RATS!!!!!!!

Well.   After all my talking about dogs and our wonderful ability to be trained for scent detection – I JUST heard about another animal who is trying to steal our jobs!  Are you ready for THIS one?  It’s rats!  I’m not joking.  Apparently, the African giant pouched rat has been trained to detect explosives inside buried land mines.  They wear little harnesses and leashes and when they detect TNT, they halt and scratch the ground.  They say they are cheaper to acquire and transport than us dogs, and unlike dogs, do not become attached to their handlers.  They are also too light to actually detonate pressure activated mines – although most dogs are trained to stay far enough away from the explosives they find.

OK.  But rats will NEVER be guides for the visually impaired.  And I just can’t see them herding sheep.  Or acting as guarding animals.  Mind you, if my human ever saw one, she would run the other direction.

And speaking of scent work, my human set up a “scent detection course” for me the other night.  She had a series of boxes and a shoe and a glove and a bowl.  She would hide the treats and I had to find them – just like we do in class.  When she first started – she had also placed a stuffed octopus on the course.  THAT was not a bright idea.  Much as I LOVE treats, the temptation of grabbing that octopus was too much.  The octopus was QUICKLY removed – and the game was PERFECT after that.  The hard part was waiting every time she put the treats under something new.  Frodo and Paxton watched my ace ability from the other room.  Frodo screamed bloody murder for quite a while and then settled down until it was his turn.  He and Paxton got to search for the octopus in various rooms.   A good time was had by all. 

Hey – and there is another things those rats can’t do – they wouldn’t be able to retrieve.  So duck hunting would be out.  And schutzhund would be out.  Although, it COULD be interesting to watch. 

I think my human will stick with us canines – because remember – those rats don’t bond with humans the way we dogs do.  We have a truly special bond.  We provide unconditional love, joy, and entertainment.  Mind you, sometimes when I have done something bad – my human shouts out “RATS!”   Or something along those lines.  I wonder if rats like to chase bunnies….

©  Linda Wozniak