Dougal the dog was entertaining himself in the garden a couple of days ago. As I watched from the porch he stopped, picked up something grey, furry and dead and carried it around for a few seconds. Then he dropped it and went to sniff a bush. I had a look and as expected found the stiffening corpse of another rodent foolish enough to cross paths with Dougal, scourge of rats. I had always been under the impression that rats were intelligent creatures, but evidently this one hadn't been paying attention at rat school and was not simply passing through but had chosen to build its nest in the garden. I only discovered this the next day when Dougal, ably assisted by the lovely Bella, started collecting up the mini-rats and dropping them in the grass - five in total. After some tidying up work with the shovel and a plastic bag, it was biscuits and sausages all-round.