Monday, November 12, 2012

A Murderer Walks Amongst Us

 
 
Nope, it wasn't Salem. And it wasn't Professor Plum in the conservatory with the dagger, either. It was Oliver in Salem's stall with his cougar fangs and/or bear claws.

Now, I don't think I've ever officially introduced Oliver. He's been lurking in the background of many of my videos/pics, so you've probably seen him already. Oliver is a scrappy little terrier mix that I picked up off the street as a tiny puppy, about two weeks before Salem came down here from Chicago. A lot of people think he has rat terrier in him, maybe some Chihuahua, and goodness knows what else--I call him a Redland Terrier because I found him in the Redlands. ;-) I'm not a little dog person, but I guess the universe is trying to teach me a lesson. Because, really, how could you not fall in love with this guy?

 
His victim? One Ben Templeton (that is what all rats are named, in my mind). Time of death was around 10:45 pm. I was just finishing up grooming Salem when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small animal moving right underneath Saley-boo. I assumed it was a frog, but a half second later I realized it was a rat and started screaming bloody murder. Salem hit the roof, I started doing the "Omg, it's gonna run up my leg!" hippity-hop dance whilst continuing my blood-curdling scream, and Oliver jumped up like a rocket and chased the rat into Salem's stall. About two seconds later, I heard a squeal and assumed Oliver had chased it off, so I peered around the stall door.


This rat has ceased to be
 
Luckily, it didn't take Salem long to settle down after all the commotion/murder. Of course, he didn't have to deal with cleaning up the crime scene. Lucky bastard. :-) 


"Sorry, can't help ya, Mom. Don't have opposable thumbs."


"I killed it. You clean it up."
 
Now, I'm a pretty tough girl--I've jumped out of an airplane twice, gone cliff-diving in Jamaica with some people I kind of thought might kill me, and done a million other ridiculously dangerous/stupid things without batting an eyelash. However, when it comes to doing things like cleaning up potentially disease-carrying corpses, I am a total pussy. I did manage to suck it up and unceremoniously scoop the rat and all surrounding shavings into a wheelbarrow, and that's as far as I got. Mr. Templeton is still in the wheelbarrow and he will remain there until someone else deals with his cold little corpse.

I thought Salem might smell rat corpse fumes (?) once he got back to his stall and wig out again, but fortunately he was totally chill.

 
He still always yawns like crazy before I let him eat his late-night snack. It's now just his routine.




Oliver, however, had to give the stall a once-over to make sure that Salem was safe and sound before we left.


I will, of course, call my vet's office tomorrow, but does anyone know if Oliver will need any sort of preventative treatments since he just had his mouth around a dirty rat? He's just about due for his shots, but I'm wondering if he could get leptosperosis or something. ??? Fingers crossed that he will be okay.

9 comments:

Kristen Eleni Shellenbarger said...

So funny! Oliver is adorable! :)
Btw, I WORK with a builder by the name of Ben Templeton. I will NEVER jump out of a plane but I would have been happy to scoop up that dead little soul, no probs.

Frizzle said...

Lol, the reason I call them Ben Templeton is because...hhhhmmmm...three barns ago, we had quite a few rats. At first we called them trapeze rats because they were always running across the pipes, but then we decided they needed names. I said Templeton b/c of Charlottes's web, another boarder said Ben b/c of a Michael Jackson video. So, they were all named Ben Templeton and now I just think that's what all rats are named. :-)

I'm not so much afraid of the body as I am diseases--I have this irrational fear that I will accidentally touch the rat and then I will die of some weird rat disease. Yes, totally irrational. :-D But I do know someone whose dad died of leptosperosis, from eating some fruit or something that, I don't know, a rat peed on or whatnot. So, I guess there's *some* validity to it, although certainly not much.

eventer79 said...

Poor Templeton. I have a weakness for rats. They are freaking smart, I always wanted a pet rat, they can learn more than dogs. Oh, who am I kidding, I have a weakness for everything alive. Except people.

But pups will be fine. The general public seems to have this impression that all wildlife are diseased killers, but in fact, most are quite benign. You will be fine. Just deposit Templeton in the trash or manure pile. Or I chuck found victims in the woods so they can be eaten by someone else. Circle of energy and all.

Frizzle said...

Eventer, I love *most* animals, but not rats (their tails freak me out). Or athropods. Pretty much anything else is cool with me (and I don't eat any of them, either, so that should count for something, right?). I did feel bad for poor little Ben Templeton, though.

I called my vet today and they said Oliver could get leptosperosis since he hasn't been vaccinated, but it's unlikely. He's due for vaccines later this month, so they will give him the vaccine then in case he kills any more rats.

SprinklerBandit said...

Your dog is a ratter?? That is almost cool enough to offset the fact that there are rats where you live. Yuck!

Rats may be smart, but yeah, the tails and creeping around in the dark? So not my thing.

Frizzle said...

Yep, there are rats here. :-P At this barn, I didn't see a single one for almost two months. Have only seen two so far, including this one. But we only have one very, very shy barn cat, so no huge surprise.

We do have a whole lot of very annoying wild peacocks, though!

Calm, Forward, Straight said...

What a good dog!! He certainly look s satisfied in that last shot. :D

Achieve1dream said...

I'm so glad we don't have rats here! *shudder* Or if we do I'm not aware of them lol. I'm more freaked out by the diseases than the rats too. It sounds like you're just like me in that regard (or I'm like you) lol!

Oliver is adorable!!!!! I love his collar. :D

Achieve1dream said...

Oh and I totally LOVE the fact that you have a Charlotte's Web and a Clue reference all in one post. Awesome!!!!