Anyone who has raised a puppy knows that they like to put everything in their mouth. Sometimes they eat the object. Other times they chew on the object until they destroy it or because they found something new to put in their mouth. Raising four puppies at once means that we are always running around behind them pulling things from their mouths.

 Last night we drove the puppies up to our usual walking trail. We let the pups out of the car and off they went to find fun things to put in their mouths. Each night we walk this 1.5 mile trail with them, and each night they find new things.

 Two minutes into the walk Lucas found an old spray paint can. He held his head high and ran down the trail with his new prize. Lucas could not believe that he found such a neat treasure which made such a cool noise as he ran. His sisters, jealous that they did not spot it first, were in hot pursuit. Weather knocked Lucas off his feet, and Scott took away the can.

 Off the puppies went because only a few feet away was their favorite rotting log. Yum! All four puppies started chowing down. We caught up to them and told them "on-by" which got them moving again.

 Then came the mushroom feast. They ate mushroom after mushroom. It is hard to get them to not eat mushrooms because they are everywhere and they eat them so quickly.

 When we get to the stinky mud puddle they forget all about the mushrooms. They love to stick their faces in the mud and get their fill. We have to catch up to them and tell them "on-by" to get them moving again. No worries because their is an even bigger, even stinkier, mud puddle just up ahead. In they go getting their fill of stinky mud. We catch up and tell them "on-by" to get them moving again.

 The next thing on the trail is the rotting hay. Every couple of weeks a farmer spreads hay on the trail to help with the stinky mud puddles so that they can get the tractor in to hay the fields. Each night we have to catch up with them to get them to stop eating the hay.

 The puppies got to the end of the trail when all four stopped to look at something off the side of the trail. Half joking I said to Scott and Ali "It must be something dead because of the interest they are showing!" we quickened our pace to catch up to them. All three of us caught up to the pups and saw that it was a dead bunny rabbit. Mr. bunny looked as though he was sleeping. The poor thing must have been hit by the tractor. He had dark brown fluffy fur. Part of me wanted to pick him up and send him on his way, the other part of me knew that he was dead. We called the puppies off and tried to get them to head back. Lucas and Letty came, but Weather and Dahlia were still trying to investigate. Dahlia started barking and poking the bunny with her nose. The bunny was almost the same size as her, but since Mr. Bunny did not fight back she decided it was safe because she grabbed the bunny by the middle and took off towards Letty, Lucas and me. I was horrified. Everything went into slow motion. Dahlia's little feet in the air at the same time as the bunny's head and rear end went into the air. Dahlia's little feet hit the ground and down went the bunny's head and rear end. A great big smile in Dahlia's eyes. Letty and Lucas, now interested in the fluffy brown treasure left my side to catch up to Dahlia. Weather trailing right behind Dahlia. I screamed to Scott "get it away from YOUR puppy!" Scott got her to drop it. I called them to me, but only Letty came. Scott got two sticks to use like chop sticks and he picked the bunny up by the leg and tossed him into the woods. It was horrible, and I could not help but do a full body shudder.

On the way back to the car I told Letty how she was such a good girl. I told Dahlia that she is spawn of the devil. We had to get them through the rotting hay, the stinky mud puddles, the mushrooms. We loaded them into the car and then we got in...and almost vomited because of the smell. Ali said "UGH, they smell like mud, mushrooms, and dead things!"