Hello, we currently live in Imperial Beach, CA and we are looking for a home for our Rat Terrier's. They are both 5 year old females, semi litter trained, one named Latte, the other Mocha.

We were told that when we got them, that they are great with children, but are having problems with our 3 year old daughter.  They have not bitten her, but have nipped at her and are very nervous around her and are protective of my wife.

In addition to that, because of our recent move, additional family member and myself being in the military, we just do not have time and money.  

They are both from little towns in Minnesota.

Latte was not bred, but an accident by 2 pure bred Rat Terriers from Delano, MN, on 18-Mar-03.  A mother was dog sitting her daughter's dog and then the rest is history.  We do not have the official papers, but do have the application from the owner to obtain them (at the time, the breeding papers did not matter to us).

Mocha, we believe, was bred, not sure what town she was from.  My mother-in-law purchased her and after a month, decided that she could no longer keep her, so we adopted her.  This was about a month after we had Latte.

Please help us find a home for them ASAP as we are trying to avoid the local Humane Society. I can be reached via e-mail at arthurjohn4@yahoo.om.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing form you.

In general Rat Terriers ARE very good with children. I've got 2 foster right now who have allowed small children they don't even know to hug them, carry them around, etc.  BUT if you dogs weren't exposed to small children early they might be afraid of them.  We have many members here who have both ratties and small children...they do fine.

It takes supervision (don't allow a 3 three year to interact with the dogs without supervision) and a strong pack leader.  The fact that they seem "protective" of your wife makes it sound like that they lack an alpha....or not all the members of the family are alpha over the dogs.

In any case, if you aren't willing to give your dogs a chance with training, you can try contacting Rat Terrier Resq (sorry don't know the contact info) or Ratbone Rescues but as Gwacie said - rescue is very full right now.  Ratbone has a program called the GAP program where they will advertise the dog for you while you keep the dogs in your home...maybe you would qualify for that.  Failing any of those options please try to find a small dog rescue or some other no-kill shelter.