"Are you my mother?"

September 22, 2016 11:13 PM

Meg, an 11-year-old yellow Lab and her human, David Jackson, found a tiny baby bunny in the back yard—and two ravens looming overhead. Because Jackson was raised near the woods and knew the birds were a threat, he decided to hang around with Meg and watch the bunny until the ravens were gone. While they waited, Meg and the bunny began to play.

Bonus: Labs and baby humans

posted by Johnny Wallflower (55 comments total)

Holy fucking squee, batman!
posted by eggkeeper at 11:22 PM on September 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

Vallhunds play... different games... with baby bunnies. And grown up bunnies. And rats.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:27 PM on September 22, 2016 [5 favorites]

Oh my goddd that little bunnyyyyy
posted by the marble index at 11:38 PM on September 22, 2016 [5 favorites]

And so the raven chicks went hungry that day, and suffered mightily.
posted by Guy Smiley at 11:40 PM on September 22, 2016 [53 favorites]

And the baby rabbit ended up smelling like a dog and so was rejected by its mother when the adult bunny returned.
posted by dazed_one at 11:42 PM on September 22, 2016 [5 favorites]

The story says the bunny was seen with its mother afterward.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:45 PM on September 22, 2016 [13 favorites]

Dear Ask Metafilter, is it okay if I name my baby Little John Stamos? P.S. He is a rabbit.
posted by roger ackroyd at 11:45 PM on September 22, 2016 [14 favorites]

I could see my own pupper doing this but she would name him George and hug him and pet him and squeeze him.
posted by cmfletcher at 12:27 AM on September 23, 2016 [13 favorites]

TINY HOPPY MCHOPPERSONS

help
posted by Defying Gravity at 1:12 AM on September 23, 2016 [9 favorites]

This is my Husky with every toad she finds. She'll sniff it, the toad jumps, the dog jumps back in fear, rinse and repeat. (also works with grasshoppers).
posted by HuronBob at 2:47 AM on September 23, 2016 [7 favorites]

Two weeks ago I had to take my cat, Janie, to the vet for the final time and ever since I've been a total sap for videos featuring pets, despite the fact that they invariably leave me teary. This was no exception. And, oh my god, that bunny is so impossibly tiny.


Also, although Janie was a life-long indoor cat and only 5.5 lbs in the end, I'm quite sure she would have been on that cute little ball of fur in a New York second and no one would want to see that video.

RIP, Janie, 1996 - 2016
posted by she's not there at 2:49 AM on September 23, 2016 [55 favorites]

It's possible that the baby bunny has decided its only chance of survival lies in a vicious, no-holds-barred, all-out attack on the dog. An extremely cute, utterly ineffective, vicious, no-holds-barred, all-out attack...
posted by Sing Or Swim at 3:07 AM on September 23, 2016 [10 favorites]

The best part: horizontal video. And no incongruous music underneath it.
posted by emelenjr at 4:25 AM on September 23, 2016 [24 favorites]

The story says the bunny was seen with its mother afterward.
In the mouth of a shark!
posted by Bee'sWing at 4:44 AM on September 23, 2016 [11 favorites]

I once stumbled upon a bunny nest while clearing out the underbrush in my yard. A handful of tiny bunnies scurried over my sandaled feet.

Sadly, the bunnies here like to dig burrows in dirt beneath the long grass of our yard. You never know they're there until you're right on top of them. With the mower.

I used to find mowing the lawn relaxing. Now, it's nerve-wracking.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:55 AM on September 23, 2016 [7 favorites]

I was expecting either the dog or the bunny to be wearing a gas mask.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 4:56 AM on September 23, 2016 [9 favorites]

...Despite thinking that dog could swallow that infant vermin without even chewing, I nonetheless find my hatred of existence inexplicably soothed by their gentle interaction. I suppose that's progress ?
Bumble Douche

...Itoo mych bif words, my bRaIN is MalFunctionInG.
Lorenzo Coolwolf

posted by y2karl at 4:59 AM on September 23, 2016

I recently got a puppy and had somewhere in the back of my mind that there would be wonderful innocent frolics like this out in the yard with our moles and voles and bunnies, but unfortunately she is a terrier mix so instead it's all KILL ALL THE SMALL THINGS SHAKE THEM SHAKE THEM, which isn't nearly as adorable.
posted by mittens at 4:59 AM on September 23, 2016 [8 favorites]

I am not really a baby person. I am a dog person, though, and after watching that video of the babies' reactions to dogs, I realize why I'm not a baby person -- because I am a baby. This is basically how I react to dogs, too.

(Dogs love me. It's actually hilarious. Dogs will run up to me and their owners will say "He never does that! I'm sorry" and I just say "It's OK, it's just me." and then the pup gets some scritches.)

That was the tiniest bunny, too. Very sweet video.
posted by darksong at 5:21 AM on September 23, 2016 [2 favorites]

Dogs have babies all figured out. Probably because their faces taste like whatever they ate last.
posted by tommasz at 5:53 AM on September 23, 2016 [7 favorites]

We had a Lab who used to retrieve the baby bunnies from the nest in the yard every crop of new bunnies. He'd come prancing into the house with a mouth full of baby bunnies, wagging his tail (and his whole back end). Then we'd take him outside, tell him to "drop" and they'd plop out of his reluctantly opened mouth, dazed and covered in spit, slowly hopping away. And we'd worry about them.

We'd see them, weeks and months later, and wonder why the bunny kept coming back to the nest in the yard that smelled like dog. We supposed it was better than the field out back that smelled of fox.
posted by crush-onastick at 6:16 AM on September 23, 2016 [11 favorites]

I have no idea what to do with my hands while I watch this over and over, I keep not knowing what to do with my hands
posted by middleclasstool at 6:39 AM on September 23, 2016 [9 favorites]

We'd see them, weeks and months later, and wonder why the bunny kept coming back to the nest in the yard that smelled like dog.

Bunnies are cute, but bunnies are stoooooooopid.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:40 AM on September 23, 2016 [4 favorites]

...but unfortunately she is a terrier mix so instead it's all KILL ALL THE SMALL THINGS SHAKE THEM SHAKE THEM, which isn't nearly as adorable.

You've not experienced the true horror of nature until you've heard the screams of baby bunnies late at night as the neighborhood cats invade their nests. Did you know a baby bunny sounds just like a human infant in dire distress? It's not something you can ever unhear.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:48 AM on September 23, 2016 [10 favorites]

that baby bunny is so tiny that I can't help but squee in delight.
posted by INFJ at 6:50 AM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

Also, I'm sorry for your loss she's not there. Been there, done that. It's never easy.

I'm a bit distraught at the moment because I adopted a 10y Maine Coon in March 2015. He spent a lifetime as a street cat, but is one of the sweetest most laid back furballs I've ever had the chance to love. I noticed he was scratching the dickens out of his ears, to the point where he had scabs on top of scabs. Off to the vet we went.* Found out he had a double bacterial ear infection, severely infected teeth, and to top it all off he has FelineAIDs. (though, thankfully not Feline Leukemia) The vet told me that if his ears don't improve on the meds, that it's probably time for him to rest.

He has improved, thankfully. Now to set about getting his teeth sorted out. I know adopting a senior cat has it's risks.. but I was hoping to have at least five years of love. I'm also stressed out because the adoption center I got him from said he tested negative for FelineAIDs. I wouldn't have adopted him otherwise, because I have other cats. He's not an aggressive cat so I don't think he would have spread it to my other ones, but now I have to get them tested too.

(*He is, by far, the hardest cat to crate up. He doesn't like to be picked up.. and knows, knows, that you aren't just coming over to pet him - but that you're going to try to hold him. He's also not motivated by treats)
posted by INFJ at 7:07 AM on September 23, 2016 [5 favorites]

#teamraven
posted by My Dad at 7:53 AM on September 23, 2016 [3 favorites]

Make your own FPP during FearOfDeathOctober, you monster!

normally #teamraven myself, but they can be murderous, literally
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:03 AM on September 23, 2016

No need to choose sides. Nature is what it is.

However, all the above animals, including ravens, are awesome. So I am on #TeamAwesome
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:10 AM on September 23, 2016 [8 favorites]

October would be the appropriate #teamraven month.

Bunnies are cute, but bunnies are stoooooooopid.

Evolution has fine-tuned bunnies to out-procreate their predators, proving once again that it is not survival of the fittest but reproduction of the horniest that hones life on this Earth.
posted by maryr at 8:16 AM on September 23, 2016 [3 favorites]

Bunnies are cute, but bunnies are stoooooooopid.

I remember people bringing the odd bunny to my veterinarian dad, and insisting they were "just as smart" as the dogs, and my dad very obviously biting his tongue. Good businessman, my dad.

If you could make a fluffy pile of rubber, it'd be about as smart as a bunny.
posted by uberchet at 8:19 AM on September 23, 2016 [2 favorites]

Once she gets up, the dog seems to be nudging the bunny forward - nosing at its butt to make it jump. Is that something mom dogs do with puppies?
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:23 AM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

That poor dog is struggling with how cute that bunny is just as much as we are...
posted by Drosera at 8:28 AM on September 23, 2016 [2 favorites]

Wish I could go back in time and show this video to my childhood Lab before he went over to visit the neighbors' prize show rabbits.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:55 AM on September 23, 2016 [5 favorites]

The desire to help rabbits seems to be a human instinct.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:56 AM on September 23, 2016 [4 favorites]

Always with the negative waves The Underpants Monster, always with the negative waves.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:58 AM on September 23, 2016 [3 favorites]

Once she gets up, the dog seems to be nudging the bunny forward - nosing at its butt to make it jump. Is that something mom dogs do with puppies?

Yeah, sure, but I wouldn't assume that the dog is feeling maternal about the rabbit. Poking with their nose is also AFAIK a pretty common play enticement, and also just a way that dogs mess around with unfamiliar things. I am very far from a dog behaviorist but I see more "The fuck is this weird little thing?" than "A precious baby!" in that Lab.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:35 AM on September 23, 2016 [3 favorites]

Another video of rabbits that is not so cute, eh.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:40 AM on September 23, 2016 [2 favorites]

Kudos for David for recognizing that the rabbit and his dog are the focus of his video. If this video were taken by nearly anyone I know it would have been dominated by the human talking to the dog or trying to nudge the animals together. (And shot in portrait mode.)
posted by dances with hamsters at 10:08 AM on September 23, 2016 [2 favorites]

We have a rabbit warren under our shed, and dozens of bunnies. We also have a 70 pound herding dog. The rabbits are not even a little afraid of her. They'll hop right over to the garden and proceed to eat it while she wags her tail at them. The biggest jackrabbit of the tribe likes to run the fence line, and Dog chases bunny until they get to the property line, then Dog turns around and Bunny chases Dog. It's hysterical.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 10:36 AM on September 23, 2016 [11 favorites]

If this was a video of my terrier the bunny would be dead. I liked this one much better.
posted by cairnoflore at 10:59 AM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

Aww.

Also this looks just like the farm dog I walked up to as a kid, intending to pet, when I realized she was crunching something in her mouth. A dog savvy child, I paused a moment, holding a fist out for sniffing, not wanting to disturb a strange dog enjoying a crunchy morsel. Dog glanced up at my hand, wagged happily, and then turned back to her prize. Amd thus did I learn that to a big enough dog, baby rabbit skulls crunch like Doritos.
posted by deludingmyself at 11:22 AM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

Domestic rabbits, which are descended from European rabbits and genetically distinct from American cottontails, aren't as smart as dogs but aren't necessarily as stupid as some people think. The stereotype comes from seeing single rabbits that have been confined to cages in backyards or basements all their lives. Rabbits given freedom to roam and opportunities to interact with other rabbits and humans show lots of smarts and personality.
posted by tommasz at 11:24 AM on September 23, 2016 [4 favorites]

I am very far from a dog behaviorist but I see more "The fuck is this weird little thing?" than "A precious baby!" in that Lab.

Given how much dogs focus and depend on an aft approach during introductions, I wouldn't be surprised if you're correct.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:24 AM on September 23, 2016

The stereotype comes from seeing single rabbits that have been confined to cages in backyards or basements all their lives. Rabbits given freedom to roam and opportunities to interact with other rabbits and humans show lots of smarts and personality.

No doubt for some, but for me the stereotype comes from observing the behavior of wild suburban rabbits. They are less than canny.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:35 AM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

A cat would, of course, just kill it and try to chomp off its head. Dogs rule!
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 12:03 PM on September 23, 2016

Our pet rabbits are extremely clever in one very limited way (finding ways to get out of their pen) and are extremely stupid otherwise. My husband calls them nature's auditors.

A smart rabbit is about as smart as a stupid cat.
posted by joannemerriam at 12:19 PM on September 23, 2016

...And thus did I learn that to a big enough dog, baby rabbit skulls crunch like Doritos.

deludingmyself: wild-ass guess here—did this experience factor into your career choice?

I'm thinking this story would go a long way toward explaining what's going on in the head of certain writers/directors of particularly dark films. I'm not naming names because I don't want to risk spoiling movies or possibly revealing your true identity.


(OK, Todd, just between you and me, I love your work. But, Christ Almighty, I hope you're getting help.)
posted by she's not there at 1:42 PM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

Me: Okay, I've got to admit that really is a cute little bunneeeeEEEEE…
(Bunny hops)
Me: *HEAD EXPLODES*
posted by Kabanos at 1:54 PM on September 23, 2016 [2 favorites]

A cat would, of course, just kill it and try to chomp off its head.

Oh, I dunno, it might not.
posted by reprise the theme song and roll the credits at 7:47 PM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

Well, jaws are involved.
posted by lore at 8:28 PM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

she's not there, that sounds about as far from my career as anything besides like, creationist fundamentalist preacher, so no dice there.

I can't even pretend to enjoy horror movies, so you've definitely got the wrong human.
posted by deludingmyself at 9:25 PM on September 23, 2016

I can't even pretend to enjoy horror movies...

And yet you can just toss off the phrase "...baby rabbit skulls crunch like Doritos". Perhaps you missed your calling.
posted by she's not there at 9:53 PM on September 23, 2016

One of my childhood cats was an extremely independent calico who was a master hunter despite being around 8-9lbs and on the smaller side. One memorable kill was when she brought home a rabbit. It was as big as her, yet there she was, dragging it across the garden cobblestones. That would have been memorable in of itself, but what really topped off that horrifying scene were the baby bunnies that she brought home for days afterwards. Dammit Callie, you didn't even eat most of them!

um, but this dog with the bunny is pretty cute
posted by Anonymous at 1:26 AM on September 24, 2016

One of my childhood cats was an extremely independent calico who was a master hunter despite being around 8-9lbs and on the smaller side.

Calicos are extra feisty because they're really two cats in one body.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:24 AM on September 24, 2016 [1 favorite]