I Smell A Rat!!!!!

[Barklessdog]

Visions of Good Bye My Lady..

I took my daughter to the comic book store and when we walk in, the lady working there (Yes, a girl working in comic store) has three pet rats climbing all over the counters loose!

I was shocked at first, but I went over to pet them and they were very friendly. One climbed on my sleeve for a few seconds.

When I get home my two basenji's go crazy sniffing my sleeve.

Three weeks later they are still sniffing it. The rat only walked on my sleeve for a very short time!

These dogs sense of smell is amazing. My tri while on a walk found a small bit of pizza crust in a yard which he was able to snatch before I saw it. Weeks later he still goes to that exact spot sniffing where he found it!

[thunderbird8588]

He must be hoping to find the rest of the Pizza :D

[AJs Human]

I had a pet rat once a long time ago…I gave her a rat cookie (yes, they actually make treats for rodents) and she ran behind the TV cabinet with it. A few minutes later, she came out from behind the TV cabinet without the cookie. I blocked the passage to that area with books and magazines to keep her out of the wiring and forgot about it.

A few months later, I had moved a pile of books to clean, forgot to put them back and let Fruit-Loop out of her cage. She immediately ran behind the TV cabinet and brought that cookie out, then sat down in a self-satisfied way and ate it. Dogs and rats...they don't forget where the goodies are. :D

[Basenjimamma]

I agree, I have never seen a dog use his/her nose as much as Otis does, it is on constantly..

The rat story is hilarious, I would've freaked out..Where I get the dogs raw food they have several rats, in cages, and a few of them are hairless..yuck.

[wizard]

One of my student workers had pet rats and when she would come with me to take Gossy to races, Gossy would not leave her alone - constantly sniffing her.
When we are on walks, sometimes Gossy will pick up the scent of something (mole or gopher or something) and then cast back and forth until she finally finds it or the hole.
Do they still have tracking events (I read about that in an old dog magazine)? I bet our beasties would be really good at it.

[Kananga]

@Basenjimamma:

I agree, I have never seen a dog use his/her nose as much as Otis does, it is on constantly..

I had a tough time knowing if my B was going to have an accident when I first got him. I was used to the old method of catching a dog before he/she would have an accident, by when they are sniffing around excessively. Problem is, my B does that a lot regardless. That old indicator was thrown out right away with him. But hey, he was housetrained pretty quickly so that makes up for it. :D

[tanza]

Our coursing friends have (not sure if they still do) ferret (not legal in California…) and she used to bring him to coursing events.... my Basenjis could smell that critter within 500ft...ggg... their noses went straight up and they followed the scent right to where she was sitting...

[Barklessdog]

I found it odd as they seem to get extra excited about the rat scent vs the other scents brought home - dogs, cats, horse & bunny.

Bunny would be next on the excitement list though after horse.

[NerdyDogOwner]

I would think they are extra interested in the smell because it is so foreign to them. So they keep sniffing it in hopes to identify it.