Why Does the Caged Bunny Hide?

I am not an animal lover. I never have been. I don't really understand the human-pet bond that seems to exist among other people and their animals. So last year when Maura begged for a pet, I thought long and hard about an animal I could put up with. Cats are creepy and gross, dogs are too much work, birds are too noisy and reptiles escape never to be seen again. We finally decided on the small animal variety, but again it was hard to find anything I liked enough to name and spend any effort trying to keep alive. Ferrets are ugly and disgusting and since Emily and I witnessed our pet hamsters eating their young when we were little, they are out too. I don't care how cute and cuddly you are, once you have been seen holding the headless corpse of your offspring, you can't come back from that. So we decided on a bunny. They don't make noise and they live in a cage. Done. We found a cute little fluffy white bunny and brought her home. Mostly she is a the perfect pet. She is litter box trained and pretty clean. We can let her out and hold her and pet her and then put her back when we are sick of her. Plus she lives in the laundry room and I have someone to talk to when I am folding clothes.

However, Sophie the bunny and I are not friends right now. She recently learned how to hop up the stairs and has taken a liking to hiding under Colllin's bed. I just spent the last 45 minutes trying to coax her out. I actually yelled the words "Sophie, we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way!" In case you are wondering, there is no easy way and the hard way involves a broom and lots of swearing. I finally recruited Maura to scare her out and I grabbed her before she realized what was happening.

After that Collin put her in well-deserved time-out and yelled that she was a naughty bunny.

The bunny is staying in her cage for a few days. Maybe she will be let out for good behavior in time.