down the rabbit hole

Right before bed last night Barney was playing around outside when, all of a sudden, he got really excited. I mean REALLY excited: he sprinted in a few circles at lightening speed around the back yard, rushed inside and sprinted around the house, led me outside with him, refused to come inside, and ran in and out of "the woods" (6-foot-deep bushy area near the back fence) until I caught him and carried him in. I figured he'd seen an opossum or one of the local cats who is always walking across our back fence. He was so amped up that he rustled around in his crate for most of the night.

I was working on my thesis proposal this morning when a blur of black and white motion outside caught my eye. How did that tiny little dog get over our 7-foot fence!!! It was actually was one of our 78-year-old neighbor's two pet rabbits. I quickly understood why, ever since we've been back from Michigan, Barney has been pointing (standing perfectly still with one leg in the air and looking in one direction) at 'invisible' stuff in the yard and playing in the woods a lot. I went outside to try and catch the rabbit and return it its home, but I left Barney inside so there wouldn't be any rabbit corpses to inconspicuously dispose of. (Sarah: This stew is a little gamey. Where did you get this chicken? Me: Ummmm... Here's the thing...)

The rabbit wasn't exactly unfriendly, but it didn't particularly want to be touched either. It ended up scurrying back home through (one of) the hole(s) it had dug under the fence. Unfortunately, Barney saw the whole thing from the window where he had been freaking out about not being able to be outside to 'play' with the rabbit. He might have been nice to it. I don't know. Anyhow,  now I have to figure out how to keep Barney from tunneling his way into the neighbor's yard to reunite with his new 'friends' (two chickens also live over there).

Pointing out the hole: he stayed like this for 5 minutes while I ran and got the camera and took some pictures. Maybe the rabbit will take the hint and come through.

For the last 20 minutes he's been intermittently pointing at the fence and trying to trick me into going outside by 'asking' to come in (by jumping into the screen door and making it knock against the other door, a trick we taught him) and then refusing to actually enter. When I move toward him to catch him, he runs--just out of my reach--a little closer to the hole. I went all the way out once and walked over to the hole to make sure the brick I'd put there was still in place. He pranced over with me, no doubt feeling proud that he'd finally communicated his urgent message about the meal I was passing up. He looked hurt and confused when I went back inside. He probably thinks I'm an idiot.