Cat, Dogs and Wild Rabbits

The dogs have been good to Niko the last couple days. Maybe one chasing Niko into another room incident. Mostly he just holds his ground or he hisses and makes the dogs move. He chased Tom off of the porch yesterday.

Niko has discovered the outdoors! And now that's where he wants to be at all times. We let him out Saturday and he stayed out for a few hours and came back into the yard and allowed Mother to pick him up. Yesterday, we had friends over and played Bocce outside with Niko outside. Bocce is an Italian game with 8 balls (similar to candlepin bowling balls but probably a bit lighter) and a palina which is a very small orange ball. Niko amused everyone by chasing some of the balls and pouncing off on the side. He caught a rabbit and then dropped it and it escaped. I doubt he could kill one because he's too small. Mother predicted that a friendship between Niko and Opal might start where he catches the rabbits and she finishes them off. I have mixed feelings about rabbit hunting. On the one hand, the rabbits are destroying our garden and they are overpopulated. Humans have killed off some of their natural predators. But they're still life and it's hard to see the dogs carrying around dead rabbits.

So, this morning, Mother's prediction came true! Niko caught a rabbit and had it up by the steps. Opal went outside and the rabbit ran down the walk. They both chased it. Niko hissed at Opal so she went around to the other side of the perrenial garden fence. Smart dog. She reached in and grabbed it, finishing it off. Poor rabbit.

I'm not crazy about having the dogs outside with Niko. They chased Sophie off of their fenced in area a few times. Mother says that Stella actually respsected Prudence and Sophie more when they were outside.

Opal has been limping off of her back left foot. The skin between her paw pads is red and irritated. We can't find a burr or anything. However, she was still up for her crazy greyhound zoomies yesterday. Our friend, Chris, caught some great pictures of her in motion.