Hello, I am new here I am very excited to come across this community reading some previous posts I feel you guys are very knowledgeable.

I just adopted a 2 year old rat terrier from a sheleter, she was a stray and had a litter of puppies before I adopted her, however she is now spayed. I have a couple of questions, right now I am currently enrolled in obedience classes with her and she is very very smart and learns very quickly. however theres are a couple of things that bother me.

she does not seems to get a long very well with other dogs, she seems to whine a lot and yelp when shes sees other dogs, especially when other dogs are excited. I have heard a lot of mixed things to do about this, such as ignore it... tell them no.. but i'm not really sure what I should do. my girlfriend's parents have a golden retriever and we met up for a walk one day and she growled a little when they met eye to eye, but were soon able to walk side by side without any problem.. though they did not really play together they put up with eachother.

another thing is I have two cats. the cats are not very bold and don't really stand thier ground when they see the dog, and tend to just run away, the dog wants to chase them but with a quick serious "NO" she typically stops in her tracks, we also have been trying to use a spray bottle. we would really like it if she would not be aggressive at all and get over this, but the cats don't want to approach her, so shes never really been able to sniff them and learn that they are more than just furballs than run really fast..

anyway sorry about the huge post.. if anyone has any advice it would be very greatly appreciated. thanks a lot =D

-John and my new RT Sophie

Hi John!

Welcome to the best Rat Terrier site available!!  As you've probably figured out, Nora's awesome!   

Hi John (and Sophie!) Congrats on your new family member! PICS!!!!!!!??????

I also have a  Rattie rescue, Yogi, who is now about 2. Got him 9 mo ago.

I have 2 senior cats and I was very worried about them when I first got him. They are Dog-savvy cats but that actually worried me more. He is VERY prey-driven. (He'll hunt down a moving Leaf!)

I NEVER left them alone together the first few weeks, and I started feeding them treats together...the cat sits and waits for her treat (Temptations, that sorta stuff) and Yogi would sit next to her...gradually they got closer, and more tolerant of one another as they got treats together. I also lavished petting and praise on both at the same time when they sat together...to avoid that "jealousy" stuff! LOL!

Now, months of this later, they are Buds. She even instigates him to chase her sometimes. Funny to watch....

Depending on the cat....the treat thing might not work...plus Yogi always submitted to her as far as her nosing around in his food bowl...he was never agressive towards her, just waaay too "interested".

I think Female terriers sometimes seem more "territorial" about some things....ummmm, perhaps "protective" is a better word !.

Hi John and welcome to this site!   You will find great advice here and it definitely helps.  I too have a rescue Rat Terrier named Jasmine.  I also have a cat and at first it seemed like Jasmine would never stop chasing her and we would always have to correct her.  But i assure you that given time they will start to tolerate eachother if not be best friends.  Jasmine now won't sleep unless her cat is cuddling with her at bed time. As everyone else said i wouldn't leave them alone together until they begin to get along.
Again welcome and i can't wait for pictures!

Welcome. We didn't even know what a Rat Terrier looked like before we found Cocoa. She has changed our lives and taken over the house. Are you a Dog Whisperer fan on National Geographic? He is my hero. We had to invest in a spray bottle in hopes it would decrease the barking. It works! If we can find it when we need it. Good luck!