Remember when I thought my dog was paranoid?

Well. It turns out all this time of having sleepless nights with Ripley, that he actually had a reason to be barking.

I knew from his bark there was SOMETHING upsetting him. I just couldn't see anything so I thought he was being paranoid.

Until this morning....

My mum saw a RAT come out from behind our coal bunker, and then run straight back in behind it, before coming out AGAIN and looking at her!

I went out and with the dogs, started digging for the Rat. Ripley KNOWS it's there so he was right on the trail, but Milo and Tucker were un-phased. I guess they haven't saw it yet... But Rip knows it's there and he's not happy.

I dug out everything around the bunker (the bunker is full so I can't move it) and next thing Ripley was dancing around my Taxidermy shed. The bugger's fled to under my shed!

I never leave dog food lying outside (it's kept inside and there's never any scraps when Rip and Milo are concerned) so I can only think the smell of dead animals I work on has attracted it, tho this is a first as I've been doing Taxidermy for over 3 years and have never had this happen. :001_unsure:


Well. I apologised to Ripley for not believing him, and now I'm trying to figure out how to deal with this. I'm not sure what Ripley will do if he actually got to the rat, will he actually kill it or play with it? He seems determined to get to it but when he does... I've no idea. They've never killed anything before.

I'm not confident rat traps or poison will work either. I've read rats are becoming immune to poisons, and they're already smart enough to evade traps.

In short. This whole time my dog has been trying to tell me we've got a rat living in our yard. I'm sorry I doubted you, Ripley D;

 

Trying to put down poison or poisoned bait would be impossible with dogs about I would think. Be ready for a vet trip to suture noses if Ripley goes looking too. They do say we're never more than 10 yards from a rat in England. Oh joy,oh rapture.

 

There is a thing where you catch the rat in the tràp alive. Im sure b and q sell it. You put peanut butter or chocolate in it to attract them plus its safe for your pooches

 

Thankfully the dogs have a pen that I use to close them into when necessary (like coal man visits/extremely bad weather, or when we are moving stuff in/out of the yard).

I could pen them up for a night and bait the yard with poison. I just don't think the poison will work. :S

A friend I know DOES have a live trap, he used to keep chickens and had rat problems constantly... I'll have to go pay him a visit to lend it then c:

 

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We've got a rat in our garage - it's been there for weeks. It's too clever to go anywhere near the trap whatever food we put in it. As the garage has an interior door opening onto the hall where Bess is when we go out I was paranoid about putting poison down, but we had to resort to it as it could get into the house.

You can put the poison inside tubes which a dog can't get into - rats however like going into small dark places. OH has put it up somewhere which Bess could not get to. That said, she's not once been able to get into the garage, but I wouldn't want to take chances.

There's a lot of rats about since they've cut the fields down, so if you live in the country that could be the reason. I've seen a number running across the garden, but as long as they don't come near the house I'll tolerate them. Be careful with your dead animals - you might find they get nibbled if they get into your shed!

 

We had one of those live rat trap things in our chicken house, we didn't catch a thing in two years! If you do choose to put poison down, keep an eye out for dead rats so your dogs don't nibble on them What we found worked best was digging up the floor and nests and scattering the rats, letting the dogs do what they thought best. Could be difficult if you can't move the bunker though.

We found a dead rat in the garden of the house we have now, and I've seen the odd one on the lawn at night. To be honest, I don't worry about it as long as they aren't making a nuisance of themselves, you'll never eradicate them completely.

 

We have a couple behind the rabbits. I've put poison down, but I think I'm just going to set some bait one night and have someone shoot them. They're not really bothering anyone, the rabbits hutches aren't being broken into. But if your dogs aren't up to date with their lepto jab then make sure they don't drink out of the water in your garden.

 

I honestly thought you put 'catch the rat in a trap and bbq it...' :sosp:
Need my eyes testing... :lol:

 

Well guys. We got a loan of a live trap from my dads cousin, baited it, and waited.

Days past and we had nothing, so we started to think the rat fled the area.

Was greeted with a surprise this morning!!



This was one angry rat, it kept lunging at me through the cage! :yikes:
Must not be happy about being out-witted.

My dad's getting rid of it in the forest this evening, but with how Ripley was acting earlier I think we might have another rat so we're gonna bait the trap again and see..

 

Hello Mr Ratty... :laugh: