Man's Best Friend has long floppy ears!

I have to tell you about my human/animal contact story from Tuesday of this past week.

I was all ready to be going on my daily errands, grabbed my armload of stuff to take to the car and walked out the door. As I turned around to lock the door, I hear something moving in the grass. My mind quickly goes to the worst case scenario option of "Please let that NOT be a skunk!" because we do have some of those around here. As I slowly turn around, I see a white blur scurry past me and stop at the edge of the drive way. As my eyes focus features finally catch up with it - I find out that it's not a skunk at all (there is no black on this creature), but a cute, fluffy bunny. Not just any bunny, but Rick. Brigam's bunny. What is he doing out of his cage? I don't know. So, of course, I ask him, "Rick, what are you doing out of your cage?" He doesn't answer (rude). So then I finish up the conversation by doing what every mother would do - warn them when they are doing something stupid. "Rick, you know you're going to get eaten by a dog." But I knew what I had to do. I had to change my persona and become the best

Elmer Fudd I could become. Basically, "Shhhh! Be very, very quite. I'm hunting rabbit." Without the gun, of course.

So I go to my car to unload my armload of stuff and turn around to continue my very one-sided conversation with Rick. "Come on Rick, let's go see if we can get you some food." Although I really didn't think this would work because, let's face it - he has food and water in his cage and then he LEFT. Why would my offering some get him to follow me? Surprisingly, it worked. As I walked the LONG way around him and turned the corner of the house towards the rabbit cages, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him hopping behind me.

As I get to the cage, I see what the problem is. Rick is a master at opening his cage door. It raises vertically and Rick uses his nose and front paws to open the cage. Usually he does it and sits there to wait for someone to notice, praise him for staying there and lock it up again for his "playtime" later. I tried to stop the problem by getting little "C" locks that screw together to lock up the cage, but Rick is apparently a gifted rabbit and (if he works hard enough at it) can un-screw the "C" locks. Rick must have opened the door, but had no audience for a long time and decided to venture out to "the great unknown".

Anyway, I turn around from my inspection of the cage and lo and behold, there is Rick. I grab a handful of rabbit food (right out of his own feeding dish, no less) and hold my hand out for his eating pleasure. Sure enough, he comes to eat, RIGHT OUT OF MY HAND! By this time I am thinking, "This rabbit is just playing with me. It wants me to think I can catch it, but as soon as I reach out to it, he'll bolt to the farthest corner of the yard (in no time flat) and sit under a prickly bush and laugh his little cotton tail off at me." But against my better judgement, I reach out and start to stroke his little furry cheek. He still stays and eats while I give the rabbit LOVE. Then I reach out for the back of his neck to pick him up, still thinking of his sneaky little "running" plans, but he stays still and lets me pick him up. He doesn't kick his legs or argue with me in any way. He just goes back into his cage, watches me re-attach the "C" lock and commences to play with the lock to unlock it again.

Of course, I'd like to credit Rick acting like a dog - eating right out of my hand and letting me pet him - to my amazing way with animals or my great impression of Elmer Fudd, but I am thinking that maybe Rick knew I was right about his impending doom. Maybe he already saw the dog that day and was just waiting for SOMEONE to help him climb back into that cage. Either way, I must say I have a way with animals.