Hello all,

I am the proud owner of a 12 week female rat terrier.  I also have a five year old standard poodle.  I love my rattie, she is such a good girl.  I have a two year old daughter and she is great with her, with my dog and the rest of us.  She is friendly, fairly calm, and very trainable.  I had researched the breed and also am a volunteer trainer at my local humane society.  So I am pretty well versed on socialization, training, etc.... 
Well I brought my dear little rattie to the vet today.  The vet decides to give me a long lecture on the implications of owning a jack russell or rat terrier (He grouped them all together).  He kept mentioning Jack Russell though.  He said how they are biters, how they need a job like agility or flyball, how they are not happy in the typical suburban home, how they are dominant and will try to take over.  Oh, and how she will eventually become a destructive chewer,  and dig up my yard.  Oh and that they are terribly stubborn and difficult to teach.     Umm....OK?  I thought Jack Russells were an entirely different breed than rat terriers.  Am I mistaken?  I know that there is the "terrier" personality that must be taken into consideration.  However, this is not a jack russell.  Now though, this vet has me freaked out about my rattie.  She kind of protested when he gave her the shots, so he said that he can tell she is dominant.   As a volunteer trainer, I know in my mind this is nonsense.  I know through daily living with her, that she is not "dominant" and that this term is highly over used.  I also know how submissive this dog truly is.  She is sensitive, easy to teach, and great.  So far, but now that this professional has told me otherwise, I am a bit freaked out.  Of course I am freaking out that I have chosen a known "biting" breed to live with my two year old daughter.  But at the same time, my head is telling me that this guy is wrong to lump her into this one big category.  Can anyone offer me some reassurance that my dog is not going to turn into a monster?  I will train her!  She is going to go to classes once she has all of her vaccines!  Thanks.  I just need to hear that I have not made a huge mistake!    You know how it is when someone who is a professional tells you something like that?  It really makes you think because hey, they are the one who sees this stuff every day.  But I know I must be aware that they can be wrong too. 

Your vet is an uninformed idiot. Ratties are NOTHING like Jacks. They are certainly still terriers and do need training and activity, that is true, but they are very different. I personally would look for another vet. I had one give me the same speech with Zip and Roxy (TFTs) years ago. They hated this guy on site for some reason. He actually told me they should be put down as they were nippy with him. So I switched to another vet, one who also supported raw feeding, and they all LOVE her. EVEN though she gives shots they never try to growl or nip at her or anything.

Train your dog, no question they need it, but ratties are much calmer than jacks so long as you do your part.

Thanks for the warm welcome. My rattie's name is Maggie. This vet clinic is great. But it has several vets. I usually see a different vet, but had to change my appointment time, and so I got him. I think I will just request the one I got before from now on. The previous vet seemed to love my dog and enjoyed cuddling with her. So I think it was just one "bad apple" so to say LOL. You know, I suppose they see a lot of people who get Jack Russells because they are cute or whatever. He even mentioned how Eddie from Fraser was actually at the shelter waiting to be euthanized due to his behavior issues. I kind of was put off by this comment too. Like I just selected this dog because of Eddie on Fraser? What the heck? The thing was I never asked for his input on the breed. I'll try not to judge the whole clinic based on this.As a volunteer at the humane society, I know how frustrating it must be for him to see people pick the wrong dogs for their lifestyle. I just felt a little judged and I think he doesn't like the terriers so much.

Meh to your vet.  Being educated does not imply that your opinions are always right.  Blanket remarks like his are biggotry  at it's most profoundly stupid.  Sounds like your vet was just itching to give his new gas chamber a try.  Next time, watch for the swastikas hanging outside the vet's office... that should be the first sign that maybe you should just cancel the appointment.

That vet was a complete idiot and no dog lover!  Some owners would have taken their poor pup to the shelter based on this fool's word just because he was a "professional".  Vets aren't the most informed on breeds, usually, they need to stick to the medical end of things and leave behavior out of it.

I think the most frustrating this is that any resistant behavior is labeled by this vet as "dominant".  The truth is that fearful submissive dogs are just as likely to bite as a "dominant" dog.  Thus the term "fear biter".  My dog who leans more toward the submissive almost fearful personality, would have most likely resisted due to fear not dominance.  She is very sensitive, which I understand most ratties are.  Heck, I bet most dogs bite vets out of fear and not dominance.  Going to the vet is stressful and scary to many dogs.   You are right also that if he told this to a newbie dog owner, it would probably freak them out even more than I.  I bet some people would relinquish a dog based on what he said.  Who wants a dog who is destined to be a biter?  UGHH!!!!

I agree with everyone here that the vet was wrong in his comments and irresponsible to scare a new owner of a  beautiful sweet puppy.  I will say that my dog IS a chewer and has chewed on many shoes and toys, but they are all over my house.  She has a hard time determining what is her toy and what is my 4 year old's toys.  Also, you not only have to teach your dog not to bite, but you have to train your toddler not to hurt the doggie.  The only times that Tinkerbelle nips at my daughter is when my daughter is playing too rough or abusing my dog.  If she says Tinkerbelle bit her, than I ask what did you do to Tinkerbelle....and not to scare you...she has never really bitten her to break the skin.  Tinkerbelle is either playing or protecting herself.  I tell Rachel if Tinkerbelle growls than that is her warning to back off and stop doing whatever she is doing to the dog.  You also need to watch the 2 year old with the dog...especially if the dog is eating or chewing on a bone or something.  These dogs are easily trained and very sweet.  The have an innate desire to please and all of my neighborhood kids love to play with her.  Sometimes kids ring my doorbell and ask if Tinkerbelle can play ball with them. 

I had minpin's before and they were much more nippy and yappy.  The vet would see me coming and bring out the muzzle for my sweet old girl who never  bit anyone.  Vets like that just pissed me off because my female never nipped at anyone, but she would get scared to death when they would muzzle her and act like she was bad.  Then she started acting aggressive at the vets.  My male would nip at them and hated being muzzled as well. 

If you have a good, dogloving vet it can make a huge difference.  Tinkerbelle actually likes my vet and they talk sweet to her and cuddle her. 

Good Luck and you have a beautiful puppy there!

Makes me appreciate my vet, he thinks my dogs are cute and doesn't really care what breed they are.  He's very soft spoken and extremely calm around them - every dog he sees, actually.  When we took the neighbor's dog in there and he had has entire right side flayed open the vet didn't even need a muzzle on him to handle him because he was just that calm and "matter of fact" about it. 

Also, when the office isn't too busy, he'll go out in the waiting room and just talk to people and pet the animals.  He's a real, old fashioned "southern gentleman". 

See now THIS is a reasonable thing for a vet to say.

I would change vets.  That vet has a mindset that all dogs of the terrier type are vicious little things.  Well, they are terriers, but they are not unteachable hellions.  I have also had trainers tell me that a Rat Terrier should not go to obedience training until they are 6 months old.  Hooey!  They like to learn.  They like to participate.  And, they like to be members of the family.  They like to interact with their families.  They are loving with their families.

Keep in mind, not all Collies are Lassie.  Not all Vets are terrier wise.