Thumper II (originally published March 2017)

About a week ago, my little kids and I were outside cleaning pool filters and doing a bit of weeding.

My dog, Bailey, came up to us and started sniffing around one of my plants. Then she started digging. I scolded her and sent her away. A minute later, Bailey was back again. This time she was determined.

She stuck her nose right in the mulch and immediately came up with a crying, squeaking baby rabbit. Now my scolding turned to praise. Rabbits are such pests out here and destroy my plants. She took it in her mouth and played with it a bit. Then, she ATE it. Chomped it up like a bowl of pretzels. Gone.

My girls instantly had tears in their eyes, pleading with me to stop the dog.

No way!!

It was amazing! We had been watching Planet Earth 2, which made this experience feel like it was straight out of one of the episodes. We went back to weeding.

I could still hear faint crying, and the mulch was moving slightly. Sure enough, Bailey was back for more. She pulled their squealing, hairless bodies out and ate them, each one faster than the last. One by one, she ate the entire nest of baby rabbits. Four baby bunnies! I don't know if I've ever loved my dog more. And I'm not sure my girls will ever forgive me.

I'm just going to have to live with that.