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Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Thumper

  I was originally going to post this photo as a Wordless Wednesday post, but decided I just couldn't stop there.

Thumper1

Here is my daughter Morgan lovin' on her pet rabbit Thumper. I know, it's not a very original name but its the only rabbit name that she knew, and her mind seemed made up. Who am I to argue with a 4-year old little girl?

She got Thumper as a gift from my Dad about a 1-1/2 ago. She has always enjoyed letting Thumper out of his hutch to play with him in the backyard. This was never a problem as a young rabbit, but now that Thumper is older, and much faster, he's not so cooperative when its time to catch him. Tame or not, Morgan hasn't quite caught on to that fact. All she knows is that when she's done playing, daddy's the one that has to chase him around the yard.

We tried the leash thing with Thumper (below), but he never seemed to like it too much. He would always squirm out of it some how, so we gave up on that idea.

Thumper3

So after some thought, Morgan and I came up with a compromise that would benefit us all - a rabbit playpen (partially shown in the 1st picture above). Basically it's just a 6' x 6' portable pen I constructed where she and Thumper can play together while he benefits from exercise and eating grass; and dad (me) can easily catch him when its time to go up . It's working out great so far.

 

Here she is feeding him a carrot from our garden - safe and sound in his hutch.

Thumper2

 

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1 comment:

Kyle said...

Adorable! (Oh, and the rabbit's pretty cute, too.)

My little sister had a rabbit when we were kids -- got it from a rodeo clown at the local youth fair & livestock show. (After which, Mom never again let us stand by the rail during the clown acts between events.) She would let the rabbit out to play with it, just like your daughter does.

We had a "secret weapon," though. When it was time to put Smokey away and go inside, Mom would let the Boston Terrier out in the backyard. She was wary enough of those back legs to never actually catch the bunny, but after a few wild chases Smokey learned to head straight for the hutch as soon as she heard the dog bark!