Rat terriers

Backstraps · 01-17-2002, 10:12 AM

Do any of you all raise rat terriers? I am interested in them as a house/ squirrel dog.

TreeRatChaser · 01-17-2002, 10:27 AM

If you are looking for a House/Squirrel dog lemme suggest a feist to you, they are much more tree minded than most rat terriers, they are compairable in size and are very eager to please their master so that makes them easy to train housebreak etc. Go to sqdog.com and you can learn more about them and find and talk to other guys all over the us that raise them
Terry Rice

gun4hire35 · 01-17-2002, 03:45 PM

I don't know if it's a southern thing. I've heard this dog called a feist for a long time. I am just wondering breed is a feist?? Do they have another name.?? I'm guessing you mean Jack Russel Terrier, am I right??

TreeRatChaser · 01-17-2002, 04:25 PM

a feist is a terrier of mixed ancestry which originated in the Appalachian Mountains, they have been bred with whippets and beagles for speed and endurance and hightened sense of smell, They have no jack russel terrier in them but are very closely related to rat terriers which are also called feist by some, feist can be from 12 in to 18 in tall and weigh from 12-30 lbs, the type i have are 13 in tall and weigh near 15 lbs some have stand up ears some have fold over or button ears,these are the types, bench-legged,mt feist,kemmer feist cajun squirrel dogs ,treeing feist, Mullins feist,snoball feist, thornburg feist and denmark feists, all can be registered with NKC,UKC, and PKC and various other hunting dog organizations, these are not just squirrel dogs, they are also bear,bobcat,coon, and some have been trained on birds, my pup is a natural pointer
http://www.angelfire.com/ga3/Georgiafeist/index.html go to that link and they have a few pictures of good looking feists

gun4hire35 · 01-18-2002, 10:06 AM

Those are some nice looking dogs there TRC. Those puppies are really cute.<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

Backstraps · 01-19-2002, 07:57 AM

Thanks TRC!
I was wondering about a MT. Feist? Are they a little larger than the type of dogs you are talking about?

TreeRatChaser · 01-19-2002, 03:52 PM

Actually Mt feist are normally smaller (under 18lbs) than treeing feist as some treeing feist have been outbred with curs to make a bigger boned sturdy dog but no feist is over 30 lbs so that a small dog in my book. my dogs do very well in the house, let me know where you are located backstraps and i will try to find someone in your area that has good feists
Terry

ShortHair · 01-19-2002, 08:37 PM

Very cool looking dogs indeed. I'm no big squirrel hunter but I love to see a good dog hunting anything.