Excellent. Thank you. I entered the location before I saw your response because my dogs died. It sure would have been fun to fight rats with dogs, but I respect your wise choice.
p.s. i was in a completely empty encounter area (mountains) and made sure no critters were around before i logged out to use the toilet. i logged back in and i was dead. should i only log out in world map from now on? forgive me if this question has already been answered...