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A Tale of Two Yorkies... and a Rat

Summation- We decided (that would be Mike and me and not the voices in my head and me) that after Jane's unfortunate 6th grade experience we would take the opportunity our move provided to "redo" 6th grade and make Jane older for her grade from here on out. Jane was pretty overwhelmed, hopeful, and heartbroken. I had to do something- I threw a dog into the bargain. A Yorkie to be precise. Jane researched and discovered that Yorkies were cheaper in Germany than in the States- by alot. We picked out a cute little Yorkie puppy that was supposed to grow to be a hefty 6-9 lbs. I know that little 3 pounders are all the rage but I could just see Ellyn or Sawyer reenacting a disturbing scene from Of Mice and Men. A month later we picked out a little friend for our young pup, also with the potential of reaching a whopping 9 lbs. Just so you know, Yorkies were once bigger dogs, they began to breed them to be small up in Scotland, so the wee lads could get into the small crevices and kill the rats.

Skip ahead a year. Our cute little Yorkies now weigh in at 17 and 21 pounds. I don't know either.

Thursday, as we were waiting for Ellyn to come home from school so that we could go on our walk Joe and Cody started going crazy and barking at something near my van. I decided to let go of their leashes and let them chase what I was fairly certain was a bird. A bird that would fly away. They rushed around the van and up into the bush next to our garage. They became very busy, doing something. All of the sudden I envisioned them cornering a skunk and I decided to retrieve their leashes. As I walked up the path there was a high pitched squealing and suddenly a huge brown rat with its side torn away came clambering out of the bushes. I was a little freaked and yanked the dogs away. The rat sprawled across a big flat rock and lay with its "arm" outstretched. I thought it was dead. Ellyn's bus arrived and I loaded her into the wagon with Sawyer and we left for our walk. I knew I would have to deal with the dead rat, but I wasn't going to do it with two small children and two crazy dogs.

All through our walk I envisioned the rat and its final pose and all I could think about was a scene from The Secret of Nimh. Is it just me or are there a disproportionate number of movies centered around a mouse or a rat? Stuart Little, Ratatouille, Tales of Despereaux, Flushed Away, to name a few. I know some of these were books first, however, they are not books I have read. My reading material is decidedly rodent free.

When we arrived home from our walk the rat was gone. That was creepy. I could just see a desperate, ravaged rat leaping at us as we made our way up to the door. We went up to the back door.

So... Sadie and I came home from dropping Jane off with her dad and there was the rat, sitting on the path. It limped pathetically from one side of the path to the other. Up to the back porch again. I called Mike and he told me that if I was so disturbed I should go drop a huge rock on it and put it out of its misery. I went out to look for it and found it, huddled under a bush. I couldn't get a good angle and I had to leave it to die a long, slow death. This morning I found the rat- Dead- in front of the door to my van.

The point? Not one really. Just a disturbing experience. I called the vet to make sure the dogs would be okay and they kind of laughed at me. I have to say that my estimation of the dogs went up just a bit AND I had a great deal more sympathy than I thought I would for a rat. THE END

Comments

Mindi said…
Wow Brooke, that is a disturbing experience. And I agree that cartoons twist our minds into rodent compassion, undeserved.
April 27, 2009 at 1:37 AM
Julie said…
That is really sad. I have always thought life would be so much easier if mice would dress up in clothes and wear little wooden shoes.
April 28, 2009 at 7:27 PM
Jen Hamner said…
Things that make you go, Bluuhhhhhh!!
April 28, 2009 at 10:42 PM
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