Since we put Buddy on The Green Bean Diet, he has slimmed down considerably, is looking younger, and has become more agile. He can now jump up on Ginnie's lap without help, his favorite purple collar fits him again, and he can actually catch rabbits. Yes!
What is The Green Bean Diet? We buy the cheap canned green beans with no salt added, sprinkle a little dry dog food on it, and Buddy loves it. We don't even have to add dog food. If it's people food—he'll eat it. He can have all the green beans he wants. He is always hungry and too much dog food was making him fat.
We have a pen for Buddy outside the kitchen door. It's approximately 12' x 45'--plenty of room to run around and do his thing. When I get up in the middle of the night, Buddy usually wants to go out. For some unknown reason rabbits love Buddy's pen. Why? I dunno. You'd think the dog smell would keep them out. But no. They even nest in Buddy's pen, which is such a special treat for Buddy. “Oh, boy. Baby bunnies for the slurping!”
Occasionally when I let him out, there would be a rabbit in his pen, and the chase was on. It was so hilarious watching chubby Buddy run after a wild rabbit. Around and around they'd go, with the rabbit eventually escaping through the wire fence.
But, since Buddy's weight loss, he's faster now and can catch those rascal rabbits. He's caught two this winter and is so proud of himself. It's such a commotion in the middle of the night—the squealing rabbit and the mauling—it's a wonder Ginnie doesn't wake up, and a good thing we live in the country.
Buddy is a Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen, a French breed, known for its hunting skills. So there. We have restored the “Petit” part.
Last Sunday morning before church, Ginnie let Buddy out, and there was a rabbit in his pen. (This is a first—a rabbit in his pen during the day.) Buddy saw the rabbit, and the chase was on. Ginnie was in her bathrobe and pink, fur lined, over sized Crocks. She has a soft spot for rabbits, and foolishly rushed into the pen, trying to stop the rabbit attack. The rabbit and Buddy were running circles around Ginnie and she was doing this wild dance, in those pink, over-sized Crocks, trying to avoid stepping in Buddy's poop, and hollering, “No Buddy, no!”
He paid no attention.
I just about split a gut, it was so comical. Much to Ginnie's relief, the bunny escaped through the wire fence, with poor Buddy giving Ginnie the evil eye for ruining his near catch. This would have been Buddy's third rabbit of the year.
“Why didn't you let Buddy catch the rabbit?” I asked.
“No! I love rabbits. They're so cute.”
Looking around, there was a hole in the dirt in Buddy's pen. That rabbit was evidently building a nest again. Why do they do that? Nest in a dog pen? That's like asking for it.
I pointed out that the rabbits had stripped the bark off the young burning bush plants she'd given me for Father's Day.
Ginnie didn't care. As long as she didn't have to witness a bunny slaying.
“He's a dog,” I told Ginnie. “Let him have his fun. We have way too many rabbits. By the way, that was quite the dance you did in those pink Crocks and bathrobe.”
“That was the Bunny Hop,” she proclaimed.
Just another day on the Empty Nest Farm.
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