In our backroom, I have a bookshelf. The top half is books, the bottom half is shelving with baskets with "supplies." - things we use, but not too often. The idea, eventually, is to have drawers above the baskets, but those are yet to be built. The baskets had become a catch all for anything that didn't have an assigned spot. As they were overflowing, new pup Billy decided it was a good place to grab his newest "toy" from. This "toy" could be a bottle of glue, yes eaten and now all over the yard (guess it doesn't harden quickly enough in the intestines to glue him shut - whew) but not a pretty picture anyway. Or, a second "toy" bottles of alcohol ink, chewed on the carpet. As luck would happen, this playtime was interrupted quickly enough that while many were punctured, no ink had gotten on the rug. Dog toys...
In our enclosed porch off the back room, I have planters with items I am trying to winter over (primarily geraniums). It was a mess, with dirt everywhere- new pup Bill again- digging up bulbs, knocking over planters- actually climbing on shelves. What the HECK???!!!
Anywho, about three weeks ago, we came home from somewhere and Bill was standing in the middle of the backyard with something in his mouth. He had that proud look. Ken said stick, I said no... something else. It ended up he had a mouse tail sticking out of his mouth...the rest of the mouse was inside his mouth. Ken took care of that, and praised him. Within an hour, he jumped up in Kens lap with another. this time, the head was in his mouth, with the rest of the mouse hanging out. Once again he got praised.
It was at that time that I thought the mess on the enclosed patio and his mouse hunting success may be connected. I cleaned the room really well, and did find a few signs that mice had been there, but not a lot.
Fast forward to last week...and I started hearing noises in the backroom. and then, discovered two little holes in the dogfood bag...and set traps...and caught two more mice in a day. After two more days of nothing and no sounds, we think the issue is resolved. So, I thoroughly cleaned and disinfected all the shelving etc in the back room. All is now well (except maybe not for the mice)
So, as I was cleaning and found more evidence... I decided this may be why Billy was aggressively gathering "toys" from the baskets: his attempts to rid us of mice.
He would bring us mice and we (Ken) would praise him. He would get into stuff and we would chastise him. I am sure it was quite confusing. I hearby apologize for calling him William the Terrible in a facebook post. However, that said, the mice appear to be gone, and he is still digging in the flower pots. He has not gotten into the baskets again. Progress... and really, what the title refers to as spring cleaning was really just my attempt to make sure the mice were not moving in. However, it has motivated me to continue the purge projects... the downstairs bathroom is next!
In our enclosed porch off the back room, I have planters with items I am trying to winter over (primarily geraniums). It was a mess, with dirt everywhere- new pup Bill again- digging up bulbs, knocking over planters- actually climbing on shelves. What the HECK???!!!
Anywho, about three weeks ago, we came home from somewhere and Bill was standing in the middle of the backyard with something in his mouth. He had that proud look. Ken said stick, I said no... something else. It ended up he had a mouse tail sticking out of his mouth...the rest of the mouse was inside his mouth. Ken took care of that, and praised him. Within an hour, he jumped up in Kens lap with another. this time, the head was in his mouth, with the rest of the mouse hanging out. Once again he got praised.
It was at that time that I thought the mess on the enclosed patio and his mouse hunting success may be connected. I cleaned the room really well, and did find a few signs that mice had been there, but not a lot.
Fast forward to last week...and I started hearing noises in the backroom. and then, discovered two little holes in the dogfood bag...and set traps...and caught two more mice in a day. After two more days of nothing and no sounds, we think the issue is resolved. So, I thoroughly cleaned and disinfected all the shelving etc in the back room. All is now well (except maybe not for the mice)
So, as I was cleaning and found more evidence... I decided this may be why Billy was aggressively gathering "toys" from the baskets: his attempts to rid us of mice.
He would bring us mice and we (Ken) would praise him. He would get into stuff and we would chastise him. I am sure it was quite confusing. I hearby apologize for calling him William the Terrible in a facebook post. However, that said, the mice appear to be gone, and he is still digging in the flower pots. He has not gotten into the baskets again. Progress... and really, what the title refers to as spring cleaning was really just my attempt to make sure the mice were not moving in. However, it has motivated me to continue the purge projects... the downstairs bathroom is next!
ah! puppies! Good boy to discover the mice, if only they could talk, we can be kind of slow, huh? Great story.
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