Rabbit Hunting - The Introduction!

WELL. What a holiday season, right? I hope your christmasses were as good as ours over here at Mollieblog HQ, and that your new year is getting off to a good start! Apologies for the much-too-long gap between this and the last post; it just will not do.
On Christmas, my family back in the UK managed to figure out this newfangled thing called Skype, and I managed to say hello to both Mollie and Bingo, who are both well and happy, at the time they were VERY happy as they had just been given a glorious dinner of leftover Christmas meal scraps. Not quite as good as rabbit in Mollie's opinion, but pretty darn close.

The opinion of a dog who enjoys the odd rotten apple or ten.

 ANYWAY, let's get on with the show, shall we? Speaking of rabbits, I can't believe the blog has already gone this long without a single tale about Mollie's rabbit hunting adventures. I know I've referenced it from time to time, but trust me, I could probably write a whole separate blog solely about her rabbit-hunting misadventures.

Chilling out, dreaming about the next rabbit...

 So, as you may have read, Mollie is a troll, BUT! She's actually brilliant when it comes to walking her. This all seems familiar as I type this, so forgive me if you're reading stuff I've told you in previous posts, but a little recap won't hurt.
Despite her trollish nature, Mollie would have made a brilliant gundog. I'm sure if we had started early with a rigorous training programme, this blog would not be about Mollie the Troll Dog, but instead about Mollie the Brilliant Flushing, Springing, Retrieving, Swiss-Army-Knife of a Gun Dog, and that's a completely different audience. I suppose either side can have an appreciation for the other, actually, but whatever. The point is, we still see her potential. She always stays close, never wanders out of sight, is always super-aware of her surroundings, and responds immediately, even going so far as to respond to directional commands. Seriously. She's like Mollie 2.0 from House Mollie, whose only mission in life is to make sure you get into situations which she finds amusing (see: every other blog post). I have often posted lamenting about Bingo's inability to be let off the lead for several reasons (well, actually, just one very big reason), but for all his faults, I've rarely arrived home to find my dad grumbling about his behaviour outside. Except for the times he knocks my dad over, which is hilarious, and don't worry, will have a blog post all to themselves.

Bingo - Canine Bulldozer

 So I'm sure all you've got so far is that outside, Mollie = superdog x infinity no returns. Well, I'm sure if you've read the fox poo posts, you'll know that isn't true. Piles of fox poo are such a strong magnet for her, that NOTHING will stop her from ending up horizontal in that. It's a sure thing. Much like taxes and death, you can also be positive that Mollie will roll in that rancid pile of fox excrement. That's one of her little downsides. The other one is that Mollie fancies herself a bit of a hunter.

Something she's worked on since puppyhood.

Now don't get me wrong, Mollie isn't THAT good of a hunter. This isn't a REALLY regular thing, just occasional. It's pretty funny when you see her chase rabbits - they're usually streaking ahead with no problem. Mollie's swift and quick, and it's great to see her really move, but it takes a really thick rabbit to get caught in her clutches.

One with an IQ simiar to a newspaper.

 But - every now and again, she manages it, and it's pretty funny how she behaves when she catches one. My dad is usually the one at the brunt of this, poor guy, but he's used to it by now.

After catching a rabbit, Mollie's not stupid. She stays WELL away from my dad, and runs around with the thing flopping out of her mouth like a rag doll, tail held aloft like a medieval flag in battle. This pose victoriously says: "I HAVE CONQUERED THE RABBIT" and is usually carried at a gallop. She won't come near my dad, and he knows just to exit the field, at which point Mollie knows it's time to go home, and will race ahead in front, rabbit still in jaws. She knows the way home, and fortunately, as we live in a quiet, suburban area, there isn't traffic or anything dangerous, so my dad tolerates her walking just out of his reach in front, still proudly toting the rabbit as a trophy, much to his sheer embarrassment if he comes across a fellow dogwalker or neighbour. But Mollie and other dogs don't see it that way - to them, she's master hunter of the great outdoors - just like a floppy-eared wolf! Bingo is of course, disinterested and would be rolling his eyes if he could do that.
This act usually ends up with arriving home, Mollie staying away from the inside of the house, still running proudly with her kill, eating some of the carcass (gross, I know), and my dad defiantly not giving her any dinner depending on how much of the rabbit she eats and generally being grumpy at her actions for the rest of the evening. It's a for-sure pattern.

Sometimes, trolling is worth the consequences. Sometimes it is not.

Instead of making this an extra long post, I'll leave this one here. The next post will be about one of the times my dad tried to fight back against Mollie's tyranny against the rabbits.

You simply MUST join us!

Mainly to see more of this particular picture.

Til then, keep trolling!