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the little brother has something to say

Another close call for Bunny

Bunny has had a rough life. First he was abandoned, and walked the streets trying to make it on his good looks and personality.

The rescue people got hold of him, and then he came to us.

He had some bad behaviors, but we worked with him. And worked with him. Because of Bunny we had to replace all the carpeting in the main floor but hey. I wanted hardwood, anyway.

Just when Bunny was settling down, a wandering dog attacked him on our property. It was touch and go for a while. He had puncture wounds on his spine and belly both. Big, big dog.

But Bunny pulled through.

A couple months ago Bunny was being his usual frisky self. We think what happened was that he went down the garden stairs too fast, and fell. He struck his head and... (hope you're not squeamish), his right eye popped out of his head. Not all the way, but clearly it was out. So we rushed to the emergency vet on a Friday night, and into surgery Bunny went yet again.

They saved the eye, but told us there was very little chance he'd regain any sight in it. And in fact, he's now blind on that side. At first the eye looked awful, something like Marty Feldman (if you remember Young Frankenstein, you'll remember Marty's pop-eyes). Eventually the swelling went down and now the eye looks almost normal.

Bunny soldiers on as if he's always been this way. Who needs two eyes? he asked me. Redundant, he said. Unnecessary.

And while he avoided the garden stairs for a month or so, he's now back to his usual break-neck (or pop-eye) speed.

I'm here too, you know

My people will tell you about me, but they don't know everything. That's because the rescue people found me wandering around. I was a pitiful sight, almost dead on my feet because nobody would feed me and I couldn't find a safe place to sleep. Mom is always wondering where I came from, if somebody kicked me out because I wasn't a puppy anymore or if I ran away or if I got lost. The rescue people kept me for a long time until I was healthy again. And one day I was out in the garden with all the other Shi Tzus who needed new People, trying to get those mopes to play a little, when Mom came by. She sat down on the step to introduce herself to all of us. And so I jumped right into her lap. I know a good thing when I see it, and my motto is, never hesitate. Those other guys found homes too, but she was my mom. I knew that right away. And so she took me home to meet Tuck.

Tuck is my big brother, and I love him. I do. I love love love him. And he's my boss, and I don't love that so much. But that's the way it goes. When I'm feeling growly and grumpy because I never get to be the boss of anybody, what I want to do is go pee on something. Like the couch leg. That way everybody will know that I'm here too, and this place belongs to ME.

But mom gets all sad and solemn when I pee inside, so instead I go find Mr. Bush, and I show HIM who's boss. Me. I'm boss of Mr. Bush. He's a little stuffed man with cowboy boots and big ears, but I'm the boss of him.

It's hard having a perfect older brother. Sometimes I just have to let the world know that I'm here, too. But all in all I'm pretty darn happy. I never have to search for food and I can sleep in the People bed and Tuck is a great playmate. I even kinda like the cats.