Here comes Peter Cottontail, there goes my rotator cuff

My hunters.

I like to run after work and usually hit the running trail by my office, but sometimes it just doesn't work out and I have to head home first. On those days, my crazy yellow lab mix, Daisy, gets to come with me for a few miles.

She LOOOOOOOOVES to run with me. She's getting better at being a running partner -- she's actually learning the difference between me calling out "left" and "right" -- but she is so high-energy that it takes a lot of work to contain her. My husband and I joke, "She only pulls for the first five or six miles."

A few days ago I ran a loop around the neighborhood and swung back home to pick her up for another 2. Whenever I grab her leash without taking my running shoes off, she knows what's going on immediately and starts shriek-barking and jumping around so much I can barely get her harness on her. But on that day I managed, and out we went.

My neighborhood is still developing in places, so there are a few vacant and overgrown lots. As we trotted down the street, we passed an area of tall grass, and then I saw him:

Enemy to humans running with dogs.

Daisy saw him, too, and instantly froze. She tried to get into a stalking/hunting position but Mr. Cottontail wasn't having any of it and tried to hop away. Well, so did Daisy, pulling me halfway across the lot with her. Mr. Cottontail decided on a different tactic: doubling back and trying to zig and zag between us. But Daisy was ready and tried to block him. She very nearly caught him. But, alas, I have neither the agility, speed nor desire to keep up with a wild rabbit, so we had to let him go.

... much to her disappointment. She started shriek-barking again, this time out of frustration, loudly enough for me to worry what the neighbors would think. For the rest of our run, she kept a very close eye on any tall grass, waiting for Mr. Cottontail to show his furry, delicious face once again.

Until next time, rabbit.