Freya and the Rabbits
Our adoption of a white Persian cat (Bismarck) from the HumaneSociety
was so successful that when our dog was diagnosed with liver failure
we started checking the webpage for a canine addition to the family.
We found a Welsh springer spaniel that we named Freya for the Norse goddess
of love and war.
Since she was a stray, we know nothing about her previous life but it is clear that she has had hunting experience. Eager to win our acceptance, she bounded into our house and promptly dispatched a black furry "mouse." She proudly looked around as if to say: "What a good hunter I am!" Unfortunately, mouse was Bismarck’s favorite toy and it has taken him five months now to forgive her.
On her first morning’s walk, she spotted a rabbit in the grass. She froze and then looked at us expectantly. When we did not shoot the rabbit, she sighed at the stupidity of us humans and walked away, shaking her head sadly. After a few days, however, she seems to have decided that her role in her new life was to study nature, not hunt it. She started to look for rabbits on her walks and got to know various bunny families. She will sit and contentedly watch them munch on greens as long as we let her. The rabbits show no fear of either us or Freya and indeed will bound out of the brush to greet us as we walk by. On those few days when there are no bunnies in sight, Freya hangs her head down as if she is depressed at missing her "friends."
In addition to rabbits, she watches geese and other birds, squirrels, ground hogs and even foxes. She thinks snakes are playmates and cannot understand why we pull her away from them. The only animals she does not appreciate are deer. We think that she considers them big dogs that might attack her. Whenever one is near, she pretends that she does not see it and walks in the opposite direction!
Leslie O’Malley Finke