<p>ZM: <totally highjacking=“” the=“” thread=“” here=“”> standard poodles were originally bred as all-around farm dogs. They catch vermin, retrieve, herd, keep your feet warm and play bridge with you at night. (I’m corrupting a line from Anne Rogers Clark, one of the most famous poodle breeders out there.) They may not be macho, but they get the job done. And they don’t shed while they’re doing it.</totally></p>
<p>
I love doggy info. I don’t think I’ve ever known a poodle personally. I always had labs growing up, except for a high-maintenance pommeranian/chihuaua (no glasses today, so I’m having trouble with double letters) mix.</totally></p>
<p>My dog, a Boston Terrier, would have no problem going after the mouse. I’m not sure he could hold onto it because I don’t think he would just pop it in is mouth. I think he would dawdle and it would slip away. If he had it in his mouth, he would run from me because he would assume I would try to take it away from him.</p>
<p>Old saying (did someone mention it already?): If you think you have a mouse, you have a mouse. If you see a mouse, you have mice.</p>
<p>We have had mice in the past, and probably do now, too (out in the country).</p>
<p>Terriers are often good at going after mice; other types of dogs, not so much.</p>
<p>My terrier would turn his snotty nose up at a mouse. Not for him to work! His life involves lounging in the sun and being treated as the king my daughter has taught him that he is. Although he has been known to nip a mother-in-law or newspaper lady who interrupted his leisure.</p>
<p>After our last cat died, it took almost a year for mice to start repopulating the house. We got another cat when we got tired of the mice. My wife is very allergic to cats, but much prefers them to mice. Years ago, I learned that everyone in our neighborhood belonged to one of two groups: People with cats, or people with mice.</p>
<p>Dogs are useless. The first time we got mice, we found out about it because our dog couldn’t sleep in the kitchen anymore, she was so afraid of the mice.</p>
<p>(EDIT: I don’t mean dogs are useless in general. I think dogs are the greatest. But they are useless against mice. Traps and poison are pretty useless, too. They control the population somewhat, at a high cost of disgustingness, but don’t eliminate the problem. A cat eliminates the problem, like yesterday.)</p>
<p>I had not planned to get another cat, but I may have to reconsider. I’m not ready yet - seems to just be a set up for heartache right now, but my extended family has suffered a lot of animal losses in the last few months.</p>
<p>Poodles are extremely smart and agile dogs and yes, they can catch vermin! Even my GSD used to catch yard pests in his younger days. His “catch” included shrews, a crow, a small bird that literally flew into his open mouse, moles, mice…</p>
<p>cartera, I’m so sorry about your kitty. I lost both of my cats a year and a half ago, and the heartache was unbearable. I had not planned on getting another cat, but it only took one visit to a local shelter to change our minds, and soon our new cat was joined by another shelter rescue kitten.</p>
<p>You can also use one of those elecric mousetraps made by Victor. The mouse gets zapped as soon as it gets inside without any mess, and you can dumped his cold, dead body into the trashcan. There is an indicator light that tells you there is something inside. We use them in our garage because our dog, who is seriously addicted to peanuts, can’t leave baited glue and other open traps alone. The only downside is that these traps need new batteries once in a while.</p>
<p>Ok, you can borrow my cat or my yorkie. I think both would be good for the job. Unfortunately for ceilings and attics, probably not so much. We had flying squirrels in the attic, and a few mice too. When we put in the electric border fence for the dog, they left a small hole in the wall, and they were getting in and crawling all the way up. Once we found the hole, we sealed it and it seemed to fix things. I used a professional exterminator, and still get regular service to check the attic. I don’t do attics. BTW don’t worry about the electric fence. Some time ago, DH left the dog collar on top of the car, and I drove away without realizing it, so we don’t use it.</p>
<p>Oh, god. The sticky traps even broke my heart. The mouse flails and screams for hours. Hannibel Lechter wouldn’t use those things.</p>
<p>Use the poison. Kill the mice. You don’t have to know nothin’. I’ve tried them all. With the poison, they just get really sleepy and keel over. Everytime I pull the trash compactor out from the cabinets, I throw a box of the pellets behind it, just as a precaution.</p>
<p>Decaying mouse corpses are not a smell issue. They are small and dry quickly. I had one that I believe bit into an electrical wire and electrocuted hisself. Found the mummy years later next to the wire in the basement.</p>
<p>I had to read the whole thread - even though I have no mice in the house, just gophers in the yard.</p>
<p>But you should get another cat. Even if its not a mouser. Everyone needs a cat :)</p>
<p>My Boston Terrier has caught (and dispatched) several mice. And she has grabbed several birds out of the air–they were stupid enough to think that a five foot margin was safe enough!</p>
<p>Don’t know about the rest of you, but my screen has a big Orkin ad on top and on the left border of the page. The ad on the left has about a dozen HUGE cockroaches crawling through it. All this talk about vermin, I guess. YUCK.</p>
<p>Ewww! I got the roaches, too!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Aw, that’s sweet. Years ago my good friend and I rented a condo together while establishing ourselves as competent professionals. One night, we saw a mouse run under the fridge. We were pretty freaked and promptly bought a mousetrap. Several times we came home from work to find the cheese gone but no mouse. I think we finally tried peanut butter, and bingo, the next night there was a mouse corpse in the trap. I looked at her and said, “Ok, you get rid of it.” She retorted “NO WAY. You do it!” After further debate, we finally called her boyfriend, who proceeded to drive 28 miles to our condo to dispose of the little rodent. As he walked out of our condo holding the dead mouse by the tail, I looked at her and said, “Wow. He really loves you, doesn’t he?” A few months later, he proposed. 22 years and 3 kids later, they are still happily married and he still handles the bugs and rodents for her when need be.</p>
<p>I’ve always used humane traps for mice, and rats as well. (More of a rat problem where I live, though I did have an interesting time when year when a whole family of mice moved under the living room couch). I live right near very large open spaces and lots of critters – a rat is no problem whatsoever compared to a skunk nesting in the crawlspace. </p>
<p>Anyway, the humane mice traps do have to be monitored every day that they are out – it seems over time that mice get wise to the trap so its helpful to be a little creative about placement. The releasing part is pretty easy, but you want to put the trap in a secure, enclosed box in your car - and then drive at least a mile away, preferably up some road somewhere far from any houses. </p>
<p>Sometimes after I released the little mousies out in the middle of some field, I would look up in the sky and see a circling hawk. The hawk was probably thinking “mmm, dinner!” So any way it goes, the life of a mouse is not an easy one. </p>
<p>(And as far as house pests… there is nothing that annoys me nor is more persistent than ants. No sooner have I gotten rid of one hoard of invaders than a whole new army renews the attack. I don’t even try for “humane” with them.)</p>
<p>The Orkin ad has been replaced by an ad for Clemson telling me that a Clemson tiger is solid orange. What can this mean?</p>
<p>Ants and rats - I knew you were from California before I read your name, Calmom. Once those ants come you can never, ever get rid of them!</p>
<p>WOW. I had my pest man set traps when tree rats came back into my house. B/f bought poison too. The trouble with poison is you have to know where they go to die. b/f got rid of both of them, so I guess I’ll keep him around.</p>
<p>I have used the poison in with great success. After a few days I went go around and stuffed steel wool around areas where plumbing comes into the house. My cats gave me a very good indication of where those areas were.</p>
<p>One time we had gone camping and a mouse had gotten in our car. We didn’t use the car for about a week afterward so the mouse died inside somewhere, we never found it. But gosh did we smell it!!</p>