Is anyone either competing with their Ratties or thinking about competing?  I live in Southern Wisconsin, and compete in AKC Rally and Obedience with Dee Dee.  Last November, I got a conformation Rat Terrier from King Pen Kennels in California, and we've been showing her in conformation events in the UKC.  Dee Dee has also been training in tracking and agility, and we are very interested in getting terrier racing started in our area.  We live in southwestern Wisconsin. I' ve trained other breeds before, but Dee Dee is absolutely the easiest dog I've ever worked with,  It's as if someone transplanted a  Border Collie brain into her little head, but without the issues.  She excels at everything.

Ten-month-old Magic just finished her conformation career, and we are starting to train her in obedience.  She's also training very easily.  Our next project is exploring terrier racing.  I was just wondering what experiences others have had competing with their Ratties.  Jan

Jan

My dogs are handler-impaired.

Yes I compete with Murphy at checkers.  And one day... I'm gonna win.

Melody:  Right now, the only place I know of which offers Conformation competitions is the United Kennel Club, and your puppy must be either registered with the UKC or registerable to compete.  The Rat Terrier Club of America is working on getting Rat Terriers into conformation competition in the AKC.  If your puppy is registered in either the AKC or the UKC, it is registerable with the other club.  Dogs who are competing for Championship or Grand Championship points cannot be neutered, since purpose of conformation competitions is to judge potential breeding stock.

Even if your puppy isn't registered, or is registered with some other registry, you can still compete in the UKC or the AKC under the Indefinite Listing Program.   You send in two pictures of your dog, one from the front and one from the side, along with the application, and you receive an ILP number which allows you to compete in performance events.  Your puppy is very young to start seriously training for agility but this is a great time to start learning basic skills.  I'd check around and see if you can find a training facility which offers both puppy agility skill building and basic obedience.

There are so many really fun things you can do with your dog, and the dogs absolutely love it.    We have to spell the words: "class" and "show"at our house because as soon as they hear them, the dogs won't let me out of their sight.  A lot of what you do depends on where you live and what is available there.  There are AKC Rally competitions and agility competitions just about everywhere.  UKC competitions may be harder to find.  If you can't find a good training facility, I can point you on some really great training resources for obedience, rally,, and agility.  Jan

Mitch,  I'd never try to take on Dee Dee at checkers.  I know my limitations.

Ha!  And welcome!

My hubby competes with Bob for my attention and affection. 

LOL!  My poor BF has to do the same thing for my attention.  Seems like so often Rowdy wins...

As far as competeing is concerned, Rowdy is not very good at his recall, but we are actively working on that and with an obedience trainer so that he will be able to participate with the local flyball club here in Portland.  They have a flyball intro class in a couple weeks Rowdy may be going to.  I'm still not sure about his training, so he may wait a month or so still.

He is my running partner and kicks my butt at that an awful lot of the time, too.  Embarassing to lose a race to a dog two feet tall (on a good day) and weighing in at 25lbs soaking wet!

I trained Shutzhund with german shepherds.... I would not think that  Shutzhund would be a sport for a rattie.  I was big into german shepherds for many years, and lost my last GS not long before I inherited Bailey.  I had planned to replace Duchess (my GS) with another GS but then Bailey landed in my life and the rest is history! LOL  My life took a totally different path training-wise, and needless to say... it has been a fun adventure!

Yes.. the dog in my avatar is Bailey... sitting on an "elephant" bale of hay.  Thank you for the compliment.  I'm proud of my little guy!

Lane, Where do you train?  Jan