Dog insists somethings in the basement

     Today our younger dog went into a barking fit and tried to dig her way through the basement door. As you might recall from past postings, our basement door is steel and has a bar lock on the kitchen side. Had our basement not been a muddy mess, I'd have opened the door for her and seen where she went and what had her so agitated. I didn't want muddy paw prints all over the house so I didn't let her through to the basement. However, I did go down to see if I could figure what she was after. I saw no sign of anything amiss. My wife said this was the second time this week that the dog has insisted there was something in the basement. So in true Hardy Boy fashion, I took a bag of flour down into the cellar and spread it about on dry areas of the floor. I'll go back down in a couple of days and see if there are any tracks. I've pretty much sealed off the basement for heat conservation. I don't see how anything bigger than a mouse could get in. On the other hand, I wouldn't think anything as small as a mouse could so agitate my dog from a floor away. Maybe the flour will reveal our culprit. I have seen no indication of rats, but if rat tracks appear, the mystery will be solved ,and I'll have to put out rat bait.