The joys of dog ownership

Disclaimer: If you have a weak stomach DO NOT read this post. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I love my dogs. They are wonderful creatures and my life would be boring and sometimes lonely without them. They make me laugh, keep me company and keep our yard cat free. But some things they do are disgusting! My dachshund, Oscar, is a hunter. I will never forget the day he caught and killed a mouse and brought it in the house to lay at my feet. He looked up at me with such a proud look on his face and I screamed bloody murder - at which point he dove under the bed terrified! I was living with my brother at the time and he had to come save me from the dead mouse. Once it was disposed of I had to coax Oscar out from under the bed and tell him good dog. Oscar has also caught a bird out of the air and killed it, has brought me a living, baby snake to the back door (this also involved some screams on my part), and is a ferocious spider killer (well wolf spiders anyway.)

Last week, I heard Eric yelling at Oscar in the backyard. I didn't think much of it seeing as how stubborn Oscar is and I assumed Eric was trying to get him in the house. It turns out Oscar was carrying a dead rat (yes RAT) around in his mouth. We assumed he killed it (doxies were, after all, bred originally to chase and kill badgers in their burrows.) Then, on Tuesday, I look outside and discover he has another rat. I ran out screaming at him to drop it, which he does, and as I looked at it I realize that he probably didn't kill it but that it was already dead (no teeth holes.) I chase the dogs inside and leave the rat in the yard for Eric to pick up when he gets home. He does. About this same time I see Oscar with something in his mouth but by the time Eric and I get out there whatever it was is gone. We turn to see Katie (the boxer) doing something out of character for her and sure enough she had the rat. We both yell at her to drop it, which was a bad idea, as she decides that means play and starts running from us. Unfortunately, the back door is open and she runs inside with Eric chasing her trying to get the rat out of her mouth. All I can see is the tail. I turn the corner to our room and she is in her kennel licking her chops. Yep, she swallowed it whole! Now I am really concerned because three dead rats in one week isn't normal and I fear that someone is poisoning them. I call our vet who tells us that she must be made to vomit. We go to the nearest emergency vet and $80 later we have a very sick dog and a very slobbery rat (which the vet disposed of.) Yuck!

Now it is decided that the dogs cannot go outside without us. Every time they go out one or both of us book it directly to the corner where the rats were coming from (in my neighbor's unmowed grass naturally.) On Wednesday Dora (the mutt) is messing with something near the fence. I go out and see what I think is a small, dead mouse. I yell at Eric to bring a bag out to pick it up and when he does it squeaks. We look at each other and look in the bag and sure enough it is a living, breathing baby rat...so young it doesn't even have it's eyes open! Now I am torn between disgust for the disease carrying rodent and heartbreak knowing that one of those dead rats we had picked up was probably this baby's mother. I want to tell Eric to get rid of it but then I am also thinking about bottle feeding the dang thing. I tell Eric to deal with it and when he comes back in he tells me he couldn't put it in the trash can alive so he crushed it's skull. I looked at him and dissolved into tears. It was just a defenseless baby after all but it probably would have died anyway, right? I am tearing up a little right now just thinking about it. Sigh.