In the past week, the dogs have gotten even more enthusiastic about ratcatching. Esme has caught five out of six rats, and Dagmar has gone from being scared of the chicken house to being excited about going in and getting rats. The one that got away was excusable, as it was dark and they were out of practice.

Dagmar now owns her team role of game flusher, yipping and chasing the rats. Esme follows her around and then shoulders her aside to dive in and grab the rat. The other night as I was closing up the coop I saw a pair of rats under the feeder and I brought Dagmar into the coop to show them to her. She used to cringe and whine when I put her in the coop, trying to hide from the chickens. This time, though, when she saw the rat run across the floor she ignored the chickens entirely and just chased the rats.

Now, whenever I walk toward the stairs to the garage, both dogs start leaping around. When I let them out of doggy jail, they head straight for the door, practically vibrating with, "Lemme at 'em! Lemme at 'em! I'll murdelize 'em!"

It's a milestone, and I'm so proud.