Rat Terriers!!! Wow, what a dog these are. They are rich in American Roots. Most all farms back in the early 1900's had at least one. They were sometimes called Fiests, but now those little fiesty terriers are more commonly known as Rat Terriers.
I have several books on Rat Terriers and could pull them out and tell you about them according to the authorities on the breed. But I prefer to tell you about them from my heart. Like any parent, I love all my dogs equally, but these little terriers hold such a special place in heart.
My oldest girl is Jazzy (Jasmine), she has to sleep in my house because she is afraid of the dark.
I bought her as a Christmas present for myself.
Then there is Dot who is not the prettiest Rat Terrier in the world. I "rescued" her from a dog auction. She was skinny and one of her ears is missing a piece. I thought I would bring her home and fatten her up. Wrong!! She is still very skinny, but one of the best mommas!! And produces beautiful babies. She is so fun as she jumps into my arms!
Heidi, the quiet, shy one. Ginger, the climber, who wants to be my constant lap dog. Then the young girls, one named Chocolate who will find pictured with her owner, my grandson, Nick. Her sister Halley who is beautiful.
Then there are the boys. Iceman, which I kept because he is almost all white, but hates anything that goes Meow. BoDiddley, my beauty, which has proven to be a wonderful father for my babies. BoJangles, my Type B, whose mother is Jasmine and loves to be my friend. And then the baby Gambler.
Rat Terriers make wonderful pets! They can live in the country or in the city in apartments. They are great with children and adults alike. Very friendly, but can be used as watchdogs. The one thing you need to be aware of is they do not realize their size, so you must be careful when taking them around aggressive larger dogs.
I told you on my "About Us" page how I begged and begged until I was 11 to be able to have one of my own. There was a magazine that came out in the Kansas City area where I lived and in the Classified was an ad for Rat Terriers complete with a color picture. I cut out that ad and kept it forever!! The little Rat Terrier in the picture was Tri-color and if you wanted to buy one it would arrive by train into Kansas City from somewhere in Kansas for pick-up. I dreamed of the day my parents would say "yes". But we left Kansas City before my dream came true and my little Kimmie came from a Pet Store in Waynesville, MO. She was very tiny compared to our bird dog, Joe. I thought I would never want anything else, and didn't for a long time. I have several pictures of her and lots of memories.
My Dad was one of those Missouri farm boy who grew up with Rat Terriers. He and his terriers hunted mice in the hay barn. My love of dogs comes from my father. Although my mother was the "pack leader" as I grew up. Kimmie wouldn't come into the living room without Mom's permission and would never get on the furniture when Mom was home. But let her be gone and Daddy and I would have Kimmie sit with us. We enjoyed calling "mom" and watching Kimmie jump down from the couch and run to the edge of the carpet and sit.
After moving to Houston, Missouri and having a pond behind our house, my Dad and Kimmie did some rat hunting of their own. I don't know if Kimmie actually killed the rats, but she was proud of them when they brought them to the house to show them off. Those rats were nearly as big as she, but she thought she was much bigger than she was.