Beech Tree News Network

My daughter, Nikki, has a pet rabbit—nothing unusual about that.  The rabbit’s name is Bobby—common enough name for a rabbit.  Bobby thinks he’s a dog.  Now, that is a bit unusual.  Nikki has two dogs, but it is not their influence that has Bobby thinking he’s a dog.  Bobby’s canine bent came long before Nikki met him.
    Let’s back up a bit to the actual day Nikki met Bobby, the rabbit.  Nikki and her husband, Thomas, were gassing up their car at a station near their apartment in New Orleans when Nikki noticed a mama duck crossing a side street with her brood close on her heels, except for one little duckling who had fallen behind because of a broken leg.  Nikki quickly summed up the situation.  Realizing she wouldn’t be able to rescue the whole group because the mama duck would see it as an abduction attempt, Nikki settled on rescuing the duck with the hurt leg.  She knew if she left it in the brood, not only would it not likely survive, but the mama duck might not survive either, because she would always be falling back to help it, which would put her and the remaining ducklings at risk, as well.
    Nikki quickly scooped up the crippled duck, and she and Thomas took it to a nearby shelter that welcomes hurt or abandoned animals.  As Nikki talked to the vet, Thomas wandered over to a large enclosure which held a big black and white bunny—Bobby.  Bobby stood up on his hind legs and twitched his whiskers in acknowledgement.  When the vet took the duckling back to an exam room for analysis, Nikki joined Thomas.  Although the two of them love and respect all animals, they are mainly dog lovers—they have two dogs, Dexter and Zissou.  The more time they spent with this rabbit, the more enamored they became with him, and he seemed to feel the same way about them.
    When the vet returned from the exam room, and noticed that Nikki and Thomas were playing with Bobby, he said, “If you have other rabbits, you don’t need that one.  He doesn’t seem to be able to get along with his kind.  He’s been adopted and returned twice.”
    “What about dogs?” Thomas asked, “Does he get along with dogs.”
    The vet hesitated, “I don’t know,” he said, “I guess you could bring yours by and see how he reacts.”
    The next day, they did just that.  When they introduced Dexter and Zissou to Bobby, the animals took to each other immediately.  They adopted Bobby the next day. 
    At first, Nikki and Thomas kept Bobby in his cage when they were away from the apartment—the situation involved two dogs and a rabbit, after all.  When they were home, Bobby was allowed to be a free-range rabbit, roaming at will from room to room.  (He is litter-box trained—who knew you could do that?)  He joined right in with the other dogs’ activities, taking apart dog toys to find the squeakers, curling up on the couch with the rest of the family to watch TV, and drinking from the dogs’ water bowl. 
Nikki learned to put the dog food out of reach after the other two ate, because Bobby actually prefers it to rabbit food.  Zissou is one of those spoiled little dogs who wants what everybody else has, and Nikki finds it amusing that he gets into Bobby’s cage in order to nibble on Bobby’s bok choy, even though he doesn’t really like it.  Because of Bobby’s ability to jump, he tends to get into more than Dexter and Zissou.  One evening when Nikki was cooking dinner, Bobby jumped up onto the dining room table and began drinking from the glass of whiskey she had set there earlier.
Eventually, Nikki and Thomas decided it was safe to leave Bobby out with the dogs while they were gone.  After all, he had established himself as an alpha male after drinking the whiskey.  They often return to find the three of them snuggled up together.  Bobby will jump up and put his front feet on Nikki’s leg just like Dexter and Zissou do. 
Without knowing Bobby’s background, it’s hard to know why he thinks he’s a dog.  Maybe, the “why” doesn’t matter.  He has a family where he’s just one of the boys.  In the end, belonging is what it’s pretty much about for all of us.