Muskrat anyone?

I was surprised to see the offering left for me on my front porch yesterday morning. I had no idea what it was. My dog is a good mouser and has made a habit of leaving mice on the porch, perhaps as a gift, perhaps simply to show us she earns her keep. This large rodent was no mouse. It was much bigger than a rat. My husband guessed a chinchilla or prairie dog, but the tail discounted that theory. The tail looked more like a possum, but the face didn't. After we both went to work and discussed what we thought we saw in the pitch black at 5 am, we thought we'd look up the muskrat. Definite match. I'd never seen one before, or if I had, I would have thought it a small beaver in the distance. I never thought my dog would be the first to find one for me. Wikipedia says trappers found their fur to be warm and of good quality and their meat tastes like rabbit or duck. Not a bad offering if we'd known what to do with it. Andy was happy it was not still there when we got home so he wouldn't have to deal with it. It did make for an interesting morning though.