no propaganda please wrote:
But those were lab rats, not wild rats loaded with disease. We use tame afor training dogs to hunt rats so they can participate in Barn Hunt trials. The rats we use are pet rats, very tame, and the dogs find out where the rats are and tell us they are there, but do not kill the rats. The rats have names and are pets to their owners, so we have to be careful not to hurt the creatures. However our Welsh terrier will hunt and kill rats in the neighbors goat barn. The Staffordshire Bull Terrier puppy is learning, and the neighbors appreciate it.
But those were lab rats, not wild rats loaded with... (
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Terriers were rat dogs. When I was a kid I saw a rat terrier kill a rat that had nested in an old rolled up carpet on the neighbor's patio. The dog was fearless. Another time I watched a dachshund dig up a nest of 14 baby rats under a bush. The mother rat escaped.
Perhaps with manure heaps like California we will go back in time and begin breeding dogs once again as ratters. Dalmatians are associated with fire houses. Few realize their original purpose was to control rats at a time when fire engines were pulled by horses. They also were one of the breeds that got along good with horses. They could keep up with them and calm them down.