MODS: this may be in IMHO territory so feel free to move if you feel appropriate.
It seems we have some field mice living in our garage (don’t ask me how I know this).
In the past I have laid out snap traps and been able to get rid of them in short order, but I have a 6 month old puppy who is extremely curious and goes through the garage on his way out to the dog run.
I know the dog will find any traps I put down and end up getting hurt in the process. Is there a better product I can use that dogs will generally ignore and doesn’t contain poison?
There are glue traps, which have the added benefit of making the mice suffer a slow and painful death.
But with snap traps you just have to cover them up. Put them inside a small cardboard box with both ends cut off, or just behind a board leaning against the wall.
Could you leash him as he goes through the garage? I mean, it may be a good idea to start teaching him not to root around in there on his way out anyway. It’s a garage- there’s bound to be things you don’t want him in out there eventually. Antifreeze, fertilizer, saw blades, mouse traps… I would take this as an opportunity to train him to walk straight through without nosing around in everything. It will come in handy later anyway.
Excellent point about the antifreeze. I’ve heard of several dogs who died from ingesting it. Apparently they find it irresistable. Much more dangerous for a dog than mouse poison.
How much harm is likely to come from a dog getting on the business end of a mouse trap? The pain would be excruciating- I get that, and nobody wants their do to go through it. But part of me thinks that the dog would get the point that mousetrap = ouch after the first couple of times. Would he be likely to break a bone, or suffer any other negative effects (other than the pain, that is)?
Easy, electronic mouse trap. Totally enclosed, and comes highly recommended by reviewers. I bought one after dealing with a tricky mouse who kept avoiding my traps, and got him that first night. (Mouse touches metal plates, completes circuit, and is just about instantly dead.)
I’d suggest you either get the “no touch” style mousetraps that the dog won’t be able to get into (since all the trapping mechanisms are on the inside and all the dog will be able to do is trigger it, but not hurt himself) or get one of those big black ‘bait stations’ that are meant for poison, but just put a snap trap inside. Like this, then see if you can wedge a snap trap, with bait, in the passage between the two holes.
Possibly a serious injury to a toe or his nose. Depends how big a puppy and what part gets snapped. It’s serious enough to be concerned, but probably wouldn’t kill the dog.
They are simply the best mousetraps that exist.
Snap-traps & glue pads catch, at most, one mouse per night.
These keep catching mice all night long!
And are re-usable.
And Fido won’t get his schnozzle nipped off.
I always put an upside down milk crate over the trap (with a cinderblock or something heavy to hold it in place). The mouse can easily get thru the openings, the dog can’t.
