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Do BCs ever catch Rats? I have an outbreak of them in the really old dry stone walls around my place. There are lots of holes evident. Meg spends ages sniffing at the holes and from random barking I think she may chase them. I hate using the poison but eventually I have to....I put it in pipes and it is being eaten all the time. Just wondered if they ever catch them . Just curious.....again!! Thank you.

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Do BCs ever catch Rats? I have an outbreak of them in the really old dry stone walls around my place. There are lots of holes evident. Meg spends ages sniffing at the holes and from random barking I think she may chase them. I hate using the poison but eventually I have to....I put it in pipes and it is being eaten all the time. Just wondered if they ever catch them . Just curious.....again!! Thank you.

 

Several years ago when I lived in the city, the neighbor had rats living under her house. One morning I let the dogs out and they ran to the back of the yard. There was a huge commotion so I called them in and Maggie led the pack with a HUGE rat in her mouth. In those few minutes she had killed it and brought her prize into the house, big, dead and blood dripping out of it's mouth. I think her daughter, Sea, would do the same. Fortunately, I haven't had the opportunity since to find out what sort of ratters I have in my pack. I did have a sheltie years ago who was the best mousers I'd ever had.

 

So, I'd say yes, but depending on the individual dog. Maggie and her daughter are tenacious and tough, all attitude. I'd say that has something to do with it. But if you're baiting the rodents, I'd be really careful of the dogs getting hold of a poisoned rodent --- really careful.

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Yes. And sometimes if you leave your boots out, they play Santa and stash the still warm corpse inside. :rolleyes:

 

 

My favorite would be when Kirby would bring me "dead" possums. There was nothing I hated more than to open my door to those beady eyes. I was always happy when they unfroze and left.

 

Kirby killed anything that ventured into my yard. Rats, mice and his dream was to someday get one of those dang squirrels.

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My Sophia has rat catching down to a fine art. I have a storm sewer behind my property and some of the neighbors aren't really careful with their garbage. So we have periodic infestations of large rodents. I gave up counting "how many" when Sophie topped thirty of the damned things. She has also taken out several bunnies, two shrews, one mole, one young raccoon, and snatched a bird out of the air in midflight. Yes, this girl is fast! I can well imagine her spotting a rat and telling a terrier, "Step back and let a pro handle this." If there were a scale of 1 to 10 for measuring predatory drive, Sophie would score 15!

 

Yet this same dog respects cats and knows that a dog is a dog even if it doesn't weigh much more than a hamster.

 

And yes, the only thing that still manages to evade Sophie are those damned squirrels. She's come close. She's also determined to eliminate the hawk that frequents our yard. That and the damned fighter jets. When they fly low over the house she leaps in the air to try to catch them. Don't know what she expects me to do with one if she ever does catch it....

 

By the way, does anybody else's hunting dog shriek when it's closing on the prey? Sophie does. She also does it when she is leaping against a tree trunk trying to get to a squirrel. Honest to God, it sounds like a dog in being beaten to death, but it is pure excitement.

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By the way, does anybody else's hunting dog shriek when it's closing on the prey? Sophie does. She also does it when she is leaping against a tree trunk trying to get to a squirrel. Honest to God, it sounds like a dog in being beaten to death, but it is pure excitement.

 

lol at the fighter jets!

 

Schultzie yelps when he's going after snakes or turtles, but I don't think he does when he's killing rodents.

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Yes. And sometimes if you leave your boots out, they play Santa and stash the still warm corpse inside. :rolleyes:

 

Yuck!

 

We haven't had a rat problem yet (just monster sized spiders), but I do know that he loves to watch mice. I have 9 pet mice and 2 gerbils, and he would watch them all day if they would play that long. It is always funny to walk into the mousery and see the three cats and the dog all lined up staring at the doe colony.

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Sasha is my predator. She's taken out several rabbits and squirrels. Yes, squirrels - and not here in Florida where they're wimpy and stupid... I'm talking about stout Kansas squirrels. She, Nik, and Sassy really had the flank-and-kill down. My garden never looked better! They work well as a team, that's for sure. Now getting the disarticulated head away from Sasha... that's a bit of a challenge.

 

Sasha is currently on mole duty. And she's getting them quickly. She hasn't tried for any fighter jets, mostly because they don't seem to come here. Back in KC, the jets from Whiteman would fly over frequently, but she seemed to realize that they were a tad out of her league.

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