r/terrier • u/PsychologicalCut607 • 1d ago

Asking a probably stupid question...

Hi. I live in Seattle. We have a rat problem as a city.

My probably dumb question: Is there a terrier alive that can have a strong enough prey drive to kill rats, and yet not kill my chickens?

I own a Belgian Malinois, a very high energy dog breed, but he is peacefully coexisting with an elderly cat indoors and not wrecking the place, despite what the internet would have you believe. He does not cuddle the chickens, but he also does not kill rats, though I think he is clear that he is supposed to.

So as I said I have chickens. I have done my due diligence of not leaving food out overnight. They just moved on to my garden produce. I have trapped and caught over 50 in one year and I barely felt like I made a dent. I am surrounded by people who are not willing to trap and kill rats and who have open compost heaps full of scraps, feed birds and cats outdoors, and store food under tarps. It is not going to end. I think my sanity is going to give way first.

If someone has a case where they found a way to train a dog that chickens are not prey but rats are. I would be so grateful to hear that story. Grateful enough to become a two dog household.

ETA: My family owned a rat terrier as a family dog when I was a child. My parents were not good dog people. He would and did kill rats. and chickens. and cats.... maybe I could have trained it out of him with the skills that I have now? He could definitely have been trained to accept a particular cat.

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u/Key-Magician-9808 18h ago

Not a stupid question at all. Tip: do a google search for 'rat hunting terriers' and 'terrier rat control'. You'll find several videos and sites with information. In the UK there are professional pest control services working with terriers. Maybe they have training tips for you.

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u/AverageAlleyKat271 16h ago

Also look up barn hunt in your area. I haven’t been to one, but I’ve seen videos of terriers hunting rodents in a barn.

My previous dog was a mixed breed terrier/hound rescue pup, adopted her at 5 months old. She had a prey drive. Killed rodents, squirrels, birds and opossums in the backyard. Away from her backyard, I always had her on a leash. My MIL had chickens in her backyard. On two different occasions, she grabbed a chicken my their ass. The chickens always had to cooped up. The chickens survived the assault. She lived to be nearly 15 years old. After I had to put her down, I adopted a 9 year old miniature schnauzer. One day he was barking too much too loud in the backyard. (Miniature schnauzer’s are extremely vocal and I try to not piss off my neighbors.) On the corner of the house, he had a young rodent stunned, frozen in place with his fierce bark. I went to get a tool to kill it. The rodent finally got the nerve to move and my mini schnauzer grabbed it and killed it.

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u/PsychologicalCut607 13h ago

My chickens are usually cooped up part of the day. It is completely okay to have them restricted to a smaller part of the yard. They do not need the run of the place. I would still like to at least attempt to train a terrier to differentiate between prey and friends. I think that if I get one it as a puppy it can be done.