The oldest son again came by after work because I was going to get home late (Zumba night!) He texted me that Zeek ate a good amount. No success at rodent eradication.
When I finally got home from my long day of work and exercise, I found the door between the house and the garage slightly ajar! Visions of a rat boldly entering my home to pillage my pantry caused panic to flood over me. I sent a rude text to my son and he texted right back that the door was open when he came and he closed it. Apparently it pops open when not securely latched. I checked my cupboards and was relieved to see no evidence of anything ransacked by rodents. Neither did I find any desecration of shelves or cupboards in the garage.
I managed to bait a rat trap with peanut butter and put it in the rodent corner, back where Zeek couldn't get to it. When I took Zeek out to put him to bed a few hours later, I checked it. The peanut butter was gone but the trap was not sprung! And Zeek was very interested in that corner, sniffing and excitedly pawing around. Then he ran outside and drank a lot of water, so I got worried that maybe he got scratched or bit or something, but he looked fine. I said goodnight and left him in the garage. Pretty soon he let out a couple of wails. I went out and didn't see him at first because he was way back in his crate. He came out and went back to the rodent corner, actively trying to find something! I opened the outside door and huddled on the opposite wall hoping he would scare the creature into running outside. But no such luck.
We all survived the night, and this morning I took Zeek out for a three mile run. I met a neighbor lady walking about a mile down the road and was happy to set her mind at ease when she mentioned she wondered why she hadn't seen Will out walking Zeek for a couple of days.
As we approached our neighborhood, I was thinking fondly what a good dog Zeek is, and how I must tell Will how I appreciate the great job he has done training him. When we run by dogs in their own yard and they bark, he never barks back or tries to run over to them. When I call, he comes. He sees a dead rabbit and starts to sniff it, but as soon as I say leave it, he runs on. When we are away from houses, I let him off leash and he never runs too far ahead and always returns as soon as I call him. When I see a car and tell him to heel, he runs right along next to me.
Then I saw two people and a little dog approaching. Now Zeek does have one weakness - the great exuberance he displays when someone pays attention to him. To avoid any problem with overfriendliness, we crossed the street. When we got to the other side, Zeek made a mad dash in front of me to go water a clump of grass in the ditch, and the leash somehow got jerked underneath one of my sparkly newly manicured nails, bending it back and tearing it about halfway across the middle. Ouch! Ouch! Stupid dog! All day long that nail has painfully bumped things and caught on all those clothes I was trying on as I enjoyed a wonderful shopping trip with a friend while Zeek napped on the patio! Darn dog! When I got home, I tried to fix it with superglue. (The nail, not the dog) It feels better but did not improve the looks. If fact, if you lose control of superglue on your nail, it creates quite a mess.
My boys all come home for dinner on Sunday, and I have advised them that some rodent extermination efforts will need to be made before any food is provided. Oh jeepers, I just freaked out because out of the corner of my eye I saw something small and brown moving on the carpet. It was just Zeek's foot, the only part I can see as he's lying up against the couch sleeping. Good grief. Time for bed.
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