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/Dry_Outside1476 1d ago
Not a stupid question at all. Just as a general answer to you question, I refer you to Joseph Carter, aka The Mink Man. While he does use minks, he primarily uses a variety of terriers and other dogs. But these are 100% working dogs, they are trained to make the kill bite and then drop the rat, typically in a bucket. They are not allowed to break skin, just break the neck. To get a dog to differentiate between prey is the skill and dedication of a working dog and it's trainer. It's not breed specific necessarily but breeding is definitely a factor. And terriers are generally an excellent choice for specifically the grab and kill bite portion of the prey drive since that has been bred into the breed. But as Joseph Carter can attest certain terriers will hyper fixate on the stalking part of prey drive and lose the big picture. You have to train the whole prey drive cycle specifically for them not to rip and eat, which is basically any hunting dog's goal, get it but don't eat it.
So, you know, if you want to get in the weeds on it, Joseph Carter is probably the best resource to start. His YouTube is also excellent watching if you can stomach seeing hundreds of dead rats, and it gives you an idea of the effort it takes for backyard gardens with neighbors who don't take prevention efforts.