that dog

One of the language peculiarities we have found here is referring to something in one's possession not with the possessive "my" or "our," or even a simple "the" but instead "that."  This is most often done when the expression is intended to indicate annoyance, or duty or something slightly negative.  Like, "I should go start that machine." Which means "I don't really want to go in -25 degrees at 7am with wet hair to start the snowmachine, but I will, unless you offer to..."  Or "Eliza, come see what that dog found." Not only had "that dog" brought us back the rabbit, she had brought us back the rabbit, still stuck in the snare, still attached to the stick.  We quickly moved the whole package into the entry, so that if our neighbor walked by he wouldn't see that our dog had been robbing him of a tasty dinner.