Adventures in owning a Jack Russell Terrier

Well, it was bound to happen.  There's been a squirrel, a couple of birds, and he's almost got a snake.

But tonight el Bandito, our not-so-little Jack Russell Terrier, got an opossum.

Willis had let the dogs out, like he normally does when he gets home from work.  As I was sitting inside, I thought I heard a cat yelp and Willis faintly yell something.  I assumed Banjo was chasing a cat down into the front yard (this happens a decent amount).  I opened the front door - looked right - looked left.  I saw nothing.  I heard nothing.  So, I decided to go back to what I was doing.

To make sure it was really nothing, I went out back.

And there he was.  His long-line tangled in the raised beds and cloches.  With an opossum dangling from his mouth.

I ran in to get some hot dogs, raw dog food, and the chuck-it to distract Bandit from the kill, but no luck.  It was dark, so I couldn't really tell where the head of the opossum was, or if it was really dead.  Willis ran in to get a flash light and his leash so that if he did dropped it, he could be quickly swept away.

Eventually...he dropped it.  Not for the food.  Not for the chuck-it.  But for a second, he let the opossum lie.  Willis walked him inside and we got to work on disposing of the dead body.

I'm not really sure of the best way to get rid of a dead opossum, but we wanted it out of our yard.  The lady at Dove Lewis said to double bag it and throw it in the trash.  Which sounded simple enough.  But if you're like us, you're convinced that even though the lungs are coming out of it's mouth and there is blood everywhere, that the opossum is full of rabies and is just "playing."  So when either of us went near it, we freaked out.

So here's what we did:  we placed one bag in a bucket, Willis shoveled the opossum into the bag, we both gagged and almost threw up multiple times (I swear that opossum released any and every possible anal gland it could), and then put that bag in another bag.

Currently Listening To:
Bandit - still whining to be let outside (it's been over an hour).