Buster!

(Apologies for the time off between posts. Daisy's owners are big fans of March Madness. Daisy, for her part, enjoys throwing her bowl around her cage during games because her owners are watching basketball instead of her.)

In our last adventure, recall that Daisy only seemed to withhold her patented asskicking from one lucky bunny: Butterball, the baby white lionhead who had been born in foster care. Recall also that Daisy is incredibly picky about anything that's not edible. If she was willing to spare Butterball from a bunny beatdown, could that be a sign of affection? The ways of the bunny are truly mysterious, but every now and then you'll be thrown a glimmer of insight such as this one. "I smacked around everyone but this guy." This means something!

A few days later, I submitted adoption papers for Butterball and brought him back to his new home. It seemed like a good idea to put his cage next to Daisy's so they could get used to each other's presence before a face-to-face introduction. The newly-named Buster (which for some reason seemed to be an all-around better name than Butterball) seemed to settle in quite well:

(Bunnies are odd creatures. Sometimes they like to sit in their hay bowls. Sometimes they like to shit in them, too. Ever heard the expression, "Don't shit where you eat"? Buster hasn't.)

It was Daisy, however, who was having severe adjustment issues. To say that she was slightly perturbed from Buster's presence is like saying Adam Sandler is slightly unfunny. When Buster's cage was placed next to hers, she just lost it - running all over her cage, throwing food around, trying to bite through the bars. It was like telling a fiending cokehead that you're fresh out of blow.

In a move that surely ranks as a candidate for "Bad Decision of the Year," I reasoned that Daisy's agitation stemmed from the simple fact that she simply needed to express her dominance over Buster, get him to submit, and then all would be alright. You know, nothing some slapping around and token mounting wouldn't fix. Incidentally, this is probably where my past relationships have negatively impacted my thought process.

The face-to-face introduction turned out to be an unmitigated disaster. Seconds after putting them both in a playpen in a neutral area, Daisy charged Buster and immediately latched onto the back of his neck, prompting him to scream in distress. Here's all you need to know about bunny noises: because they're prey animals, if they're making any noise at all, it's probably a bad sign. Despite our shouting and attempts to separately them forcefully with a towel, Daisy kept attacking Buster to the point where she had to be doused with a cup of water to shock her into releasing him from her grip. At that point, poor Buster was basically in shock and was carried him out of the "play"pen (steel cage? gladiator arena?) and back into his own cage. Thank goodness he seemed to be otherwise OK.

After this incident of domestic violence, it was clear that this process would be neither quick nor easy. Instead, there was no choice but to accept the fact that this would be a long, labored bonding with no guarantee of success.

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On a lighter note, here's some exclusive footage of Daisy chewing some coroplast to get ready for "The Showdown":