Veronica sighting

So dad was taking out the dog for her late morning walk, and I hear some commotion outside.

Turns out one of local voles decided to come out for a visit. They are generally crepuscular/nocturnal, so this was a huge surprise. Voles are pretty harmless unless you grow directly in the ground- and even then the worst damage they do is from their holes, so I’m pretty vole agnostic. Especially since unlike other rodents I won’t mention, voles have no interest in getting into your house. This vole was just redecorating one of her holes it seemed- getting it just right.

But what does my dog do? After all she digs pretty violently under the lemon tree where one of the vole’s holes are.

Well according to dad- she licked the vole.

Eats bees- licks voles.

I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty happy she didn’t gobble up a rodent and ruin our afternoon with an emergency vet visit when she inevitably got sick from it…

But dog- you are a total failure at being a canine.

Also my mom has named the vole.

Her name is Veronica.

And yes- I am fully aware that this might be a gopher not a vole. My rodent identification skills are fairly rudimentary and work upon one axis. Is it a rat Y/N?

As this is happily a no to that terrible question- I think Veronica the vole is adorable.

Or Greta the gopher.

Damnit dog, don’t lick voles!