GROSS! Yoshi caught a bunny!
I'm so totally grossed out by this. I was doing the nightly run all over the neighborhood with Yoshi when after wizzing on a telephone pole he went still and attentive, so I knew he was watching what was probably one of the usual night time critters. For some reason though as hard as I try I never seem to see what he's seeing. Then again, he never seems to see what I do either, so I guess we're even.
So, I'm looking and looking and not seeing any critter he was watching, decided it was nothing or it ran away and started across the street to this great leaf pile that I knew Yoshi would want to test out to see if it would either make a nice comfy nest or failing that pee on it. He has to check out all the leaf piles this time of year. Unfortunately though what it was he was seeing that I wasn't was a bunny that I'm guessing was already injured or ill or old and near death anyway since I suddenly saw this rustling in the leaves, and Yoshi pounced, pulled his head out of the leaves just a second later, and there was a newly dead bunny dangling out of his mouth! EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!!!
I was so totally grossed out I couldn't bring myself to look at it and concentrated on looking ANYWHERE else. But since he knows to walk beside me I was also freaking out that with the limp dead bunny in his mouth swinging back and forth as he trotted along, oh holy cow, what if the disgusting thing TOUCHES me???
We were thankfully close to home anyway, so when we went through the gate Yoshi dropped the nasty dead critter into his personal leaf nest and then totally ignored it. He was SOOOO pleased with himself that he finally caught something, but all I could think of was that I had to scoop up the carcass and get rid of it when I couldn't stand to even look at it, and Yoshi would you kindly go straight to the bathroom and scrub your mouth out with a stiff bristle brush and at least a gallon of Clorox.
And it wasn't until then that it finally dawned on me why in the hell did I not just tell him to drop it right after I noticed he caught it? I suffered all the way back home horrified that the thing swinging back and forth in his mouth might bounce off my leg and I just knew if I looked at it I'd be sorely tempted to be sick, and now I had to scoop up the evil thing since I actually let him carry it all the way home and straight into our yard! Geez, I want to bash my head against the wall to get the braincells kick started because there just seems to be no logical reason that I put myself through that and never once thought to just tell him to drop it!
While I could hear Yoshi inside lapping out of his water bowl (not exactly Clorox but I figured it would help me feel less grossed out that he'd want to give me poochie smoochies after having the dead dangling icky thing in his mouth) I get the shovel and try to steal myself to scoop up the bunny so I could get rid of it, and the damn thing is so floppy and uncooperative that it just keeps evading getting most of itself on the shovel so if I'd tried picking it up it would just flop out and hit the ground (oh, no, couldn't stomach THAT). I finally thought to cover it with some dead leaves from Yoshi's nest just enough so I didn't have to actually see it and managed to finally get most of it onto the shovel with the help of the rake at the other end of the carcass keeping it from just continually sliding away from the shovel blade. I walked it up to the pine trees and tossed it under one so that some other bigger critter could have a free meal, and walking back I couldn't escape this really awful feeling that there were dead bunnies in my boots. UGH!
Yoshi was so thrilled with himself for at least an hour constantly wagging his tail and strutting around the house "Yeah me! I caught an almost dead bunny!" Ok, I'm happy that he's so proud of himself for catching a bunny that was already nearly dead and not going anywhere anyway, but why couldn't it decide to use the leaf pile farther up the street where Yoshi would never have known about it, and why couldn't it just be still in the leaves so he wouldn't know it was there in the first place? I'm so hating that bunny right now.
I just cannot understand why after all that it wasn't until we got home and Yoshi was already inside that I suddenly realized I could have easily just told him to drop it as soon as I knew he had it. Why in the world did I not do that and not even think of it until way after the fact when the nasty thing was lying in his nest in the yard???
Now I'm worried that Yoshi could have caught something from the dead bunny since it was definitely alive when he pounced on it since I saw it in the leaves slowly trying to hide itself. But there was no blood or wound on it, so I don't think it didn't just bound away like they always do because of being hit by a car or nabbed by a fox and was able to get away or something like that. So, that leaves maybe an illness? ACK! There had to be something wrong with it or it would have leaped out of the leaves and bounded away like they always do. OMG, I'm going to have to call the vet in a couple of hours when they open and find out if there's something Yoshi could have caught from this stupid bunny that decided to croak so close to my dog's face.
Ugh. I'm still getting these terrible little disgusting feelings out of the blue that there are dead bunnies in my slippers and worse dead bunnies in my PANTS!!! I keep getting this massive urge to jump up and yank off my sweatpants, and I fully expect a dozen dead bunnies to fall out! Dead bunnies in my pants, dead bunnies in the fridge, dead bunnies floating in my potty... AAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!! Make it stop! LOL!
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In her case, it's prairie dogs. We live on the plains and I let the dogs run in the open spaces. Honey's caught a live prairie dog and eaten it in two gulps. Totally gross, I thought I was going to gag to death watching it. She also finds dead animals and eats them. I used to totally freak out b/c some farmers and sometimes even the town poisons prairie dogs to keep the populations down, I thought for sure she'd be poisoned by something. Or at the very lest, the rotting flesh of whatever dead thing she ate would cause her to start vomiting. But no, she just runs around like a crazy puppy, pleased as punch at her prowess and culinary delight. I've just learned to shrug and look the other way.
The ironic thing is that my other dog will barely sniff anything dead or rotting. The perfect illustration between the two demeanors was when Honey-the-wild-thing came racing toward me with a tail hanging out of her mouth and I looked over at Bear-the-gentle-one and he was serenely nibbling on a wild sunflower stem. 
To sum up: dogs were once wolves and as such, catching and eating small animals is normal. The bunny was probably either already injured by another animal or hit by a car or something. You shouldn't have to worry about rabies if your dog's been vaccinated. Best thing for you to bring yourself to your happy place - mentally "look away" from the disgusting dead bunny feelings and let it go. Next time you'll remember to tell your dog to "Drop it."
I remember your posting about Honey and Bear here before. Sounds like she's happy as a clam with your family. I don't know how you could stomach the eating of critters either dead or alive... but then I can't even stand the sight of a dead critter, like that dead bunny Yoshi was so proud that he caught. Blah. I'm one of those people that has to quickly change the channel when watching nature programs just when the big cat is about to pounce on the grazer of choice and have lunch. Ick.
At least now I finally don't feel like there's a dozen dead bunnies in my pants.
I'm still annoyed with myself that I never once thought to just tell him to drop it. That would have saved me a whole lot of gross out. But I also noticed that the bunny carcass was no longer under the pine tree where I pitched it, so someone had a free meal.
we have big wild rabbits here and they like to graze on the good grass. Lady got a big rabbit, poor things they just die almost in fright as soon as a dog grabs them. 
beautiful rabbit, big with a healthy shiny fur! my lawn guy was here working, he didn't want to dispose of it. He cleaned it and said 'this is dinner', that's a good dog! 
"why not just tell him to drop it?" LOL. I can imagine being so surprised and freaked out though seeing a dead rabbit. We have so many jack rabbits around here and they are huge - almost as big as the fox I've seen in town...I'd be shocked if I saw a dead one in my dog's mouth!
We had a shi tzu/poodle cross when I was growing up who was an excellent mouser. This one year there was a huge rodent population explosion. It was near impossible to keep her from killing mice...she was SO fast, you wouldn't even know one was there until she had it in her mouth. Ick. Luckily we never had to tell her to drop it, because she did it anyway as soon as we'd scream. My mom was so paranoid about worms that she took the dog to the vet after she ate a mouse (we weren't fast enough to scream that time I guess) and got a year's supply of deworming pills (I'm not even sure a dog can get worms from eating mice...). I don't remember but I'm sure she had her teeth thoroughly scrubbed every single time. I remember my mom being frantic she couldn't stop the dog from chasing these mice - strong instinct - the dog must've been part cat or something. 
No way did I want any poochie smoochies after he'd just had his mouth all over a dead bunny. YUCK!
I can't imagine wild bunnies so big! One of my neighbors a few blocks away gets a HUGE long haired droopy eared bunny that he keeps in a bunny hutch that has an outside room and a cozy inside room the bunny can go in built into that he puts over his garden box all winter so all the bunny poop that drops through the bottom of the hutch fertilizes the garden box. Biggest damn bunny I ever saw. Hairy as hell too... it looked like a push broom without a handle.