My Neighbor's dog brought in a strange looking rodent....

Question

I live in Eastern Oregon (desert). I was over at my neighbor's house and her little terrier came walking in with a type of rat/rodent we have never seen before. It was pretty cute. White with a little brown on his body, it hopped on it's back legs, and at the end of it's tail was a white fuzz ball. It was pretty big, maybe the size of an adult rat. As soon as the dog walked into the house he released it and it hopped around frantically for a few moments before shooting back out the door. We didn't see it again.

We've both lived here for years and never seen anything like it. Any clue what it could have been?

In the brief moment it was here, I did not see any wounds on it, and was moving pretty quickly. So I don't believe the dog had done much harm to it.

We were just curious because we have no clue what it was.

Answer 1

Could it have been a Marmot?  Kangaroo rats and mice are usually small.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/centraloregon/wi...

or some kind of squirrel or chipmonk?

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/centraloregon/wi...

Here is a site with rodent type animals found in Oregon

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/centraloregon/wi...

Answer 2

Kangaroo rat?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_ra...

More images:

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/im...

Answer 3

A gerbil?

http://weblogs.newsday.com/entertainment...

Answer 4

Could have been some kind of kangaroo rat. They hop on their back legs and have a fuzz ball at the end of their tails. But I'm not sure if they are native to that area.

http://www.desertusa.com/aug96/du_krat.h...

See more about them here.