DEAD THING DETECTIVE

Came around the corner and caught the dog sneaking out of T's bedroom. I know her, she was on his bed. Then I realize she has something hanging out of her mouth. "Dang it! She's chewing up something of his." I grab the fuzzy rope hanging out of her mouth. "Drop it, Gany. Drop it."

Then I see them, two little feet are also dangling out of her mouth. Aaaaakkk!!

A rat. I have hold of a rat's tail. No, rats don't have hairy tails. A mouse tail. No. It's way too big. Shriek, shriek:"Out, Gany, out. Outside!" OMG did she kill that thing in the house? What the **** is it? I lock her out. Maybe having a dog door is a bad idea. Maybe that thing came into the house THROUGH THE DOG DOOR.

But of course, I took a pic. I thought my budding biologist could ID the tail. You know, the way an archaeologist can tell you where absolutely anything came from.

Strip the sheets on T's bed. No blood, no dog drool, no dead thing imprint. Whew! She just had it in her mouth. Hadn't had time to drop on the bed. She must have brought it in from outside.

She won't eat a dead thing in her own bed, too gross for a dog. But she'll use somebody else's. Ugghh.

She's scratching to come back in. No dead thing hanging out of her mouth anymore. I let her in. I better find the dead thing before she brings it back in or eats it then pukes and shits it all over the carpet. Lock her in this time. Find my shoes, grab MANY plastic grocery bags (environmentally bad, but those are handy), AND my iPhone, head down the steps and there it is on the first landing.

Eeeeoooo. I had my hand on it. So I text the pic to T. "What's this dead thing?" 

"I have no idea!"

I trash the dead thing. T later digs it out and gives it a look. "Maybe it's juvenile squirrel," he ventures. "Something from the rodent family." 

All I can say is --- for sure for sure for sure --- it's not a form of skunk, is it?