The Friendship of a Dog and a Rabbit

Since today is the 2nd anniversary of the day that my brother and I rescued our rabbit, Geronimo, I thought that I'd share the story of how Geronimo and our golden retriever, Finnlegh, became best friends. You'll also learn a bit about how Finnlegh came to live with us as well as a quick description of Geronimo's rescue story, although you can read more about his rescue story in the post that I wrote last year on the first anniversary of the day that we rescued him. Enjoy!

We bought our golden retriever, Finnlegh, from a breeder in 2012. We had lost our beloved golden retriever, Angel, at the age of fourteen when we had to make the tough but caring decision to put her down. We didn't think that we wanted another dog right away but she had left a space in our hearts to give to another dog. We searched for a good breeder and brought Finnlegh home. He grew into the perfect dog for our family; hyper and active at certain times and sweet and quiet at other times. Sometimes he'd race around the yard but then in the house he would curl up and nap or give us tons of sloppy kisses. During the Winter of 2015, there was a new addition to our family. We rescued a rabbit. He was born from domestic rabbits that had been breeding outside in my Grandma's neighbourhood. He was approximately two months old and was hopping around in the snow in -18 degrees Celsius weather so we brought him in out of the cold only to find that his eyes were stuck shut. We got him some help and found out that he had been dehydrated but he was going to be okay. We made the decision to keep him instead of him going to someone else and we named him Geronimo.

Of course, we had a challenge to face. Finnlegh was a golden retriever: a dog bred to retrieve animals for their masters while hunting. Naturally, he chased small animals and birds but could never catch them. This situation was going to be different. If Geronimo was running around and playing in the living room, Finnlegh might bite him or scare him too much for his little heart to handle. We had to teach him to be gentle with our new rabbit since we wanted them to get along and not have to be separated. We would let Geronimo hop around and play on the couch and if Finnlegh went to nip him or play with him in a rough way, we would stop him and tell him to give kisses. He eventually caught on and would give Geronimo such a sloppy kiss that our little rabbit's fur would be all wet. As Geronimo learned to hop off of the couch and play on the floor, we helped Finnlegh adjust to that too. All of the encouragement paid off.

With continued commands from us, Finnlegh learned to be gentle with Geronimo. Finnlegh would go and sniff our rabbit or give him a kiss. Sometimes Finnlegh would be lying on the floor and let Geronimo hop right on top of him. When our rabbit became playful, Finnlegh would become playful too. He would chase Geornimo a bit and sometimes they would play a mix between a game of hide-and-go-seek and tag around the old trunk that we use as a coffee table. Finnlegh and Geronimo have become best friends, which would fascinate people who see a relationship between a dog and a rabbit as being extremely difficult. It also teaches us a lesson: If a dog and a rabbit can become best friends, maybe it's possible that we humans can get along better with each other and we can make the world a more peaceful place.

Cheers,
Kaylie

Geronimo's Rescue Story

One year ago today, my brother and I rescued a rabbit. He was the size of my hand, approximately 2 months old, and he was out in -18 degrees Celsius winter weather. We were at our grandma's house and knew about the rabbits in her neighbourhood. Someone had let some domestic rabbits outside and they had bred over the years. There are many rabbits there now of various breeds. The rabbit that we rescued was one of them, possibly part lionhead. We knew that it was too cold outside for a rabbit his age so my brother and I went outside with a towel after we saw him hopping around in our grandma's driveway. By the time we got outside, he was hopping along the road. We followed him to try and catch him in the towel but he kept hopping away from us. We finally chased him against a snowbank and he was unable to climb it so we threw the towel over him and brought him inside. We found a small pet carrier in the garage and set it up for him with a towel and water. His eyes were closed and he hid under the towel most of the time, obviously quite scared.

I texted our parents, who were working, and told them what had happened. I still remember the text that my Dad sent back: "You can't keep him." We waited until our parents got home from work and by that time the rabbit had still not opened his eyes. In fact, it appeared that his eyes were stuck shut or that he might not have any eyes at all since all we could see was skin and fur where his eyes should be. Since we had found him outside and didn't know what else to do by the time we arrived in our own part of the city in the evening, we brought him to a wildlife refuge centre. They took him in even though he was not a wild rabbit and they nursed him back to health. It turned out that he was dehydrated and, once they took care of that, his eyes opened and they had to clean them out since there was guck in them. The wildlife refuge centre said that they would have to find a home for him since he was a domestic rabbit and we instantly offered him a home with our own family. 

We named him Geronimo because we're big fans of Doctor Who and that was a sort of catchphrase for the Eleventh Doctor. We call him Gerry for short. He has grown into a healthy rabbit, other than not having the best eyesight which is probably due to the state that his eyes were in when we found him. He has such an adorable personality and he is really good for an unneutered male rabbit, although we still plan on having him neutered. He and our dog, a golden retriever named Finnlegh, became very good friends. Gerry likes to cuddle with Finny and Finny likes to lick Gerry.

I am so glad that we decided to rescue him and then give him a home. In regards to that text that my Dad sent me, my Mom said that my Dad later stated that he shouldn't have looked at the rabbit because he ended up falling in love with it just as we all had. Geronimo has changed all of our lives. He can be really crazy at times and then funny or super cuddly at other times. He is a major sweetheart and my heart feels good knowing that he is alive today because of my family and I. Rescuing animals is good for the soul, you guys. You rescue them and they rescue you. That's just how it works.

Cheers,

Kay

So, My Dog And Bunny Have Instagram...

Bonjour!

Yes, my dog and bunny do indeed have their own Instagram account! C'est tellement excitant! What could be better than a dog and bunny duo?! My golden retriever, Finnlegh, and my bunny, Geronimo, became buddies pretty quickly after we rescued Gerry and recently I guess they decided that they wanted to share their friendship with the world!

They're really cute and Finny is hilarious! He's the one who describes all of the photos. I don't know how he comes up with those captions! I mean, they're so awesome that I don't think that I could do a better job myself. So, go check them out!

Their username is: @finny_and_gerry

Cheers,

Kay