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;
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;