Late last night, I went into the kennel to scratch Babe's back, say good night, and turn off the light. I had done the first two and was reaching to do the last when some extra blood on the newspaper covering the floor caught my eye.
With Taya having recently been in heat, I was used to seeing spots of blood on the paper. But this blood did not look like that.
Had Babe hurt herself? I went into the room for further inspection.
Babe appeared to be fine. I looked around and saw, too, some "extra" drops of blood on a dog bed I have in there. "This is strange."
Then I noticed some paper bunched up on the other side of Babe's crate that is also in the room for her to sleep in. I lifted the top layer of paper and saw more blood. Lifted all the paper and jumped a foot in surprise. There was a large, dead rat!
Partly, my surprise was that Babe was fast and stealthy enough to catch a rat in a room that it would have no trouble getting out of. In the doorway, there is a metal dog gate with vertical bars through which it must have entered. Babe did not give it a chance to escape.
Rats are smart and they are fast but Babe, obviously, had been smarter and faster. Good girl, Babe!
I was also surprised that there was a rat in there in the first place. I have not seen evidence of rats or mice around since I began feeding Kiki the (formerly stray) cat. Besides that, my dogs do not let "visitors" go unannounced. They are very good at detecting them and telling me about them.
It was midnight (their time) but I called the Knolls. Patt: "Babe caught a rat!" Stan: "Yeah. She's a good dog. I'm going back to bed."
After I took the rat out - OUT! - I took pictures. And measured it. The body was a full eight inches from nose to base of tail. Naturally, being a rat, the tail was nearly that long.
I told the Knolls today that if Babe catches another rat I am keeping her. They can have Kiki instead.
With Taya having recently been in heat, I was used to seeing spots of blood on the paper. But this blood did not look like that.
Had Babe hurt herself? I went into the room for further inspection.
Babe appeared to be fine. I looked around and saw, too, some "extra" drops of blood on a dog bed I have in there. "This is strange."
Then I noticed some paper bunched up on the other side of Babe's crate that is also in the room for her to sleep in. I lifted the top layer of paper and saw more blood. Lifted all the paper and jumped a foot in surprise. There was a large, dead rat!
Partly, my surprise was that Babe was fast and stealthy enough to catch a rat in a room that it would have no trouble getting out of. In the doorway, there is a metal dog gate with vertical bars through which it must have entered. Babe did not give it a chance to escape.
Rats are smart and they are fast but Babe, obviously, had been smarter and faster. Good girl, Babe!
I was also surprised that there was a rat in there in the first place. I have not seen evidence of rats or mice around since I began feeding Kiki the (formerly stray) cat. Besides that, my dogs do not let "visitors" go unannounced. They are very good at detecting them and telling me about them.
It was midnight (their time) but I called the Knolls. Patt: "Babe caught a rat!" Stan: "Yeah. She's a good dog. I'm going back to bed."
After I took the rat out - OUT! - I took pictures. And measured it. The body was a full eight inches from nose to base of tail. Naturally, being a rat, the tail was nearly that long.
I told the Knolls today that if Babe catches another rat I am keeping her. They can have Kiki instead.
