me with only his bottom teeth, which didn’t look too friendly, so I trotted on. One day, two connected round brown balls with a long tail and teeny feet scuttled across the sidewalk right in front of me. Mommy seemed as surprised as I was to watch a mouse run into a hole in the snow. I had never sniffed a mouse before, so I pulled and pulled toward that hole until I was so slanted, my side was almost on the sidewalk But Mom picked me up and put me down later. Said she didn’t want me to choke myself. One day, Dad took me out after supper. I had to get all duded out in my neon yellow boots and amazing Technicolor dreamcoat, as Mom calls it. Puhleeze, couldn’t I just bound out the door like a normal dog? Dad and I went around two blocks—and then around again. By the end of the week, the snow was as tall as my shoulders, so I had to be a regular Lewis and Clark (or the doggie-hero-explorers Chew This and Bark) to tunnel my way through tall snowy mountain passes and forge paths through big, open, white, fluffy fields.

Last week had some indoor excitement too. One day the mailman stepped inside the front door and knelt down so I could put my paws up on his shoulders and slosh his entire face while he scratched me in all my favorite scratch-spots. Another day my Auntie Denise came over. The minute she sat down in a chair, I asked “cuddle time please?” by putting my paws up on her lap. She got the hint, lifted me up, and I got to snooze happily with my head on her shoulder.

The best indoor fun happened in the middle of the night on two different nights. I had been up sleeping on the bed for hours when I got thirsty, mewed, got placed on the floor, and padded downstairs to my water bowl. My water bowl is right next to the back door, which has a window low enough for me to see out of. So guess what, as long as I was there, I looked out the window. And guess what again, rabbits were right there. So you guessed it, I barked. And barked. And barked. Those rabbits did not even budge. I barked and barked and barked some more. My barks budged Mom, though, who picked me up, which generally shuts me up. She didn’t take me back up to bed right away. We sat by another window and watched two rabbits nibble branches for a long time. I whimpered a little because I wanted to be outside bounding over hill and dale after those pesky bunnies. But watching was better than nothing. The slate sky with its big white ball, black tree shapes, and bluish snow glow were all still. Other than a few diamond-y dots twinkling in the sky and sparkling on the ground, and the bunnies’ ears and noses, nothing moved. And even those movements were so tiny, I sat up alert as could be on Mom’s lap so as not to miss any important action. An ear flattened here, a nose twitch there, I wanted to see every one before we went back upstairs to bed.

Sure was a bow-wowy-kazowy week.