How to Train Polo, a Rat Terrier

A fellow rat terrier owner.

I have two rat terriers. One is a pure bred (relatively speaking, assuming you're aware of how many other dog breeds were involved in what we now call rat terriers) and the other is a mixed breed whom I rescued from a shelter. They're both affectionate as can be, and when they're not racing about for the sheer exuberance of seeing how fast they can go, they're content to curl up beside me. My mixed breed will follow me from room to room, just to resume his place within a few feet of me. They grudgingly share the house with a much larger dog (my wife's) who is well aware that he occupies the lowest spot in the canine pecking order, and he knows he needs their hard-won permission to get between them and me.

Watching them at rest, it's hard to believe how ferocious they are--like massive rottweilers or shar-pei's or dobermans crammed into a body the size of a large house cat. But they've also accepted the trio of cats who were here before them as honorary almost-dogs, and if we get a visitor, they consider themselves the protectors of all members of the household, two-legged or four legged.

I've owned other dogs before them, all of whom were 60-to-70 pounds or more, but these two 10 and 12 pound dogs have as much character as all the other dogs combined. I know they won't be around forever, but they cram one hell of a lot of living into the time they have.

we have a jack russell terrier so i know what you are talking about.