The
Rat Terrier is an American breed that originated from a mixture
of crosses by early immigrants of this country using old time
Fox Terriers and other European Terriers common in the 19th
century; the Old English White Terrier, Manchester Terrier,
Bull Terrier, etc., and later crossed with Beagles, more Smooth
Fox Terrier, Toy Fox Terriers, Whippets, Italian Greyhounds
and other available Feist breeds.
These small to medium sized, smooth coated Terriers are muscular
and medium boned. Bred primarily for farm and ranch dogs to
hunt, protect and guard against vermin and varmints, Rat Terriers
have strong jaws and are known for their quick, agile movements,
which enable them to kill rats and other vermin and small
game. Generally 10-25 pounds, they were not however specifically
bred to be Earthdogs and are thus not normally spanned.
A short chase of about two
hundred yards and a high shrill “yipping” is natural to the
breed. Rat Terriers will follow most quarry to ground. But,
unlike the Jack Russell Terrier, Fox Terrier and other traditional
Earthdog breeds, Rat Terriers are more suited for trailing,
flushing and treeing game or birds, and hunting hares, rabbit
or other varmint that usually give a much faster, longer and
straighter run.
During the 1910s and 1920s,
the Rat Terrier was one of the most common farm dogs. Because
Kansas Jack Rabbits were plaguing crops in the Midwest, to
increase the speed and versatility of the Rat Terrier, some
Farmers began breeding them to Whippets, Italian Greyhounds
and other "snap dog" breeds. Around the same time,
others in the Central and Southern regions, bred their Rat
Terriers to Beagles to bring out a stronger prey and pack
drive for hunting purposes. These early crosses eventually
gave the breed the speed and "nose", as well as
the good disposition they are known for today. A non-sparing,
playful, happy-go-lucky, devoted companion that is also protective,
and yet can be aloof with strangers. They are an efficient,
intuitive hunter as well as an energetic and intelligent companion,
at home in the city or country.
A tenacious Terrier of questionable
ancestry, named "Skip", was acquired on a trip near
the Grand Canyon by our 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt,
and resided there in The White House during Roosevelt’s presidency.
The breed's name is attributed to T.R., coined up in honor
of his own Terriers’ who promptly exterminated the many thousands
of rats that infested The White House after the demolition
of the old Jefferson greenhouses, and during the subsequent
construction of additional wings.
Rat Terriers, popular from
the 1910s through the 1940's, were owned and loved by many
of our parents and grandparents. In the 1930s film "The
Little Colonel", you can see Shirley Temple putting one
of these pied dogs to bed under the covers. As mechanized
farming and poison control began to dominate the farming environment,
the breed's numbers began to dwindle. In the 1950s the breed
was maintained by only a handful of breeders. The breed successfully
reemerged during the late 70's through 1980s, but more as
a companion dog that hunts, rather than a hunting companion.
In the mid 1920s, Fox Terrier
fanciers sought a distinct category for their toy dogs. When
the Toy Fox Terrier was officially recognized by the United
Kennel Club on February 24th, 1936; those individuals that
did not meet the criteria of TFT standard because they were
over-sized, mismarked, or had wrong coloration or patterning,
were “culled” and often found their way back into Rat Terrier
breeding programs. With the desire of some to use these otherwise
"good dogs" and because there was no standardized
Rat Terrier breed, the practice of hybridizing Toy Fox Terrier
stock with those of the Rat Terrier were common in some areas.
This official recognition of
the smaller toy types of Fox Terrier began the true separation
of our American breeds. With the development of the Toy Fox
Terrier breed came the battle of keeping these toy terriers,
a toy. Breedings to Toy Manchester or Chihuahua were subsequently
allowed and crosses were made within some TFT bloodlines.
Although this practice was denounced by many, it wasn't abolished
until the breed’s stud file officially closed on August 31,
1960. These mixes ceased to be produced, but the resulting
culls may have been introduced into our Rat Terrier breed
too.
The Universal Kennel Club (now
UKCI), a pedigree service that registered Rat Terriers for
several decades, condoned and registered these hybrid crosses.
Thus breedings with Toy Fox Terrier's were still occasioned
and continued to be used by some Rat Terrier breeders due
to the lack of available Rat Terrier breeding stock. These
infusions of Toy Fox Terrier along with earlier breedings
to Beagles and sight hounds have added a degree of hybrid
vigor and certainly influenced the varying types, sizes and
colorations that may be seen today.
Recognition of today’s Rat
Terrier is limited and little has been written about the breed.
This is probably because of this mixed-breed stigma and due
to the fact, as recently as 1994, the Rat Terrier did not
have a written breed standard. Rat Terriers existed in numbers,
but were considered by many to be a strain of Smooth Fox Terrier
and sometimes were even referred to as being a "Fox Terrier”
by others. For decades, breeders in various pocket communities
around the country had been breeding toward their own specific
standards; mostly purebreds, but with some crossbreeding for
size or color, etc. Registration was haphazard and usually
done, if at all, with pedigree services and many individuals
lacked a documented multi-generational lineage. Plagued by
these problems, and technically, without a written nationwide
standard, there was no breed.
The charter members of the
Rat Terrier Club of America, founded in 1995, and others worked
several years prior to the actual formation of the club, to
draft a standard that would correctly define and promote the
breed as it is today. Through nationwide correspondence between
many hundreds of breeders, fanciers and judges and by using
numerous questionnaires and breed surveys, the breed was defined
and an accredited, nationwide standard finally written. With
a written standard in place and hybridizing discouraged, most
reputable breeders have been selecting and breeding Rat Terrier
to Rat Terrier with this written Standard used as their breeding
goal.
The Rat Terrier Club of America
is a nationally recognized organization that promotes the
modern Rat Terrier breed and the written, accredited standard.
This national standard accurately describes the majority of
the Rat Terrier breed, as it exists today. The ideals and
format set forth in the RTCA standard, were adopted by the
United Kennel Club in January 1999. This has ultimately has
brought more uniformity to the breed and helped to establish
a more defined Rat Terrier than at any previous time in its
history.
Breed Standard
SIZE, PROPORTION, AND SUBSTANCE
The Rat Terrier is a sturdy and compact, small to medium sized
terrier. [More refined than the JRT] Moderate in size and
shape, neither appearing muscle bound nor fine boned and rangy.
HEAD
Fairly long, moderately to well developed cheek muscles. A
blunt wedge of moderate length when viewed from frontal and
profile. From nose to the stop approximately the same, or
slightly shorter as length from the stop to the occiput. Top
skull slightly domed, moderately broad and full. Muzzle, Medium
long, straight, tapered but not snipy.
NOSE - Black or corresponds with eye, eye rim and coat colorations.
EYES
Filled in; set well apart; medium and slightly prominent.
Rounded to slightly almond shaped with an alert, lively but
soft gentle expression. Both eyes dark brown to light hazel,
corresponding with eye rims and ground color. (Lighter eyes;
grey, amber are acceptable in Chocolate or Blue dogs.) Blue,
China or Walleyes, disqualified.
JAWS - Strong, hinged far back. Of sufficient length to catch
and easily carry game.
LIPS - Clean, tight, and free from flews.
TEETH - Evenly spaced, scissor bite. Level bite is acceptable.
Disqualification: Undershot or overshot bite, wry mouth. (Lost
or missing teeth pulled by the veterinarian not penalized.)
EARS
V-shaped. Slightly set off skull. Prick, Semi-prick or buttoned
(with a tendency to rise above point of origin), without preference,
but both should be uniform. When in motion, ears may be carried
folded in a rose position, but must be properly displayed
at attention.
Faults: Two different ear carriages, tulip or "flying"
ears. Blunt tipped, short round [bat ears, i.e., French Bulldog]
or hanging/lop ears are serious faults.
BODY
Well coupled, strong and compact.
NECK - Moderately long, clean and muscular, of medium substance
with slight arch at the crest. Well set-on, widening gradually
from [base] of the skull, blending into well laid back shoulders.
THROAT - Clean and tight without dewlap or throatiness, other
than an allowable slight wrinkle below the angle of the jaw.
SHOULDERS & CHEST
Shoulder blades are long, sloping and well laid back; fitting
fairly close at tips conveying freedom of action with activity.
Chest; oval, moderately broad with discernable breastbone.
Shoulders should not appear loaded nor should be set at too
steep of an angle as to limit stride. Brisket reaching down
to near level of elbows.
BACK, LOIN and RIBS
Ribs fairly long, well sprung to allow for good expansion;
springing gradually to middle of body then tapering to end
of ribbed section.
TOPLINE - Back, long to moderately long; straight and practically
level; slightly arched over the loins and hipbones, and slightly
higher than the wither, with croup sloping gently to base
of tail. Tail carried to follow natural line of the body.
BOTTOMLINE - Tuck up should be moderate.
FORELEGS
Muscular Upper arm, straight, placed well under the brisket.
Elbows held close and working freely. In profile, pasterns
are nearly vertical. Dewclaws preferably removed.
Disqualifications: Short-legs, benched legs or fiddle front.
FEET
(Front and hind) Feet oval, compact, toes well arched and
fitting tightly together. Front feet point neither in nor
out. Rear feet pointing slightly out to aid in stability when
catching cornered prey. Pads deep and tough. Nails hard and
strong. Flat feet, hare-feet, splayed toes are faulted.
HINDQUARTERS
Strong and muscular. Long, powerful thighs; well muscled hind
legs, hips and thighs. Stifles moderately bent, turning slightly
out. Hocks, firm and well let down. Dewclaws faulted. Short-legs
are disqualified.
TAIL
"Preferred docked" (full 3/5th to 1-3 inch length),
[shorter than Fox or JRT.] Tapered from root; Set medium,
following natural line of the croup. Carried slightly elevated
horizontal, to almost erect when excited. Tail carried over
the back, or too low; or left full or too long, may be penalized,
if distracts from the overall natural line of the Terrier
when presented in the ring.
Faults: Crooked, knobby, crank, squirrel or ringtails.
COAT
Short, dense, smooth, soft to medium hard with a sheen. Scarring
from accidents shall not be penalized. Shown in natural state.
Disqualifications: Absence of coat. Wirehaired, broken-coated,
long-coated or longhaired.
COLOR, TRIM and MARKINGS
Hound colors; tri-coloreds and bi-coloreds, predominately
white and black with tan or rust trim; white and black, or
white and tans, being preferred. Chocolate, red, orange, lemon
or blue, "acceptable" with, or without tan trim.
Same dark shade of coloration, clearly delineated, exhibited
throughout the body, along with approximately 20-90% white
markings are preferred in any of the various acceptable patterns,
pied to predominately solid with (or without) "Manchester
Terrier type" trim. Tan, (cream to rust) points on the
cheeks, eyebrows and eye dots are preferred, but equally acceptable
without. Tan trim also found on the chest, vent, legs and
inside of ears, when not obscured by white markings. Any facial
markings are acceptable. White markings are seen with mottled
skin and/or various degrees of ticking or speckling. Ticking
acceptable, but white should predominate. Sable colorations
or shading on the face or body is acceptable, but dark shadings
on the foreface (masks) are seriously faulted in any coloration
other than black. Any dog whose head and body spots are of
different colors, excessively muddy [or ruddy] colorations,
rustiness in black or blue coats, washed out pale sable, faded
or diluted colorations; fawn, silver, fallow or cream, are
penalized. All acceptable colors, with or without tan trim,
must have a minimal patch of white on the body, but are preferred
to display 20-90% white markings.
VARIETIES
With the body height being measured at the wither/top of the
shoulder; dogs shall be shown in two sizes: MINIATURE, "10
inches, up to and including 13 inches" ; and, STANDARD,
"over 13 inches up to and including 19 inches".
Before 12 months of age, both sizes will compete together.
At 12 months of age there is a class division for both Miniature
and Standard varieties. Dogs not measuring 10" inches
of height at 12 months of age, or measuring over 19"
inches are disqualified from the ring.
GAIT
Smooth, lively, covering ground with free easy strides. As
speed increases at the trot, legs converge towards the center
of the dog. Forelegs should reach out well with the hind legs
driving and flexing well at the stifle and hock with a typical
jaunty air suggesting agility, speed and power.
Fault: Hackneyed or rolling gait.
TEMPERAMENT
Not being a sparring breed, the Rat Terrier is generally friendly
with, or inquisitive of new dogs. Active, alert, always on
the move whether hunting or playing, and can be very vociferous
with lots of mumbling, growling and snarling. Intensely responsive
to owner; loyal, affectionate, faithful and generally friendly
towards people, but protective, and yet may be somewhat reserved
or aloof towards strangers. Excessive shyness or aggressiveness
is undesirable.
DISQUALIFICATIONS
Short-legs, and/or benched legs or fiddle front. Absence of
coat, wirehaired, broken-coated, or long coated or longhaired
individuals. Absence of minimal patch of white the size of
a quarter (approximately 1 square inch) displayed on body,
excluding the areas of the head and feet. Single or solid
colors; Solid white, or near solid white (excessively white
patterned) dogs, not displaying mottled skin. Albinism, or
brindle or merle colorations. Dogs not measuring 10"
inches of height at 12 months of age, or those measuring over
19" inches. Wry, undershot or overshot bites. Blue, China
or Walleyes, disqualified. Monorchids or Cryptorchids. Cropped
ears.
© 1994 - 2003
Rat Terrier Club of America/RTCA
