Sandy sat on the front porch. He often chased rabbits but had never caught one. It was funny to see them double back on their track and come out safely behind the dog while Sandy ran in an erratic circular pattern, trying in vain to decide which scent to follow. Despite his speed and agility, Sandy had never come close to catching one.성남출장안마
A very young bunny appeared at the edge of the woods, less than 30 feet from where Sandy lay. It sniffed the air — sniffed the dog — and hopped onto the grass toward Sandy.
Sandy’s body tensed, his breath quickened, his ears perked up, his eyes followed the bunny’s movements. The bunny hopped closer.
As I watched, the bunny crossed the lawn directly toward the dog. Sandy waited patiently. I had never seen Sandy restrain himself in the presence of a rabbit but — unlike the crafty adult rabbits that had always so skillfully eluded him, this bunny seemed (to me) to have absolutely no survival sense at all.하남출장안마
When the bunny finally reached the dog, Sandy — with lightening speed — snapped the bunny up in his mouth and held it just tight enough to prevent the bunny’s escape.
Early in my relationship with Sandy, we had two kittens. On their first night with us, the kittens slept curled up against Sandy’s warm body (Sandy was curled up against mine!) They had no fear of him.
At times Sandy would pick up a kitten up by the back of the neck and carry it in his mouth. While I watched nervously, the kitten would go limp. When Sandy reached his destination, he would put the kitten down safely.
In the whole time the kittens were with us (up until I developed a serious cat allergy), the only harm Sandy ever did to the kittens was, on one occasion, to slap their heads with his paw when they tried to eat his Alpo.의왕출장안마
The sight of their heads emerging from his bowl, bleeding slightly, faces covered with Alpo, was comic. Each looked as though he had been hit in the face by an Alpo cream pie. But they were quick to learn that Alpo was dog food and not to be touched by kittens. Dog and kittens continued to coexist in harmony.
But in addition to the kittens, Sandy had a squeaky toy — a green frog that he carried in his mouth and squeaked by applying pressure from his (rather strong!) jaws. Sandy loved his squeaky frog and, as a puppy, would play with it for hours.
In the dog’s mouth, the bunny did not go limp as the kittens had. The bunny squeaked. It choice of expression proved fatal.
Rather than carry the bunny safely, the dog applied pressure — presumably the “squeak” the bunny some more! When the bunny failed to squeak again, Sandy dropped it and walked away, having no further interest.용인출장안마
;Now here’s food for thought. The adult rabbits knew that the dog was a menace — but the bunny didn’t. Likewise, the dog “knew” that adult rabbits were to be chased — but reacted quite differently to the bunny who fearlessly hopped across the lawn directly toward him.
As I watched this incident, I marveled at how neither bunny nor dog were doing what — I thought — their instincts should have dictated.
Rather than showing aggression toward the bunny, Sandy showed curiosity. Rather than showing fear toward Sandy, the bunny was attracted to him.
Could the outcome have been different?
Could the bunny and the dog have become “friends?”
Was it only the bunny’s squeaks — and the dog’s experience with the squeaky green frog — that proved fatal to the bunny?
Or, was it predestined that the bunny would squeak — and the dog would bite?
I can’t answer. I am only describing what I witnessed.이천출장안마
But I can attest that neither the dog’s behavior nor the bunny’s behavior was what I thought it would have been.
And, for both dog and bunny, it seemed to me that the behavior involved, to some extent, prior life experiences rather than instinct. In Sandy’s case, I wondered how the experiences with the kittens and with the squeaking frog influences his initial restraint toward the bunny — and then his rather non-aggressive “play” with the bunny.
As for the bunny, where was it’s mother? At what point in the bunny’s life — had it lived longer — would it have learned to fear dogs and avoid then?
Was the bunny’s mother negligent? Or had the bunny been orphaned by another predator — a hawk, turkey vulture or eagle? There was no way of knowing.
But this I do see in this one small animal incident. Not all of the mechanisms of survival are provided by instinct. Without a parent’s guidance during the formative period of life, the child’s behavior can be radically inappropriate.안성출장안마
Think about it.