Tuesday night is obedience club night. It’s just what we always do on Tuesdays – we go to class and train our dogs. The classes vary and the dogs have changed over the years – but it’s always fun to see our dog-training friends, old and new, and spend an hour or two concentrating on nothing but playing with your dog. All outside concerns are left outside the training hall – for that precious little bit of time, it’s just you and your dog.

I (Hope) have Torque in the club’s Rally Obedience class. He’s doing terrific – even the exercises that were difficult for him (dog lies down, handler walks around dog) are coming together. We had a good night. Torque even managed to “chill” in his portable crate while I taught the Novice Obedience class after our Rally class was over.

And then we got home and Torque chased, caught, and killed an immature rabbit in the

It was much more pleasant to clean up the murdered stuffie toy.

backyard. I know he’s a dog. I know it’s what dogs do. I’m not angry with him. I’m not even particularly disturbed by what he did. But I’m also not proud of that accomplishment. It kind of put a damper on the whole evening when I had to spend a chunk of it cleaning up the remains.

And, in truth, I blame the bunny. Of all the yards in the neighborhood – couldn’t it tell that dogs live in ours? The dog scent has to be in every corner of our yard. I guess there’s a reason rabbits breed like, well, rabbits. They’re too stupid to live long lives.