Prepare For the Scouting
I guess it’s official.
Bea is bringing Scout home today. Exactly a month ago, this rat terrier boy (about 4-5 yrs old, estimated) was found roaming the streets and got picked up by animal control, delivered to the shelter. He should weigh about 15 pounds. He weighed just over half that, at 8.x. After a month there, he’s nearing 10.
So, lots and lots of protein and lots and lots of sprints are called for, I think. I love rat terriers for their lean ripped-ness. I’m going to get him there.
Yesterday, we took “Nuke” over to meet him. It was a very cordial affair. This morning, she wags her bobbed tail at the mention of his name. Signs are, she’ll be Alpha female. But, we’ll see. Gotta hold out hope for male domination, after all. I’m hoping he won’t let me down. :)
Typical Rat Terrier: “I don’t see you”
“Here, front legs a bit too vertical, but not a bad untrained show pose, right?”
Nothing is going to make it the same.
Killers in Our Midst
But I’ll have Scout as buffed as Rotor there in the background, in no time (Nuke was still a puppy, there—she’s a very ripped, strong female, now). I’m also insisting to Beatrice that we take him in for a tail bob. He needs to look like a proper Rat Terrier.
I’ll post Success Story Update Pics in a couple of months.
…Oh, BTW, you laf when I say killers? Watch.
Rat terriers are actually the American Rat Terrier, some sort of breed between fox, bull, and Manchester terriers, I think. There are anecdotes going way back about how they can clear an old barn of vermin in hours. Unlike cat’s they’re not killing for food. They kill vermin for sport and treats.
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Scout is a beauty! Very pretty face like my Phineas. Congratulations!
Lucky dog. He’s found a good home.
cats rarely kill for food. usually they kill for kicks. their favorite album is “kill ’em all” – and if we humans were small enough, they’d kill us too.
iz
Perhaps when they have plenty. And it’s not really analogous since dogs are pack animals and cats, lone hunters typically.
That said, I’ve seen plenty of eviscerated squirrels in my backyard over the years, in the morning; all guts gone, a little lean meat left. Only one thing could have done that. Feral cats.
yeah, i agree. this was intended to be a pun on pet cats. we’ve got nine of them and their philosophy definitely seems to be: if it moves and it’s small enough it’s dead – regardless of hunger or need.
i hope everything goes well with the new “addition to the family”. keep us posted with pics.
We don’t last too long without our comfort zone of 4 legged furry buddies do we?
Scout has a pretty head. He’s got big ears. The better to hear you well, Richard.
We do not, Gab, and I was just fine with Nuke.
I’m doing this for her. She’s a pack animal.
Which one is the pack animal? Bea or Nuke?
Oops, you caught me!
Funny about that…your animals needing animal companionship. A stray kitten has adopted us. Apparently somebody in the neighborhood took her to be spayed and given a rabies shot because her ear has been clipped. But over the past several months she has chosen us, maybe because the food is soo good at our place. At this point she lives outside under an outbuilding and tolerates husband and me cause we bring the food.
But the one she lives for is our elderly cairn terrier. When I take Nyssa the cairn out for a walk Gussie the cat will creep up on her and play tag, leaping and running and climbing up trees to show off. And for the past several days she has been imitating the dog, pooping in the grass, when the Nyssa does and not even trying to cover it over as she had done previously
Will they hunt gopher?
They’ll go after any small animal. They especially like to go after squirrels, but the only time Nuke ever caught one was when the squirrel was so scared it fell off the tree trunk and she was right there to pounce. She bloodied it, but then it got away. She was only about 6 months old at the time. If that happened today she would have done the shake and snapped its spine right off the bat.
“This morning, she wags her bobbed tail at the mention of his name.” – That is a melt-your-heart picture.
Very nice video. I was disappointed however that the dogs did not eat the rat. Perhaps that was considered too graphic even for the internet?
One of the fondest memories of my youth was watching my neighbors German Shepard, appropriately named Lurch, catching a Cottontail rabbit and consuming it whole. Not a bit was wasted.
Jim
I’m sure they would eventually eat a rat when hungry, but they are working dogs. Search YouTube for ratting terriers. There are a number of breads that do this. It used to be a sport in England where they would dump a bunch of vermin in a pen and the dog that killed the most in some period of time won. Top dogs would kill at a rate of about 100 in five minutes.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat-baiting
A couple of questions/comments on these beautiful beasts:
1) What’s the deal with the big ears? They look kind of like bats or something.
2). Are these guys born with no tails? My Pitt Bull-Mastiff needs her long tail to protect her anal/genital region when, as frequently happens,
something frightens her. Hard to imagine dogs wandering around with their nether regions exposed like that.
Jim
Their hearing is amazing. I can whisper “walk,” or even just lightly rummage in the bin where the leash is, and they’ll come running from the other side of the house. When they’re laying around, there ears rotate around, independently, in response to various noises.
As for the tails, no they are docked. Different reasons for it depending on breed, but for ratting terriers, so they don’t sustain injury since the terriers will often squeeze themselves into very tight spots. I’ve seen Nuke many time take a running, head first dive right into a hole in the ground.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docking_(dog)
Nuke takes after his master.
I have watched you take many a head first dive on this blog over the years. :)
Rat Terriers sound like a very entertaining breed. Must be something to watch one work a pit full of rats.
Yeah. Brilliant you’re giving another dog a chance of a fabulous life. But really? You want to hack off more of its tail for what reason exactly? Fashion? Richard, please, reconsider. What possible functional purpose will causing that dog physical pain by chopping off part of its body serve?
Sounds like the tail is already bobbed. Not sure what there is to reconsider.
My namesake, Rudy, was the first of 4 RT’s and a feist who have been a huge part of our lives for over 10 years in our very rural homestead. All are rescues that fit the description of velcro dogs who are affectionate, intelligent, and energetic. Moles and rabbits are primary prey. We are the ones who feel rescued by them.
Rudy
Good for you. Yea, come to think of it, I think feists are the primary lineage from which rat terriers were bred.
Yep, and one of the coolest things about RTs is the “off switch.” I’m sure you know what I mean.
Cool. I just found out where the word ‘feisty’ originates.
And its meaning is sound, I assure you.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_(dog)
To wit.
One Thanksgiving, the 20lb feist tied up beyond a tree line with a wandering 200+ lb feral pig (no tusks) who was sampling our persimmons. Looked up in horror to see him launched through the air by the pig from beyond the trees only to hit the ground, tumble a time to two, pop up, shake his head and dash straight back for more. No harm, the pig left, and my feist came in with the biggest grin ever.
He passed away last year but his memory still brings smiles.
Thanks, RN. I do know what you mean.
” Finally, while active, most Mountain Feists do not generally exhibit the frenetic energy of Jack Russells.”
Surely Russelly would be more apt or is “Feisty” faux-ironic when applied to humans ?
This is true, Leon.
I don’t care for Russells for this reason. Every single one I’ve seen is always on, all the time. Read up on Rat Terriers. When there’s a rodent around, they are all in. When not, they shut off.
People talk about them having an “off switch.” Russells, in my experience, do not.
Rich, Y’know it’s taken a day to realise that I am more “russelly” than “feisty”, epigenetically.
I’ve had to train myself to be only verbally russelly, while physically feisty. (My non “off switch” got me into trouble when I was young.)
Mind you, JRs on this side of Atlantic seem more like US RTs.
Hmmm
Great looking dog there. We are babysitting a parsons terrier and he’s loving and gentle until he detects wildlife. Then he’s just crazy.
Jealous.
“Scout”Master Nikoley, eh ?
What role in the troupe will Bea have ?