Pixie got her first up close with a squirrel! This one was shot down and Ty tried to go get it while it was still alive but then he brought over to us

That's a big squirrell!

Ewww....I mean, Awe....Geez, that is a big squirrel!

Dogs and dead animals always make me feel like

I hate that Fred and Alice like to be hunters.

Lilly would be so jealous she is starting to show potential as a hunting dog the only trouble is she wants to practice on my outside cats which could prove to be a very bad thing.  But she sits at the base of the tree and barks at them and once when chasing one up the tree she jumped halfway up the bottom of the trunk. 

  Um, am I the only one wondering why the poor squirel was shot?  Or did I miss something?

See.. this is also why I like this site!  We get to talk about our ratties  AND  learn things about different parts of the country.  We don't hunt cute little squirrels out here in Oregon.  We put out feeders in our yards for them and hang signs that say things like "Squirrel Xing" !! 

oh yea! my BOYs come from North Carolina Mountain Hunters! specialize in hunting Squirrels!its hard to keep them in the yard off leach Cause there are SO! many!!! they tend to be a sturdyer version of ratty too! Mountain Feists! just ratty's really!

WELL THE BIRDS ALL LEFT HERE WHEN THE bOYS ARIVED!!!aND THEY NEVER CARED ABOUT SQUIRRELS WHEN WE LIVED IN n.c. THEY MISS'D THE BOAT ON THOSE GENE'S i GUESS...aLL THEY WANT TO CHASE IS EACH OTHER TO BE 1ST ON THE BED!

We hunt squirrel here although I never trained Lilly mostly because she is such a goof but I am starting to notice that she would actually make a good hunting dog.  But we eat squirrel here too we don't hunt anything that we don't eat.  They are good in dumplins and barbqued.  There was a time when people around here us included were so poor that if we wanted to eat we had to eat wild game.  Now I will NOT eat possum but that's because I think they are nasty if it smells dead alive then I ain't gonna eat it.  and my uncle eats groundhogs but I don't but we do have to shoot them because of our garden.  And that used to be one of the jobs our farm dogs were supposed to do they had to keep groundhogs out of the garden, possums and raccoons out of the chickens and garden and so on and they actually did a really good dog.  my dad had some fiests growing up and he said they were awesome hunters and they were the size of Lilly so they might have been a cousin to the rat terrier and might have been rat terrier's he said they would work together one or two would distract the animal while the other killed it.  And growing up I had a blueheeler/ aussie mix and he was amazing and his running buddy was a spitz and then later on I had a boxer/lab/pit cross and I still have the border collie shep mix and they were running buddies. 

And around here dogs like them and rat terriers are very important to farmers and the ratties make outstanding hunters someone on here when hunting with a dog named Rhett not sure if he is still here or not. 

I'm a city girl, but a country girl at heart, and I find all this very interesting!  Thank you all for sharing!  I think some ratties, more than others, have it in them to be great hunting dogs. My Chloe.... not so much!    She likes to run after birds, squirrels and even the nieghbor's cats, but she's really not too observant, so I don't think she'd ever actually catch one.  At least I hope not, because if she did, I'm sure she'd kill it.  I've seen what she does to her stuffed animals and it's not pretty!  

My dad hunts the squirrels around here...while granted they can be cute..Ty loves to be in on the action. Ty has only ever gotten his own squirrel once but he was bitten by the hunting bug. I personally like that Ty hunts bc after all that's part of the rat terrier history. Rats aren't a big problem around here so he works with whats he has. Ty's family were raised to hunt on their farms, like his mom is a snake dog. It's just in him to hunt things!! But, Pixie on the other hand couldn't care less about a squirrel. She tends to hunt people for affection!! And I love that about her too!

they are GREAT! snake dogs!!! my Misty in Texas,my Texas ratty use to catch and kill COPPERHEADS!And never got bit! she was fearless!! Also gathered up the 1500lb 1/4's to for dinner in the barn,NEVER TRAINED her to do this!! or CHASE! Coyote's out of the yard too! I wish My current bunch had half of her terriorest traits!