 |
 |
It was a hopeful and courageous group of immigrants, who came to America from the British Isles in the 1800's. A motivated people, driven by dreams of making that legendary fortune in "AMERICA" (the nearly mythical "land of oppertunity" across the wide sea). They brought their feisty little dogs with them to share the "new life". These were dogs of the common man, already good at catching rats, and exterminating vermin...one of the biggest scurges of man at the time, these tough terrier mixes were good little watch dogs too, clever, obedient, sharp looking, and tenacious little vermine hunters. From the sub-sequent crosses of this feisty foundation stock the "Rat Terrier" type colesqued into the wonderful breed it is today. It is said that the early "rat terrier"foundation dogs were mostly crosses between the smooth fox terrier and the Manchester terrier with a little of this and that thrown in, we will never know what all the "this and that" was really.. This foundation stock was predominantly black and tan like the manchester terrier. These small "ratter" dogs played a useful part of the lives of our fore-fathers. There was not any "D-con rat poison" back then, you could not just call "pest control" to come out in those days. Rats were a real every-day problem people had to contend with. A difficult problem to boot! Imagine how wonderful it must of been to have a good ratter! Rats threatened the food supply of man and his domestic animals, chewed holes in all sorts of things, made nests in every concievable place, fouled, dirtied, and brought desease into homes and businesses, we modern men can only imagine. |
| Rat Terrier smarts |
| Rat Terrier's for kids |
| Rat Terrier obedience |
| Rat Terrier with cats ect. |
| NEXT: |
| Welcome to: RAT TERRIER 101 |
| Many people call me and ask: "What is a rat terrier like any way?" This page is for those who'd like to learn more about these delightfull little dogs. |
| By Rebecca McCarty |
| HISTORY |
| Rat Terrier History |
 |
| Rat Terrier History : "An American dog" |
 |
| Rat Terrier foundation stock |
| Rat Terrier: White Hs. dog |
| Rat Terrier:pioneer dog |
 |
|
 |
| The Manchester Terrier |
 |
| The Smooth Fox Terrier |
| Time went by, in addition to "ratting" ability, Rat Terrier strains took on different characteristics in different parts of the country, to suit the imeadiate needs of local breeders. In the Eastern forests they were bred to be top notch small game dogs, especially for squirel and rabbit. This type of dog was a real hunter, they had a little Italian grey hound added to give them speed on the ground, and often a little beagle to improve their nose, and then the occasional cur was crossed on them to make them keen for the catch. In other areas of the country farmers and ranchers wanted a dual purpose farm dog, that not only caught rats but would go to-ground for those pesky hole digging badgers, and ground squirels, they also wanted a dog that could do a little herding as well, dashund was brought into the breed, and Welsh Corgi. These hybreds were crossed to each other, crossed back to purebred smooth fox terriers, Jack Russel terriers, toy fox terriers and Manchester terriers. The breeding group only slowly became more homogenious genetically. |
| No one popularized the breed more than Teddy Roosevelt who brought his dogs to the White House. The story goes that the White House was over run with a rat festation at the time, and that Roosevelt's little ratters went to work, playing a significant roll in reducing the rat population. Teddy Roosevelt is credited with coining the phrase "rat terrier", and indeed the shorter legged stockier type rat terrier is called a Teddy Roosevelt Rat Terrier to this day. |
| When moderniszation of farms began, the use of the Rat Terrier to eliminate vermine fell off. Rat poisons came into popular use. The little feisty rat dog was no longer an essential to farm life. The breed fell out of popularity, and nearlly became extinct. Only a few pockets of fanciers were raising them. At that time some of the rat terrier stock was crossed with chihuahuas, toy fox terriers, to increase numbers. The out come of all this crossing and back crossing is a vigorous breed of dog, with few genetic defects. We can still see within the family strains of the rat terrier breed, characteristics of the various breeds used to develope this wonderful little American ratter. |
 |
| The Chihuahua |
 |
| The Welsh Corgi |
 |
| The Italian Greyhound |
 |
| The Beagle |
 |
| The Dashund |
 |
| Toy Rat Terrier |
 |
| Standard Rat Terrier |
| Miniture Rat Terrier |
 |