Rat

The Rat is an animal forced into a staged test of Police Dogs, where its urgent drive toward water turns the trainer’s planned exhibition into a violent confrontation. Though presented as a prop for demonstrating the Dogs’ courage, it is described as capable and determined, and its movement briefly unsettles the spectacle arranged around it.

Identity and Condition

The Rat is kept behind a canvas cover in a cage. It is thin and has gone days without food or water, but it does not appear lethargic or subdued. The trainer sees a determined purpose in it and judges it capable, an assessment reinforced by its attention to the water placed at the far end of the kennel.

Its condition is the result of deliberate preparation for the exhibition: the trainer has deprived it of food and water and wired its cage so he can administer current. The Rat is therefore introduced not simply as an animal the Dogs might chase, but as a creature whose thirst and movement have been manipulated to serve the demonstration.

Role in the Exhibition

The trainer presents the encounter as an unrehearsed test of the Dogs’ instincts and bravery. He reasons that two larger animals should be able to overcome one weakened Rat, but also recognizes that an easy victory would offer the Dogs little sense of accomplishment. He consequently considers how to make the contest more difficult while still controlling its conditions.

The bowl of water placed near two children gives the Rat a visible destination. The trainer uses current to provoke movement and later raises the cage door, sending the Rat toward the water. Before releasing it, he allows the Dogs to approach and inspect it. These arrangements make the Rat’s thirst part of the spectacle and put its route through the kennel in direct conflict with the Dogs’ position.

The Confrontation and Outcome

When released, the Rat moves toward the water, while the audience screams and the Dogs are pulled back by their wires. The trainer yanks the wires repeatedly, directing the Dogs’ movement as the Rat presses forward. The scene departs from the orderly demonstration he had described: the animals and the audience react to one another, while the trainer sustains the turmoil through his control of the wires.

After the Dogs have been hurt in the struggle, they close in on the Rat. The animals spring at one another, and the Dogs eventually pin and kill it. The Rat’s attempt to reach water ends not in escape but in the outcome the trainer’s setup made possible.

Narrative Significance

The Rat is treated as both a living opponent and an instrument in the trainer’s performance. The trainer’s admiration for its determined appearance complicates his earlier reduction of it to a weak, unfairly disadvantaged target; nevertheless, he continues to manipulate its condition and movement for the Dogs’ test. The contrast gives the Rat a limited but distinct presence in the scene: it has its own immediate drive toward water, even as the exhibition turns that drive into a means of controlling and endangering the other animals.