Dog breeds I should consider?

[Horse_Rider]

I do not recommend cats for rats.

1/ rats are awfully big for cats to handle
2/ cats will decimate your native birds far faster than your rat population

I can make an argument for cats controlling mice but again, they’re a bigger risk to native birds than mice. Plus outdoor cats get eaten by coyotes, foxes, raccoons, and loose dogs, not to mention hit by cars and attacked by other cats. No more outdoor cats for me.

If you want a ratter, look at what’s still being deployed for rats. Earth dog competitions are for ratters and you can contact breeders who compete in them and see what they’ve got litter wise. I will tell you that my now deceased Cairn was an excellent ratter and caught a couple in my yard despite having only about 100 sq feet of space to do the job in and a fence with holes big enough for the rats to slide through at any point. Used to catch rodents while leashed on our walks too. I’d have time to spot him leaping into the grass, here a snap, see him give a shake and the deed was done. Given a barn yard to patrol? He’d have been ecstatic.

My surviving Cairn was likely a puppy mill male and had to sort of learn to do normal dog things but I can tell you there are no rats currently in my yard, because if there were, he’d be heavily patrolling his little fence line rather than just a cursory sniff here and there.

To add: Cairns are not hypoallergenic but they are low shed and therefore low allergen. I don’t necessarily recommend sequestering any dog but they can be pretty independent. Better to sort out what you can handle hair wise and just do rat traps if you can’t have an indoor animal. At some point even a cat requires touching.

[XXS]

I guess your property is fenced? And your chickens have a fenced area? What about a shelter dog that has difficulties to find a home because of the prey drive, but has a job at your place? Some breeds also are ok living outside protecting their home. Together with the fact that you spend time outside and there is a 2nd dog, I think for some dogs this is heaven on earth. As far as I understand the conditions, this is not for a puppy or a breed that is meant to be an indoor companion dog.

[clint]

I completely agree with this. Our area’s county shelter has a working cat program, and they will adopt out in pairs adult cats already fixed and vaccinated. No charge for these cats.

Although I have quite a few indoor/outdoor cats, two years ago I took a mother and her two adult kittens from a barn that didn’t want them and set them up in my barn. One of them has become a very good barn cat, and has reduced the rat population along with terrorizing the pasture ground squirrels, convincing them they should move along.

[Altermyne]

there are youtube vids of rat hunting groups in NYC. Those dogs range from Bedlingtons to All American. Learning to hunt/kill prey is something you might get by accident but like any other skill it can also be taught. My Corgis were hunters, focused and prey driven, but they shed like crazy. All of my ACDs are also prey driven and once they know you’ll allow killing, they go after any prey you encourage. By that same yardstick, if I had chickens I’d work .very. hard to make sure the dogs knew they were off limits. The hard, flat coated ones don’t shed quite so much as the fluffier ones but both do shed.

[eightpondfarm]

I’d go for a patterdale terrier if i had rat problems. Yes, they shed, but they are holy terrior on vermin and most willing to do master’s bidding (given appropriate training without counter-conditioning by children/spouse etc). If you can instill unquestioning obedience and will-to-please they can protect chickens and kill the heck out of rats, squirrels etc.