dee lee Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Well I have discovered one of Honey's hidden talents. She is a skilled ratter! Just took her to the park in the next street for a quick game of fetch before it started raining. A few minutes of playing, she stops dead, her ears go up, then she bolts to something I can't see. Next thing i know, a couple of shakes of her head and there's a dead rat! I easily called her back & she had no interest in it after that. I was shocked! (& grossed out, she had some guts on her !) I know she has a bit of drive, but so far thats only shown in her love of chasing & retrieving. I had no idea my sweet little cuddler had it in her!!!! A reminder that dogs will be dogs- I guess I won't have to worry about rats in our house now. Does anyone know, are all breeds good at ratting? I would not have guessed a GR would be, prior to this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kajtek Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 One of my bullies is a great ratter/mouser. The other two just faint at the sight of a rodent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raineth Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Digby, my big mastiff x (60kgs) is a mouser! He is truly dedicated to the cause and will happily sit perfectly still for up to an hour waiting for a mouse to come out from behind something. He has caught about 3 or 4 now. He doesn't shake them though he just sits them in his mouth. He only managed to kill one that I think suffocated after he left it in his mouth for about five minutes. The others he has let go of and they have run off so he can chase them again. It is pretty hilarious watching such a big dog mousing My Great Dane will do it too, but only if she sees one actually running. She is not interested unless she sees movement. She catches and releases as well while their labrador friend just looks at them as if they're nuts! my old great Dane had a mouse run over the top of him one day and he squealed and jumped on the bed gotta love the mous plague that's happening here at them moment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavvysavvy Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Well I have discovered one of Honey's hidden talents.She is a skilled ratter! Just took her to the park in the next street for a quick game of fetch before it started raining. A few minutes of playing, she stops dead, her ears go up, then she bolts to something I can't see. Next thing i know, a couple of shakes of her head and there's a dead rat! I easily called her back & she had no interest in it after that. I was shocked! (& grossed out, she had some guts on her !) I know she has a bit of drive, but so far thats only shown in her love of chasing & retrieving. I had no idea my sweet little cuddler had it in her!!!! A reminder that dogs will be dogs- I guess I won't have to worry about rats in our house now. Does anyone know, are all breeds good at ratting? I would not have guessed a GR would be, prior to this. As far as I know the Jack russel terrier is superior in that department, but who would have thought a golden retriever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubitty Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Oh wow!!!! Thats fantastic Dee!!!! Bubby tries but I dont think he has the actual skills to catch a rat!!!! You will never have to worry about rodents at home!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dee lee Posted May 2, 2011 Author Share Posted May 2, 2011 Between my cat, who gets the mice, & Honey, we certainly have rodents covered! Lol, I wasn't so sure it was fantastic having to clean the blood & guts off Honey, then having to carry the rat to the bin though!! I can well do without that! It seems to me rather unusual for a GR to be so good at it! I'm still a bit shocked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-Q Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Buster loves hunting but I don't think he's ever caught anything in his life. I was getting a rat out of one of the feed bins yesterday, I was going to walk it down the paddocks and let it go but it jumped out of the bin, landed in front of the terrier mix and scampered off. Buster looked for it for the rest of the afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldielover Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 (edited) LOL i can understand your surprise! Only 1 of my goldies (also a female) has ever shown any ínterest in hunting and killing anything. She would stalk the birds and unfortunately did manage to get a few (and deliver them to me gasping for breath!). The others barely bother even half-heartedly chasing them (or anything else) Edited May 2, 2011 by goldielover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelpiekaye Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Ruby my Kelpie hunts and catches rats and mice just like a cat would. She may have learnt it of our cat "Horse". So much for a soft mouth of a GR. In NZ rats carry lepto and I have known dogs that have died from it. I used to vaccinate my dogs for lepto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remarkabull Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 My JRT is a fantasitic hunter of all things rodent (naturally!) but my old Dobe used to catch mice too. He was a skilled hunter and caught and killed many mice in his time. My cats are good at catching mice but they play with them and then lose interest before they kill them and they end up getting away . If I ever notice that the cats have a mouse then I get the JRT to take care of it. Although my daughters cat escaped the house late one afternoon a couple of weeks ago and took off and wouldn't come back (they get locked inside at night) and when we got up in the morning there was a dead rat on our back patio so she has the killer instinct too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Retrieving is modified prey drive. I'm not surprised she showed that instinct.. but did she bring it to you?? Lots of dogs are good at vermin elimination but some breeds were expressly developed for that purpose. My poodles nail mice and my Whippet has nailed a rat but I'd not back them against a motivated JRT, Fox Terrier or other breed bred for this purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swizzlestick Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 One of my bullies is a great ratter/mouser. The other two just faint at the sight of a rodent Did the dog in your Avatar see a rodent? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwaY Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 I have a Great Dane who is good at it, she even "points" at them like a Pointer And there is Dexter What do you have there Dexter?? Something tasty I think... Yes Dexter caught a mouse, that was already caught in a trap !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gillybob Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 My Gilly who is a JRTx would love to catch a mouse or rat. He will wait for hours for them to come out. He spent most of yesterday trying to catch a wild rabbit that was in our yard. Loulou the JRT is sometimes a wonderful mouser, she is more interested in snakes though. But she will catch and kill mice and rats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnoPaws Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 My two girls (Samoyed and Sibe) are both prolific ratters and rabbiters. Sorry to all the bunny lovers out there but in my paddocks they are just vermin Way too much like hard work for my boys Thankfully I have never seen a mouse or a rat in my house and think I would freak if I did ;) Only draw back to that is ............ cleaning bunny blood from white coated dogs after a tug of war Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whiskedaway Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 I'm certain that if a rat got into our place, Akira and Halo would have it sorted in minutes. Halo is fantastic at catching bugs, and Akira is fantastic at catching birds. The birds now tease Akira by flying just over her head where she can't reach them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W Sibs Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 @ Dexter Charlie and Em are great ratters. They also like chasing rabbits, bugs, possums and birds... Emmy will throw herself in the air to get a bird in mid flight if she thought she had a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravyk Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Spot my cattle x is a mouser, he hunts them for hours and has caught quite a few now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huga Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Lola has caught a rat before. I was so shocked that I took a photo to prove it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dee lee Posted May 3, 2011 Author Share Posted May 3, 2011 Retrieving is modified prey drive. I'm not surprised she showed that instinct.. but did she bring it to you?? No, thank god! Though she did go to pick it up instead of her ball a bit later. I shrieked "leave it!!" in a very high pitched voice!! Luckily she did. SnoPaws, I can relate to the blood on white fur- YUCK!!! I had to wash Honey's ruff afterwards before I could touch her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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