Rat Terrier Breed Description

Rat Terrier Description, Straight from the Dog's Mouth
You can probably tell that I'm a loving mother. I have six adorable children, all of whom take after me! Well, all except my 'last born'. He's your typical 'baby-of-the-family', spoiled-rotten. Well, he's so cute that Papa and I let him get away with a lot of mischief. My others though, are quite well-mannered like their father and me.

You probably want to know us by name. Papa was named after his athleticism (tearing about in the backyard): his name is Zoom. I was named for being erudite, which means that I can think critically and logically (I went to the best dog training school). My name is Hilary, after Hilary Clinton. She went to Yale, you know! I'm so in tune with my human family that I can read their body language and facial expressions.

Our six children, listed in birth order are Bandit (first-born, with a cute little mask). Tucker, because he gets tired after he gets his daily exercise, which is evident when he finds his favorite place on the living room sofa. Then there's Princess, so named because she is our 'first-born' daughter. After my Princess came our little Lola, a flirt from the get-go! Then came Bear, so much larger than the rest of my children. And last but not least, my baby Blaze, and yes, he shines! I can envision him being adopted as a companion dog for a weather forecaster on TV news. He will probably end up on camera somehow - and he'll definitely steal the show!

 

 

Introduction

Rat Terriers are as American as apple pie! Today, they come in five sizes: Toy (10 lbs or less) Mini (10 to 18 lbs) Standard (18 - 28 lbs) and the Decker Giant (28 lbs and up, named for breeder Milton Decker who originated them). Height doesn't affect the size. Their sizes are classified as Class A, Class B (the Teddy Roosevelt Terrier), & The Decker Giant. The Fifth size is known as a toy tot or tiny tot; when full grown, will be under 5 lbs. Colors are: black and white tri, black and white, tan, red, sable, blue, chocolate, lemon, fawn, pearl, and apricot. These dogs are balanced and beautiful with a short, smooth, sleek coat that has a healthy shine. They are intelligent little dogs, easy to train and are very loyal. Rat Terriers are energetic hunters of small rodents. Rat Terriers are great companions and will entertain their family for hours. They get along well with other pets and love children.

Colors

Most are dual or tri-coloured with white as the base colour. This may include several colours of brown, tan, yellow and black

Living Area

While they do like a great deal of activity, rat terriers can be adapted to apartment living as long as they get plenty of walks, attention and quite a few toys to play inside with.They are, however, best suited to farm life and they love having a large yard or barnyard to lord over. Rat terriers are happiest when they have a job, and if you don't have one to give them, they'll improvise. Keeping them well distracted will keep them from becoming problem barkers.

Recognized By

AKC, UKC

Pets4You offers listings of Rat Terrier breeders with puppies for sale.