We have regular bunny drills in our home where every bunny either clears the open space in two seconds flat or a bunny stampede of rocketing rabbits takes off in multiple directions and all humans join in on the drill attempting to stop the stampede. I am so glad that we only have two rabbits because even a pair can seem like a pack in a stampede. Their speed and agility is amazing!

All of our bunny drills are scheduled by the warden of the warren, Miss Tigger, the Tiny Terror, aka Freakazoid. Miss Tigger is always on full alert for anything she deems out of the ordinary. Basically that is almost anything moving or making noise in the room that isn't her.

Little Tigger will take off at top speed and Shadow immediately assumes that there must be danger and shoots off at the same time. She will often sound the alarm when he is in the bunny latrine and so his take off will come with a spray of litter into the air. Sometimes they are a tandem pair of rabbits running full speed looking for all the world as if they are harnessed together. At other times they take off in opposite directions. If we are lucky one or both of them will fly up the stairs, dive under the bed, and start thumping out danger signals. If we are unlucky they will run in opposite directions and come diving into their tunnel or cage from opposite directions, meeting in the middle in a head on bunny collision.

Tigger is quite a vigilant bunny sentry in responding to knocks on the door, phones ringing, and anyone walking / hopping into the room. When it comes to movement or noises, Tigger has a hare trigger. She is very catlike in patrolling the perimeter and can often be seen flopped on top of the cage using the high ground to maintain surveillance. Tigger and Shadow are housed on the second level of a tri level home and Tigger will also station herself at the stair landing on the second floor to be able to monitor anyone coming up or down the staircases.

Her motto has to be "Ears Up! Eyes Open!" The stark contrast between her very relaxed cute kitty flops that I wrote about last month and this hyper alertness make us feel at times that we have a psycho bun with a split personality. She can go from completely relaxed to running full speed in the blink of an eye.

We have been amazed in the six years they have been here that neither one of them has ever hurt themselves in the mad rush to clear the room of rabbits. We are grateful they haven't managed to hurt us as we try to follow them to settle them down.

I have lost count of the number of drills that I have set off by sneezing. No germ in the world is going to get close enough to Tigger to get her! However after such thoughtless offenses on my part, my bunny sentry will often give me that look for startling her and setting off a false alarm.

The bunny drills were more upsetting when they were younger. Now I don't mind it as much. I guess I've gotten used to a bunny on patrol. At least they still get some exercise as they get older.

~ Rebecca Pullin