Bunnies are Creepy!

I’ve always liked animals. Even when I was small, they interested me, although I was sometimes frightened of them. Although my family always had dogs as pets, when I was very small, I was afraid of strange dogs. Not my own, whom I loved dearly, and not TV dogs like Lassie and Bullet (Roy Roger’s Shepherd). I was frightened by dogs down the street who looked at me with contempt. (well, I was 4 or 5 and that was my perception)
Anyway, as I grew, I loved animals and dreamed of owning a horse-of training a pet like a raccoon – of having a pet dolphin like Flipper! Although I knew it to be impossible.
So when I had a home of my own, with children who were frightened of animals too, it kinda puzzled me. I witnessed a terrorized 2 and 4 year old and hurriedly decided to get them a pet. We adopted a kitten who had several homes before us, but he was perfect for them. I had three children then. They grew to love not only that cat, but others as well. As the baby of the family grew, (we called her Bean then) she loved pets with a passion. She often freed a neighbors dog who was held captive (their backyard) and escorted them home with the crook of her little elbow around their neck. “Can we keep him?” I witnessed her sneaking out food and water bowls. She grew to love dogs, cats, you name it. She was like a female Dr. Doolittle. The other children loved animals too. My son came to the rescue of a neighbor’s dog we had grown fond of, and fed treats to, when he witnessed the owner mistreating it. My son was a gangly 14 year old, but he stood his ground with the adult neighbor, challenging him to change his behavior or my son would call the police. I was so proud of him, with his compassion being his passion at that time.

After our family cats had been dispersed to the grown children as they made their own homes, and the family dog had grown old, ill and had to be put to sleep, I found myself to be petless.
I kind of grew to like that too. I could appreciate others pets, love them even, but I didn’t have to clean up dog or cat hair, or their poops!
But that didn’t last. We soon found (or he found us is more like it) a stray black dog, that has become our seventh “child”. He is well loved, well trained and we enjoy him immensely. But that's another blog or two.
I guess I never realized that there are folks who really don’t like pets. I just never really imagined it. I knew that they didn’t like specific species over another, say, one might be a cat person, but not a dog lover etc. I know wonderful, loving compassionate people – who do not like pets!
My granddaughter, who loves our dog, loves her own dog – summed it up quite nicely one beautiful spring morning.
She was four at the time. I woke up to birds chirping, sun shining brightly on the dewy spring morning. I looked out to our yard, where I saw a fuzzy brown bunny rabbit, (the mom) and a teeny tiny brown fuzz ball of baby bunny. They made a sweet picture in our yard, as they quickly munched the new green sprouts of grass. Wanting a Rockwell moment – I called my granddaughter over to watch. She hugged up against me, and proclaimed softly, “Grandma, bunnies are creepy”.
I never imagined it. Creepy? Now, I can see it.
Perception is reality!