When I was growing up, there were a lot of outdoor mice in my old neighborhood, thanks to some very tall untended grass that was flattened periodically to build new homes in the area. My childhood golden used to routinely run around and catch mouses in his mouth, and then lay their prone bodies in front of my mother as gifts (She'd didn't take them in the spirit in which they were intended ).

So, last night, here I was in my current apartment with my current golden and saw a mouse. Twice. Inside. The dog showed absolutely no interest in it. I encouraged him to go kill it and he looked at my like "What are getting so worked up over? That's just my pal, Fred.". I wound up trying to catch the mouse myself and had to clear out things and move around furniture (At one point, a bookshelf went down). The dog went to the other room to hang out in his kennel. I think my attempts to catch the mouse were upsetting him.

I did at one point catch the mouse under my foot and figured "Oh, I weigh a ton, I'm sure I crushed it.", then lifted my foot and it ran off again. On the plus side, after knocking stuff over, I finally had to pack away some stuff and throw away some clutter to keep the place from getting totally out of hand unpresentable. So I guess I accomplished something.

The mouse, however, is still at large.

Of course, I went out with the dog this morning, and he immediately chased a squirrel up a tree. So, chasing squirrels outside=something he immediately wants to do. Chasing mice inside=no interest. He actually probably could have caught the mouse- no trees inside.

To bad you can't ask for partial rent from the mouse. I am sorry you haven't caught your mouse as of yet. It can be frustrating. But thanks for the story as it brought back some memories from the 1980's when I had my first mouse who came running around the stove and took a flying leap into the dogs dish filled with kibble (I free fed back then) I of course acted just like the cartoons and took a flying leap onto the kitchen counter. My lovely dog was laying right beside his dish. He lifted his head up looked at the mouse, looked at me and layed his head back down and went to sleep. From the counter I called the bowling alley on back then a land line phone to get my husband who was bowling with 4 of his friends and rode out there in one of their cars. Needless to say he said he was not going to make his friends drive him all the way home to catch a mouse. I was telling my husband that this mouse was going to climb into the crib and eat our baby. We were young and he didn't want his friends to laugh at him. I called my father in law who came over with a mouse trap put some peanut butter on it and we waited. (When my father in law came over I did get off the counter and sat in a chair. I felt he could protect me. The mouse eventually came back out and got caught and my brave and wonderful father in law saved the night.
Just another quick story when I was about 7 my then terrier mix managed to get a mouse outside. She did the chase-grab/bite/shake-then swallow. As I stood screaming (very tramatized). I guess it just depends on the dog.

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Fiona says she would like to come visit.

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Ahh...you're lucky! I WISH Cooper would ignore mice. He loves to catch and eat them .

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--Briana--

I bought a 4-pack of old-fashioned wooden mouse traps and baited them with peanut butter. Well, 3 of them. One was an obvious dud that I couldn't even get to snap my fingers, so I threw it away.

I placed a couple under the couch and one under the bed, so that my dog wouldn't trigger them in a mad peanut butter frenzy. That hasn't stopped him from trying, but he can't reach- for now anyway. Since he always fails in his attempts to get toys out from under things and runs over to get me to retrieve them for him (I was always given to understand that dogs retrieved things for humans and not the other way around, but that's not how my dog sees things ), he should be safe. If not, they aren't poisoned or anything, at least.

Frankly, I have my doubts about this working. These things just don't trigger very easily at all. Also, I can't cover much ground because of concerns about the dog (Who I now hear sighing in the other room trying and failing to retrieve the peanut butter ladden trap under the bed). If these were dog traps, I think I'd be in luck.

Most likely scenario: Mouse still on the lamb, apartment gets attracts hordes of ants (or worse yet, more mice) from the peanut butter. This neighborhood has *a ton* of ants. At first, I just thought my periodic ant issues were the result of my questionable bachelor housekeeping, but, having spoken with neighbors and such, apparently *everyone* here has ant problems. Right this second, I'm not having any, but laying peanut butter on the ground probably is going to change that.

Any idea how long I should keep give things to work before I can deem them failures and remove them to thwart a likely ant invasion? This is my first mouse related issue. I literally had to look up a youtube video to see how to set these traps. I probably should have bought ant traps to lay next to them.

Oddly, it's a fairly small apartment and I haven't seen this guy since last night. I did locate the hole I think he was coming from and sealed it with cardboard and masking tape (All I had on-hand). I think he could get through it, but I'd notice the tampering, and I don't see it. He's on my side of the seal for sure because the second sighting was after I put it up, unless he has another entrance or exit point.

Anyone have any mouse catching tips?

Now the dog is staring at me and sniffing the air in a distressed manner like "Where is the peanut butter? I can't find the peanut butter?!?! GIVE ME PEANUT BUTTER HUMAN!!!". I kind of feel bad for him.

Update: Dog is nudging me and growling, doing a dance, and indicating beneath the couch with his head. I think he wants the peanut butter.

I tried to pet him, but he is having none of that. He ducked and made a disgusted sound. Now he's chirping like a bird.

If she lived closer, I would invite her over. The idea of a mouse around here is driving me nuts. Don't get me wrong, as a guy I am not scared of mice. I almost crushed one under my shoe last night intentionally and would gladly do so again. I just find the idea of one on the loose in my domain- off-putting. Like they're running around crapping on things and spreading disease. One might nibble at me in my sleep, that sort of thing. I mean, I think we've all heard of the bubonic plague.

This is like a war now. Me versus the mouse. Unfortunately, so far the mouse has the upper hand.

I am exactly giving some thought at this point to renting a cat.

And I really don't like cats.

We use the old fashion mouse traps in the garage...they work great. The little bugger might now come out till night though, especially if your boy is dancing around and carrying on.

My cats just play with them to death or bring them to us as presents....