CHAPTER 214 – Chewing Choices
“Crunch, crunch, crunch.” Enzo gnawed at the window frame. Enzo liked to chew on wood. It helped him wear his teeth down. Dad could hear the sound all the way from the other room. He wandered over to the living room and peered behind the couch.
“Enzo, what are you doing?” asked Dad. Enzo looked up with his big blue eyes and thought, “Just chewin’, Dad.” Dad said, “Enzo, you have plenty of other things to chew on – willow wreaths, the wooden castles, your hay. Why do you have to chew on the window frames? It’s not good for you or the window frame!” Enzo thought for a moment. It was true he had other things to chew on, but none gave him the satisfaction of chewing on the window frame. Enzo thought, “It makes my toofers feel better!”
None of the other rabbits at the House of Buns had chewed on the window frames and baseboards, so this was new for Dad. For some reason, Enzo really liked to chew. Dad sighed and said, “OK, let me see if I can find a better alternative for you.” When rabbits did something Dad didn’t want them to do, his philosophy was to try and offer a better alternative. He knew it was pretty hopeless to tell a rabbit what to do or not to do.
He went out to the garage and sifted through his scrap wood pile. There were several long 1”x3” raw pine boards he did not use from his recent project. Pine was soft enough to chew but still harder than a willow branch. He cut them to the width of the windows and brought them inside.
Enzo watched Dad drill some holes in the wood and then attach them over the window frames. He came over for a closer look. Dad said, “There. I covered the window frames with this wood. You can chew on this all you want and I won’t care. Go ahead, try it!”
Enzo sniffed the board. It seemed safe. He gave it a tug. It didn’t move. He liked that. Then he began gnawing on it. “Good boy!” said Dad.
Enzo took the hint and for the most part, chewed on the boards. Occasionally, though, he still liked to nibble on the baseboards.
Dad gives Enzo something safer to chew on than the window sills.
Would you like to read more of Abigail's weekly blogs? See them all HERE.
