An Early Morning Incident

 Although there has been, since the incident of a few weeks ago, no further evidence of rats in my house, I do still become a bit paranoid about it from time to time and so will occasionally put out a sticky trap at night. These I place beneath the chair where the rats had been previously discovered. 

I did so last night, having suddenly imagined rats for some reason, and went to bed reminding myself to pick up the trap in the morning to ensure that the little puppies that regularly visit my house during the day wouldn't find it.

I should have known at the time that nothing I remind myself of before sleeping ever survives the night anymore. To the contrary, I spend the first half-hour or so of every morning in a dull-witted, partially conscious state devoted to a very few mechanical tasks such as opening the doors and window drapes, turning on my phone, making a cup of tea (which consists of holding the cup and teabag under the hot water dispenser), and then staggering to the chair on the front patio to have a smoke and drink the tea. 

So it happened that when the first puppy of the day came bounding into the driveway and then into the house, I thought not much of it (for I think not much of anything at this early hour). I did slowly become aware however of some various thumping and bumping noises from within the house, which led to my first cogent thought of the day outside of those involved in the morning routine. "Oh! I forgot to check the trap. Had I caught a rat after all?"

Hurrying in to investigate, I found that I had not caught a rat. I had, however, caught a puppy. 

I find the little dog rolling around on the floor, half under the chair and half out, in a desperate struggle with this sticky trap. The task of freeing the puppy from the trap was a fairly traumatic one. The more I tried to calm him down and pry him free, the more he panicked and the louder he howled. Ultimately, we both came out of the thing pretty sticky and breathless. It's not easy to help a puppy who believes you are trying to kill him. 

I do know now, in any case, that these traps work on puppies as well as rats, should that information ever become useful.