horse farm friendly ratters

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

[QUOTE=cbv;8406506]

I also have BC’s. Can’t imagine them killing anything but one did have a mouse cornered under a sofa once and spent an hour “herding”, circling the sofa in the crouch and using that look to keep the mouse “penned”.[/QUOTE]

:lol: I can just see it. :yes:

My Faith BC will kill things. Sadly these things include my chickens, when she can get at them (preventing this required running hot wire along the base of my fence during a tropical storm:mad: ) and would probably include my cats had she and I not had many CTJ meetings over the years. She once sent a sheep @$$-over-teakettle over a fence:no: (it survived). Faith definitely read that part of the BC manual that says herding drive is a modified prey drive.

Violet BC would never have killed anything, although she had no problem persuading a recalcitrant ewe to move by biting her hard in the face.

Aoife BC/pyr cross (or as I like to call her, an LGDBC ) deeply disapproves of killing things and will, if not prevented, get after the cats for mousing. I think it’s the LGD in her, although I didn’t know rodents qualified as livestock. :lol:

[Hannahsmom]

My JRT was an amazing farm dog that I have to vote for that breed. Not a Parson, I’d go with a true JRT. OTOH my Border Terrier is an amazing hunter also, I’ll admit I’m a bit more protective of him than I was of my JRT. Another consideration is a Patterdale. I haven’t had the chance to see Rat Terriers actually hunt, you need to check with breeders. If you watch the Mike Rowe “dirty jobs” segment on rat hunting in NYC you will see a good representation of breeds who would love to help you with your problem. And terriers are wonderful and easy to train if you remember their main joy in life.

[Where_sMyWhite]

Hummm… Border Terriers. Mine might need to get their BT cards revoked

One (who has seen a rat in a quarry cage) was not at all impressed and thinks that Barn Hunt is just a variation on nosework. His main joys in life are playing with his ball, eating and snuggling under the covers when he is cold :).

The second (who hasn’t seen a rat in a quarry cage but has smelled rats in tubes) has seen bunnies outside and thinks they are moderately interesting to watch. His main joy in life is tormenting his “brother” by taking aforementioned ball away and taunting brother with it

[keepjumping]

I have a German Shorthaired Pointer that is an excellent mouse hunter (no rats here, but she is large enough to easily handle a rat), she will spend hours hunting them–climb stacks of hay, comb the tall grass/woodpiles looking for them on her own. Or she can be directed to hunt them in a certain area by saying “where is the mouse?”. We can no longer say the “M” word in the house, because she will immediately start wagging her tail and hunting them! She is the second GSP I’ve owned that loved to hunt mice. Kills them and brings them to me, even brought me one while I was riding!

The current GSP is the sweetest dog, great with kids, other dogs, cats, pet rabbits, horses, etc. She stays around the yard and doesn’t roam when loose while doing chores, loves to come on trail rides, too. That said, some of the other GSP’s my family has had were a ‘sharper’, more aggressive temperament and less trainable. Females are generally nicer than males from what I’ve experienced. I know other people with GSP’s that will kill unauthorized small animals/birds, so it definitely is important to have the right type of GSP. Some also have insane energy requirements; my current girl does not.

[Sswor]

Whatever you get, get it from the Amish. I have a JRT/ACD puppy who is a fantastic livestock dog. Total blase’ attitude towards all things livestock but a high prey drive for critters. Not a fan of cats but respectful. Fantastic farm dog, I feel like I won the lottery.

[MoonWitch]

Another vote for a JRT. Mine is the short, Irish version at only 13" tall. She’s fearless and has free roam. She’s taken down ground hogs that were bigger than her (with a little help from her GSD big sister). She “rats” all the time and is constantly looking for them.

We don’t have much of a problem though due to the fox in the area and other predators, so I rarely see anything.

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

[QUOTE=Sswor;8407904]
Whatever you get, get it from the Amish. I have a JRT/ACD puppy who is a fantastic livestock dog. Total blase’ attitude towards all things livestock but a high prey drive for critters. Not a fan of cats but respectful. Fantastic farm dog, I feel like I won the lottery.[/QUOTE]

Really? I’ve heard just the opposite - that the Amish are heavily into the puppy mill trade.

[earsup]

The most highly titled Barn Hunt dog is a GSD and I see a lot of GSDs and Mals that are excellent hunters. Not sure how that translates to a real, live farm though.

I have miniature schnauzers–they were bred to hunt vermin–and one has definitely inherited the drive.

[vineyridge]

I’ve had several Dalmatians who were excellent vermin killing dogs. I’ve also had a couple of pit/terrier mixes who were also great vermin killers. The ones who will go ahead and actually KILL a possum are the ones who are real vermin dogs.

[Where_sMyWhite]

[QUOTE=earsup;8408398]
The most highly titled Barn Hunt dog is a GSD and I see a lot of GSDs and Mals that are excellent hunters. Not sure how that translates to a real, live farm though./QUOTE]

IMO, Barn Hunt titles don’t really translate to a real, live farm. The rats are in tubes so they can be smelled but not seen and they do not move (i.e., the rat can move in the tube but the tube is in a fixed location during the time the individual dog is in the ring).

Many feel that Barn Hunt is more like nosework rather than real prey hunt/kill. I have 2 Border Terriers that can alert on the rat but have shown very little interest in doing anything with the rat in a quarry cage or even the tube.

[Sswor]

[QUOTE=pAin’t_Misbehavin’;8408378]
Really? I’ve heard just the opposite - that the Amish are heavily into the puppy mill trade.[/QUOTE]

Well imagine that, you can’t believe everything you hear.

[french_fry]

[QUOTE=pAin’t_Misbehavin’;8408378]
Really? I’ve heard just the opposite - that the Amish are heavily into the puppy mill trade.[/QUOTE]

sswor is holding a serious COTH grudge over her trainwreck of a thread where a variety of posters spanning across all sorts of viewpoints and backgrounds both nicely and not-so-nicely tried to dissuade her from buying a mixed breed from the Amish via either the newspaper or Craigslist.

She dug in her heels to the point where now she insists that buying Amish (despite the prevalence of puppy mills) is the ONLY way to go about getting a dog and that all rescues are corrupt.

We created this monster with that epic thread so most of us try to ignore her baiting comments on dog threads now.

#themoreyouknow

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

Thanks, french fry. That was certainly the first time I ever heard anybody recommend Amish dog breeders. :lol: Makes a lot more sense now.

[Sswor]

Yes, the rescue nuts created that monster with their unsolicited, uneducated, totally ignorant of any fact, pile on of epic coth proportions. Apparently it isn’t over. I think that’s online harassment/bullying.

[Sswor]

You know all I did was answer the OP’s OT. I happen to have ended up with the best livestock dog I have ever had. I thought I would share this considering the topic. I didn’t expect to be heckled for it. I suspect that the Amish, being farmers with livestock, have a vested interest in breeding good livestock dogs. Considering that I ended up with one, I doubt this was just luck. Kind of ruins the stereotype but then all the more important that I share my experience, I think.

[Calamber]

I vote for Jack Russell Terriers also, mine is the short legged variety. My little man set a record for killing 18 rats (with my help, I opened the door), within a month and cleaned out the entire barn. He would sniff out the mouse runs and wait for them to come down into his mouth! But, he would not take on a Groundhog alone, that was the Labrador’s line of expertise, and he was backup. And, I would like to say, I procured my puppy from a breeder who was probably selling to the puppy mills, he came from PA and the same general area (Shippensburg) where many, many of the Amish are involved in puppy mills. I used to go and get as many of the unhandled sad little puppies I could get. Plus, Clancy, while a hard nut to crack to train, (housetraining was easy, it was the obedience), is the absolute best friend I could ever have had. He does not bark excessively and while active, was never manic or crazy, he never chewed anything, loves to ride in the cars, good with the horses and other dogs, and he does not dig. There are some perfect ones out there, I just hope you get one like Clancy (he looks just like Wishbone).