I suspect your dog is related to mine in some cosmic way. How are your dog’s reactions to, say, skunk or coyote? Barrage of barking while they’re in the trees, but once they’re eating dog or cat food, dead silence?

How about possums? Carry them around (pardon me, perpetually hold them in a state of retrieval)? Let them play dead, then walk away?

My sister’s late dog, the one with the unfortunate label of pit bull, was so gentle with the baby oppossums and kittens. He was sure they were meant to be slobber toys but somehow knew they were not meant to be dead. Unlike all other things such as door mats, dog houses, dog dishes, lilac bushes, garden hoses, etc. which clearly were malevolent and needed to die.

My dog does not bother the kittens (instead finds them to be mostly in his road) but occasionally will accidentally murder a baby possum by playing too roughly.