[piggy]

Not sure where to post this but here goes.
We have lived in our house for 6 years with no rat problem until a few months ago,now we have loads of the b*****s,have caught a few with traps and the gun but they have got wise to the fact we sit there as soon as it goes dark to shoot them!
Cant use poison to many other animals who could pick it up,so my next thought was having a dog that could rat catch for me my bc's just chase them!
Is there any breed that are best as catchers just that ive seen a jack russell for sale near me.
Any advice would be great.

Karen

[Skirza]

We've got a patterdale x jack russel, makes a slightly bigger dog and he is brilliant at ratting. He also believes that he can catch rooks and jet planes, but that's another matter If you are serious about getting a ratter, in my humble opinion, it's better to get one from ratting stock, just because it's a terrier, doesn't mean it's going to be a good worker.

[doganjo]

I'd second that about breeding - but each dog is different as well - you can't guarantee it will catch rats just because it's a JR or even because it come from good ratting stock.  But that said triats can be trained in. I have four Brittanys that in general as a breed have a reputation for not being great retrievers, two of them are from gundog stock, one from falconry bred stock(no need to retrieve, so not encouraged in training), and the other I bred myself(so a combination)  I have trained them all but all are keen retrievers.  So either buy the JR near you AFTER seeing it work, or advertise for one - sometimes terrier bnreeders will let a bitch go to a good home if it hasn't been a good whelper or is suprlus to requirements

[Fleecewife]

We've got a patterdale x jack russel, makes a slightly bigger dog and he is brilliant at ratting. He also believes that he can catch rooks and jet planes, but that's another matter If you are serious about getting a ratter, in my humble opinion, it's better to get one from ratting stock, just because it's a terrier, doesn't mean it's going to be a good worker.

Our best ratter is a Cairn x Patterdale, from a long line bred for ratting. The other is a Jack Russel who has learnt to rat but wasn't such a natural as the first.  We had a similar problem a few years back, where our neighbouring farmer left a huge pile of grain accessible to rats etc - the population exploded then when the grain was gone the rats spread out to all the neighbouring properties, including ours.  You won't get rid of all the rats in one go and of course there will always be some checking the place out, but we rarely see one now.
An alternative would be to approach a working  terrier club and see if anyone would like to give their dogs a workout.

[daddymatty82]

where abouts are you as there maybe someone on the site who may know of someone to rat for you

[darkbrowneggs]

My Great Dane is always keen to catch mice, which she is not all that good at - and when she does it goes right inside her mouth.  The first couple of times she got one she didn't  know what to do with is and it ran around a bit then got out through the side - rather wet.  She got it again a couple of times looking wetter and wetter till it got away under a door

The next time she was more determined, and once it was it her mouth (though still loose) she gave it a shake, and when she dropped it,though soaking wet it was still - personally I just think it had concussion and came round later, but she felt honour was satisfied   

All the best
Sue

[robert waddell]

Getting a dog is only part of the solution,   you have to eliminate the food sources or potential food sources and deprive them of their nesting facilities, from your username I suspect you have pigs. Their feed has to be kept in rat proof containers and your feeding regime and hygiene has also to be considered. If you are feeding grain and also concentrates, if the grains are not milled properly it comes through in the dung (of any animal) this is a fantastic source of food for the rats and also they know it is not poison. We had a similar infestation of rats caused by the neighbouring nursing home feeding the kitchen slops and swill to their geese causing a mass infestation of rats, magpies, crows and starlings which in turn affected us and another neighbour. When you get to this state it is WAR and any means of eliminating the rats is fair game. We did not use poison (as there are owls in the area and they do hunt within the buildings) They are very resourcefully and have seen them climbing rope, walls, ladders and steel columns. Once you have interfered with a run they will not ever use that same run again, rats are mainly nocturnal and therefore the vast majority of people with animals and poultry do not see them until they are having a population explosion. With patience, time and good food hygiene you will eradicate the rats. It is also worth pointing out that they are a major source of disease and contaminate food sources (when we were feeding barley several times we refused barley because it smelled of rat urine).
HTH

[Sandy]

We had a  Cairn x Patterdale, very pretty dog that had NO fear at all and he was a little sod, we did not have rats but he dug holes in our lawn and ran off when off the lead, then he got run over, but a friend breeds Patterdale and they are very good workers, always hunting to kill something, she looses her chickens if she is not careful!!! Never will I have a terrier again, lovely dogs but far too clever to obey a human unless they want to 

[doganjo]

Was anybody listening to Gardeners question time on Radio 4 this afternoon?  I was!  A question was asked about planting mint to deter rats!  None of the panel had ever heard of such a thing but a little squeaky voice said 'yes, it does work' and they introduced Amy the producer - apparently she had heard of it, planted mint, and also scattered some around the rat runs - and no more rats! 

Even the experts learn sopmething new every day! 

I've just planted my pot of mint at the far side of the little wall separating the duck run/front paddock and the burn (next to a rat hole my son spotted), so I'll let you know if I see a mass exodus.   Apparently it's something to do with a rat's keen sense of smell and the pungent scent of mint.  I don't know what kind of mint I have but I'm willing to plant different varieties over there as there are 2 foot deep footings for the wall so that should contain it, and it can grow all it likes over there.

[princesspiggy]

am i right in thinking any dog thats a good ratter would kill chooks too?
we considered mini schnauzers at one point as apparently they are good ratters, we just couldnt find a breeder!
we had a xbred lurcher once and he could kill a rat pretty well. i think if a JD is keen to play with a squeaky toy, he'd be keen to work.
have you thot about a different breed of cat, apparently siamese are good strong hunters?
 

[Glentarki]

I grew up with Norwich, Norfolk and Fox Terriers and went on to keep them as my breed choice in future years......Great ratters and can keep Mr fox at bay too, typical Terriers
Just my choice

Dave

[SallyintNorth]

Never will I have a terrier again, lovely dogs but far too clever to obey a human unless they want to 

I was told that the way to have an obedient terrier is to never ask it to do anything it's not about to do anyway 

[SallyintNorth]

am i right in thinking any dog thats a good ratter would kill chooks too?

Someone with ratting terriers will no doubt answer this, but my input would be that lots of different working dogs are taught which is their prey species and which they should not touch - eg, foxhounds are taught not to chase cats or sheep, etc.  However, as Sandy says, terriers are not too easy to train!

have you thot about a different breed of cat, apparently siamese are good strong hunters?

My cat is half siamese and is a great ratter.  But he seems to go out for a hunt and a meal rather than to obsessively seek prey to shake to the death until there's none left...    And when you've a rat problem, it's the latter you want!

[Fleecewife]

am i right in thinking any dog thats a good ratter would kill chooks too?

No, both our terriers are excellent with the hens.  The hens are bigger than them   and can deliver a painful peck, or do the scary ruff and wings trick. We wouldn't trust them with small chicks though. The only dog which killed some hens was our son's Irish Wolhound when she was an exuberant pup, and she was easily cured by hanging one of the corpses around her neck for a couple of days.

I don't think it's that terriers are clever, but they are are keen and definitely single-minded to the point of pain.  If ours are digging something out they don't hear us calling - it's not that they ignore us, just don't hear.  They will go on until they are so thirsty they are almost collapsing, but won't give up. They have an unfortunate habit of digging under the hay stack - we build the bales on pallets, which means that if they get stuck right underneath, my long-suffering OH has to rebuild the whole stack further along just to rescue them.  We have never had terriers before and probably would not again - their big advantage, apart from the rat catching, is that they can be tucked under your arm when necessary - quite a change from Wolfies  
 It took us years to train the Cairn x Patterdale to come when she's called but she's got the idea now  .  They have both run off a few times but always come back eventually, once they realise that the rabbit sniff they were following has evaporated.  In fact they follow rabbit trails backwards (much to the amusement of the rabbits  , so back to the burrow, rather than trying to catch the rabbit itself - back in the burrow is where the bite-sized snacks are sleeping.
Our Cairn x Patterdale was hit by a car once - a merc - but she had not a scratch, whereas the Merc had a large dinge in the front  

[Sandy]

I thought our Patterdale/Lakeland was the sweetest dog ever but also the toughest!!! We do not have a rat problem to my knowledge but any terriers seem to focus on what they are doing (like my hubby) and will not come to any call, get any Terrier I would say...buy the way, if things change..I would love a BIG CAT or CATS, we used to have loads but they do not go with a B&B!!!