Rat Terriers

Most important of all--remember to enjoy your new dog. Ratties are the most loyal and loveable companions around. They are intelligent and will get into or out of just about anything, but these are small challenges to deal with in exchange for the pleasure and enjoyment you will get back from your dog.

Rat Terriers are the best! They each have personality to spare and they love to share with you. All they ask in return is that you understand their nature and give them lots of love!

Best Homemade Dog Food Recipes

The Rat Terrier is a lively, spunky, and intelligent dog. Find out more about this breed here.

It was back in 1820, in Great Britain, that the Rat Terrier was first developed by crossing the Manchester Terrier and the Smooth Fox Terrier. They became very popular in the United States when they were taken there in the 1890s. The breeders in America crossed it once more with the Whippet, the Beagle and the Smooth Fox Terrier. This is because they wanted to incorporate the bulkiness, hunting instincts and the red color of the Beagle, plus the brindle and blue colors, and the agility and speed of the Whippet. The smallest variety of the Rat Terrier was derived by crossing the Chihuahua with the Smooth Fox Terrier. Named by President Theodore Roosevelt, the Rat Terrier is a hard working breed used in farms to get rid of pestiferous creatures like rats.

The Physical Features of the Rat Terrier

The Rat Terrier has powerful legs, solid neck, powerful shoulders, deep chest, and is well muscled. Although they are physically compact, they are muscularly substantive. The ears are usually ripped or upright and kept erect when it is alert. They are usually born with either full-length or short tails, which can be either docked when they are two days old, or left intact. They come in a variety of coat colors such as red brindle, blue and white, black and tan, solid red, tri-spotted, red and white, chocolate, sable, and pearl. Rat Terrier breeders that breed just working dogs are not particular about the specifications of the looks.

There are three sizes of Rat Terriers: The Standard Sized, which weighs 12 to 35 pounds, or 51/2 to 16 kg, and is 14 to 23 inches or 351/2 to 581/2 cm in height; the Mid-Sized, which weighs 6 to 8 pounds or 3 to 31/2 kg, an is 8 to 14 inches or 20 to 351/2 cm in height; and the Toy, which weighs 4 to 6 pounds or 2 to 3 kg, and is 8 inches or 20 cm in height.

The Temperament of the Rat Terrier

The Rat Terrier dog makes a great watchdog because it is always alert, lively, energetic, and spunky. This breed makes a good companion in the right kind of household, although it does require proper training, since it has the tendency of snapping if frightened. As long as it is socialized when it is a puppy it gets along well with other pets in the house. Care must be taken not to leave smaller types of animals unsupervised around it, if it has not been adequately socialized to be with them, or has not been raised with them.

The Rat Terrier can sometimes be willful and stubborn, and can also be reserved with strangers, although they do warm up quite quickly. Despite its small size, the Rat Terrier is often fearless, even when faced with a larger adversary, showing the true characteristics of the terrier breed. It is especially good in a single person home, providing the companionship and affection that is required.
Being highly intelligent, the Rat Terrier picks up training faster compared to other breeds. It is eager to learn and also eager to please its owner.

Rat Terrier Care and Grooming

The Rat Terrier does not need much grooming. An occasional brushing with a rubber brush or a firm bristle is all that is required to get rid of any dead or loose hair. It needs to be bathed just about once in six months. If it's bathed too frequently it will result in removing the natural oils that exist in its coat, which can result in skin problems, which the Rat Terrier has a tendency for. During the cold weather, it should be protected adequately with sweaters, since it gets chill very quickly because of its short coat.

As far as exercising the Rat Terrier is concerned, it needs a daily walk or even a jog, for about 20-30 minutes per day. The Rat Terrier loves outdoor romps and challenging games.

Owning a Rat Terrier

If you are thinking of owning a dog of this breed, look for Rat Terrier puppies from Rat Terrier breeders that are reputable, or you could check out a Rat Terrier rescue and adopt one from there. Before actually purchasing one, however, make sure you know every character trait of this breed to see if it suits what you are looking for. They make great pets in families that are suited to them.

By Rita Putatunda
Published: 1/18/2008

How Your Rat Terrier Learns...

Your Rat Terrier's learning period can be divided into five phases:

The Teaching Phase - This is the phase where you must physically demonstrate to your Rat Terrier exactly what you want him to do.

The Practicing Phase - Practice makes Perfect. Once a lesson is learnt, practice with your Rat Terrier what you have just taught him.

The Generalizing Phase - Here you must continue practicing with your Rat Terrier in different locations and in an environment with a few distractions. You can take your Rat Terrier out for a walk, or to a nearby park and command him to practice whatever you've taught him.

Practicing the learned lessons in multiple locations and in the presence of small distractions will help him learn and retain lessons better .

The Testing Phase - Once you're sure that your Rat Terrier has achieved almost 90% success....he responds correctly almost every time you give a command, you must start testing his accuracy in newer locations with a lot of distractions.

Example: Take him to the local shopping mall and ask him to obey your command. He may not come up with the correct response the very first time you do this, but you must not lose hope.

The idea is to test your Rat Terrier to see how he responds in an environment which is new to him. Set-up a situation where you are in control of the environment and your Rat Terrier.

There are only 2 possibilities:

• Your Rat Terrier succeeds!!! (Trumpets please!)

• In case your Rat Terrier fails, re-examine the situation. Review and/or change your training. Then try testing again.

Keep on testing until he succeeds. Follow the rule of the 3 Ps – patience, persistence, praise.

Internalizing Phase - Finally, comes the extremely rewarding phase where your Rat Terrier does everything he is taught to do even without your commands.

Remember:

• Never scold your Rat Terrier if he fails. It's not his fault. You have failed as a trainer!

• You must be patient and persistent for your efforts to show rewards.

• Appreciate and love your Rat Terrier when he does it right! A little encouragement will work wonders for your Rat Terrier.

• Rat Terrier Training is easy when you do it right.

Learn how to train your Rat Terrier .

Copyright (c) 2009 TrainPetDog.com

Training Your Rat Terrier to Listen to You

Why Won't My Rat Terrier Listen To Me?

This is a common question that most first-time Rat Terrier owners ask me. Before I answer your question, let me ask you a few instead:

• Do you use cookies, collars, head halters or clickers to make your Rat Terrier listen to your commands?

• Do you have to raise your voice every time you want your Rat Terrier to listen to you?

• Does your Rat Terrier always come or sit on command - anytime and anywhere you want him to?

If your answers are mostly in the negative, its time you seriously reconsider your role as a sincere Rat Terrier trainer and an ideal pet parent.

Get Your Rat Terrier To Listen To You

Before you begin any training, you must first establish yourself as the "ALPHA dog" of your family. Your Rat Terrier must know that you’re the leader of the pack and it is YOU who is in charge.

Here is a list of simple DO's and DONT's that you must follow if you want to be the Alpha:

• Always go out or come in through the door first - remember you are the leader;

• Always eat first - give your Rat Terrier something to eat only after you've finished your meal;

• Don’t circle around your Rat Terrier when he is lying on the floor - make your Rat Terrier move out of your way instead;

• Don't let your Rat Terrier set the rules - pay attention to him when you think fit and not whenever he demands;

• Don’t permit your Rat Terrier to sleep with you in your bed - demarcate his sleeping area clearly.

Once you successfully established yourself as the Alpha, training your Rat Terrier and making him listen will be a lot easier than you can imagine. Remember, if your Rat Terrier does not learn to "listen", all your training efforts will be in vain!

Does your Rat Terrier know his name? Does your Rat Terrier look at you whenever you call him by his name? This is the first and the most critical step involved in Rat Terrier Training. If your Rat Terrier doesn't respond to his name, you cannot have his attention for teaching him any other commands.

To make sure that your Rat Terrier recognizes his name, take a treat in your hand and hold it away from your body. Call your Rat Terrier's name. He is most likely to look at the treat in your hand. Continue calling his name untill he turns and looks at your eyes. Give him the treat immediately. Repeat this exercise by holding the treat in the other hand. Once you're sure that your Rat Terrier has learnt to recognize his name, just call his name and reward him for looking at you by petting or with a hug.

You must understand that Rat Terriers respond far better to positive reinforcement than they do to coercion or force.

Learn how to train your Rat Terrier better with this free mini course.

Copyright (c) 2009 TrainPetDog.com

Is Your Rat Terrier Potty Trained Enough?

House Training a puppy or adult Rat Terrier is such an essential issue for its owner that even a single exclusive tip turns out to be extremely helpful.

The first step in making your Rat Terrier fit for polite company would be to potty train him. Some see this training as a hassle and some as a challenge.

For me, it is part of bringing up a pet.

There are a few things you need to know before you actually start potty training a puppy or adult Rat Terrier. I enumerate these below:

• You need to understand your dog's body language. Watch for signs that will indicate to you when your pet wants to eliminate.

• If you own puppies, remember that they need to go potty at fairly frequent intervals - as soon as they wake up, after short naps, after play-time, after meals, before and after being crated and finally, before retiring for the night.

• Take your Rat Terrier for walks at the time that he usually does his potty. Take him out to the yard and then to the same place there every time he needs to answer nature's call.

• Praise your Rat Terrier after he eliminates at the right place. Some Rat Terrier owners even give treats to their dogs. But remember to do this every time he does it right. He will relate the rewards to his having "done it right" and zero in on the spot where you want him to defecate regularly.

• With time, you can try signal training. This is so that you know when your doggie wants to go. You can hang a bell at his level near the door and teach him to push it with his nose or pat it with his paw on his way out.

• Until your Rat Terrier has been fully potty trained keep him under strict vigilance. Do not let him roam around the house freely.

• Use a crate. A crate-trained Rat Terrier is usually very happy to get his own den. The advantage of crating is that dogs do not soil the place where they sleep. So, he will naturally not eliminate inside the crate.

• If you have a small dog and if you live in a high-rise building or in a place that does not have a proper backyard, you can try litter pan training. What you do is create a space for your pet to eliminate in your house itself.

• Use positive reinforcements while housebreaking puppies or adult dogs. Do not scold or hit him as you will gain nothing by doing that. He will only associate punishment with your return from outside. If you catch him in the act, a stern 'NO' or 'FREEZE' will do. It will startle the Rat Terrier enough for him to stop pooping.

• Be prepared to return to a soiled home if you are keeping your Rat Terrier home alone for more than 4 hours as separation anxiety is quite common among home - alone dogs.

• Accidents will happen. It is unusual for a trained adult Rat Terrier to work against its house training. But medical problems or health disorders may lead to sudden accidents.

• Many dogs mark their territory. These can be a leg of a table or a particular wall. Intact male and female dogs mark their territories by urinating. Use deodorizers to spray on the places where your Rat Terrier has marked.

• If you are patient and are ready to accept that house training a dog takes time, even months sometimes, you will end up having a good housetrained Rat Terrier.

Now we will move on to how to potty train puppies and adult dogs.

Potty Training A Puppy:

Irrespective of breeds, housetraining a puppy is considered to be one of the biggest challenges by dog owners. If you think housetraining your puppy simply involves a steady supply of old newspapers, then think again.

A puppy does not develop full control over his bladder until it is over 4 or 5 months old. Since they are growing and developing rapidly at this time, puppies eat more, burn more calories and need to eliminate more frequently than an adult Rat Terrier.

After each nap, meal, drink or play, take your puppy to his designated area (indoors or outdoors, wherever you have decided) and stay there until it eliminates. Then bring him to his crate.

Repeat this situation everyday until he has developed a habit out of it.

Potty Training An Adult Rat Terrier:

The best way to housetrain an adult Rat Terrier is to begin all over again.

Observe him very closely. Maybe even maintain a diary of where he goes and when. Whether he is pooping when you are home or only when you are outside; whether you can time yourself to be home when he feels the need to go outside.

You can try dog crates, but be careful to introduce him gradually to them.

Remember, commitment, consistency and intelligent use of positive reinforcement will make you the owner of a perfectly housetrained Rat Terrier. Don't expect miracles. You will only be disappointed.

Get this unique Housetraining guide and start Housebreaking Your Rat Terrier Today

Copyright (c) 2009 TrainPetDog.com

Rat Terriers are considered a breed that is very versatile. A few words that best describe a Rat Terrier would be intelligent, loyal, extremely attentive, successful, multi-tasker and tenacious. The physical characteristics would be great strength, stamina and agility for there size. The Rat Terrier breed in general does have health conditions which should be of concern, please make sure your're purchasing a Rat Terrier from tested parents. Luxating Lens a disease found in Rat Terriers and there is now there is a genetic marker available as of September 2009. Moving forward our program will test all Rat Terriers along with complete OFA testing prior to breeding to ensure we do our part to not pass along affected or unsound Rat Terriers.

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