# Do your dogs get along with your rats?



## bethany

I've just got two rats and I'm getting them acquainted with me. The dogs sniff and sniff and whine wanting to see them. We aren't letting them... but they are super curious.

Anyone have dogs and rats and maybe some pointers?


----------



## mrstwinker

My lab loves the rats! At first, I let them sniff noses while the rats were on my lap and the dog was loose. Now they love to sneak in his crate while he is in it and the dog will just lay down while the rats crawl all over him. The only reason why I trust my dog with the rats is because he has no prey drive whatsoever. He sees every animal as a friend, not food. If your dogs have any interest in hunting other animals, I would be very cautious.


----------



## bethany

Thanks for your input. My dogs like to chase squirrels out of our yard, but I don't think they would know what to do with one if caught. They seem to know the difference between pet and wild.... they love kittens.

But I will wait to let them get acquainted until after my rats bond with me. It'll probably be quite some time.


----------



## HappyMooCow

I have one dog that is ok with them, the other one would try to eat them, and she sit next to their cage and whine as well. Id be VERY careful if I were you... chasing is a display of preydrive, whimpering is a display of lack of impulse control. Have your dogs ever got along with a smaller animal?? if not, they might go for them..


----------



## my_ratters

my dogs are scared of mine lol!! but at first they justed sniffed


----------



## dodgingflames

I have an 80 pound lab/pit mix that LOVES my rats. He plays with them like they're miniature dogs 

He grew up with my first rat, Brett, and I've never thought twice about letting him be their big buddy. I have to be careful though because he's extremely protective of them and if one of the other dogs or the cat come near them he snaps at them as a warning.


----------



## littlehippiemomma

My dog is horribly jealous of my rats. She hates it when I pay attention to them. And I know she'd snarf them up in a minute if she had the chance!


----------



## courtuhknee

I've got a beagle/basset hound mix named Ginger. She has never been aggressive to them, but she gets VERY nosy. She'll whine and bark and jump if she sees them moving, so I keep her away. Her basset/beagle instinct is not something I want to test with my rats. She gets jealous, as well.  Although she gets jealous when I show ANYONE affection other than her! Even people.


----------



## Gma and Gpa P

My dog could care less about all my girls. He is a terrier, and I know his breed was bred to be a hunter, but he is not interested at all in our rats.

At first, he wanted to see them so we would hold them on our laps and show him what we were holding. And we made sure to hold onto HIM, just in case he decided to lunge and make a snack. But after about a week of that, and a few times of them climbing up his legs or jumping from the bed onto his back and going for a ride, he now ignores them. He doesn't mind them sniffing his legs or his nose, but he doesn't really care for them climbing his legs or going for rides. It is usually Sally who will do that, and Lucy will pretty much ignore Paddy like he ignores her. And Josie prefers to hide when Paddy is around.

We have not let Molly or Amy meet Paddy yet, and probably will not. Not that we don't trust Paddy, but he is now too old to climb the stairs to go into the room we use for the girls free-range time.

Anita


----------



## millieandnellie

Nellie is bad about escaping from my room, and when I go to find her, I often find her sitting on a dog and snuggling with a cat..... : My dogs want to see them, but they never hurt them. Maggie is scared of them


----------



## DarkRose

My poodle hates my rats. He looks at them like they are dinner.
My Doberman just sniffs them.
My cat lets them run all over him.


----------



## Ky_Zack

Terriers were mostly bred as rat killers. So those instincts are hard to break. Just an FYI.


----------



## begoodtoanimals

millieandnellie said:


> Nellie is bad about escaping from my room, and when I go to find her, I often find her sitting on a dog and snuggling with a cat..... : My dogs want to see them, but they never hurt them. Maggie is scared of them


It is our responsibility that they are kept safe. It's actually that Nellie is good in escaping and you are not so good in containing her


----------



## Siwain

My lab isn't much interested in the rats at all. He's much more interested in their food!


----------



## amadeusmom

Okay, here's my pitbull story. I have an altered female pitbull. She has been exposed to rodents, mostly rats and guinea pigs, since she was a puppy.
Amadeus doesn't like her, but she likes him. If food is involved, the rat bites the dog and the dog snaps back..nothing serious so far..we try to keep food controlled when they're both out.
When I correct Amadeus, by clapping my hands or slapping my leg and saying his name, the dog, Lacy starts vocalizing. 
If I say "where's that rat" the dog starts her "find" behaviour then barks when she spots him.
I don't trust them alone, but amadeus defends himself pretty well. I have left them in the car alone with no trouble, but they mostly ignore each other.
Lacy does chase, squirrels and cats...and kills wild rats if she finds them in the garage or yard. She seems to know the difference.
Again, it's all about how you approach it..and yeah any dog with a high chase drive is a risk. It depends on the tolerance of your dog. A dog can kill a rat obviously.


----------



## Snowblind

Our collie-mix got along with mu rats at first but after a few years of keeping unsocial cage rats so she didn´t have a chance to interact with them any other than through the cage, she has become unreliable and I don´t trust her around rats. 

My doberman is just fine with them. She has pray drive that makes her snap teeth when they are running close to her but she never tries to bite the rats (it is funny how she just snaps by herself). She is the only dog that is allowed to be free around free-ranging rats. 

The dachshunds however are true hunters and it probably would be a matter of seconds to kill the rats. The miniature one is not as intense and when I yell, she ducks, but the standard is fearless. They are hunting dogs that are expected to take on a fox or a badger and as I didn´t really think I will be owning rats that are allowed to free range again, they are not used to critters running around (the miniature is a rescue anyway). The standard is known to find critters in the woods and not only catch but eat them on the spot so really wouldn´t want to risk.


----------



## Gma and Gpa P

Ky_Zack said:


> Terriers were mostly bred as rat killers. So those instincts are hard to break. Just an FYI.


Yes, I know what terriers were mostly bred as. Paddy is also 18 years old, blind and deaf, sleeps most of the day and night, loves everyone who comes over thinking they are all his friends, still gets very excited when it is time to eat and doesn't like car rides anymore. He has changed so much in the past year, growing old before our eyes, almost overnight. His best friend was a greyhound that we had to put down 2 years ago when her kidneys started failing. Paddy was a pound-hound that we adopted when we lived in Australia, and has been around kids, teens, babies, birds, cats, other dogs, and now rats. Terriers are known for being bitey dogs also, but he loves children and will now move away when they get to be too much for him. He has never bitten anyone. 

The point is, you have to know and understand your other animals (dogs included) before allowing them to get aquainted with your rats. Paddy still loves my rats, but would much rather sleep than to do them harm.


----------



## begoodtoanimals

amadeusmom said:


> Okay, here's my pitbull story. I have an altered female pitbull. She has been exposed to rodents, mostly rats and guinea pigs, since she was a puppy.
> Amadeus doesn't like her, but she likes him. If food is involved, the rat bites the dog and the dog snaps back..nothing serious so far..we try to keep food controlled when they're both out.
> When I correct Amadeus, by clapping my hands or slapping my leg and saying his name, the dog, Lacy starts vocalizing.
> If I say "where's that rat" the dog starts her "find" behaviour then barks when she spots him.
> I don't trust them alone, but amadeus defends himself pretty well. I have left them in the car alone with no trouble, but they mostly ignore each other.
> Lacy does chase, squirrels and cats...and kills wild rats if she finds them in the garage or yard. She seems to know the difference.
> Again, it's all about how you approach it..and yeah any dog with a high chase drive is a risk. It depends on the tolerance of your dog. A dog can kill a rat obviously.


it doesn't sound like a fun social situation for either dog or rat. And a Pit who snaps back? Do you know what risk you are exposing your rat to?


----------



## Snufflez

My rat terrier has no drive to go after my rats at all.. gophers are a differnt thing.. i used let my old rat climb all over her on the bed.


----------



## begoodtoanimals

???  I can't believe people take risks like that. Rats don't miss out on anything if you protect them from dogs. Dogs are domesticated predators and can snap in a second under your eyes. You know why? Because rats are prey animals in that relationship.

I am sure there have been accidents like these; just we don't hear about that.


----------



## Snufflez

i am right there by my dogs head when my rat used to run all over her.... daisey was more intresed in me than the rat... i dont do it anymore as my dog now sleeps with my little sister


----------



## bethany

My dogs are mostly well behaved, with a few minor issues here and there. They are very curious about the ratties, but they have been around cats, other dogs, and are well socialized females, so they don't want to eat my ratties.

If your dogs don't have a "killer" instinct toward other animals a slow introduction should be possible. Now my dogs will chase squirrels out of the back yard, but they understand that the rats are pets too. I suggest letting them sniff some of the rats toys while talking sweetly to them and when they do see the rats keep speaking softly and sweetly so they know that it's a sort of "family" situation, softly admonishing the dogs if they get too close for comfort. It would be bad to have a nipped pup nose!

Good luck!


----------



## sk8rat

i don't know about if they get anlong because thev never ment each other


----------



## Corpseflower

My chihuahua just wants to play, but the boys are scared to death of him!


----------



## cheyenneobvious

My dog is scared of my ratties. She seems interested and watches them like crazy beside the cage, but when they are out playing, my dog is nowhere to be found


----------



## begoodtoanimals

Corpseflower said:


> My chihuahua just wants to play, but the boys are scared to death of him!


Of all dogs it looks like the Chihuahuas are the ones to look out for. In OR one chased a cougar off after the big cat had pinned down the Chi's terrier brother. In another state a couple of Chis had cornered a cougar in a garage. 
So yeah, if they can handle a cougar, rats should definitely look out for Chis


----------



## Little-Fizz

Ky_Zack said:


> Terriers were mostly bred as rat killers. So those instincts are hard to break. Just an FYI.


Yeah, I have a terrypoo (lol) And my god she wants to eat them so bad. But she knows better :-\ I mean I would NEVER EVER trust her with them even near her face. But you can just tell, when I'm holding them she won't even look at me, she looks excited but if she accidentally looks up at me she'll look away instantly. She just knows that they are mine not hers. She never even bothers to look in the fn or anything, I could leave it wide open and she would just walk right past. 

"Lacy does chase, squirrels and cats...and kills wild rats if she finds them in the garage or yard. She seems to know the difference." 

I agree with that 100% I mean she knows the difference while I'm there at least, she has killed a couple field mice in her time. But again, she knows the rats are mine. And I'm alpha


----------



## Bomileloed

I have a huge german shephard male who is very protective and can be aggressive, but when he's around my rats he's just a little baby lol My rats aren't even scared of him and they will sniff each other. My dog will even stick his head in my ferret nation cage to chill out with the rats.


----------



## Maple

well, I have 2 dogs and one of my dogs just totally ignores them, but my other dog tries to eat them!!!
I try to keep them as far away as possible from one of my dog....


----------



## 3pidemic

Our dog is very curious about the rats and has always been. He'll stick his nose up to the cage and watch what they're doing. The girls will bite his nose, but the boys don't seem to care at all. The dogs a big dummy so he'll shake off the nibble and look at us all confused then do it all over again.

The exception to this is Dexadrine. He had gotten out one night and I was woken up to rattie kisses on my eyelids, by the time I realized what it was and found my glasses Dexadrine was cuddled up at the foot of the bed with our dog. Since then they have been best buddies, which scared me a lot at first, but our dog has never snapped/tried to bite anything, not even the cat (he would just sit there and let her beat up on him). I've gotten comfortable with this strange relationship, but outside of Dexadrine's little escape all interactions have been supervised, much to Dexadrine's dissapointment. As soon as he's out of the cage he runs up to play with the dog, he'll start popcorning and grooming the dog just like he was a giant rat.


----------



## elizabethrae.

My dog is very unsure of them. If one comes too close he gets up and moves  I think it is probably due to an incident from when I first had my two rats. My rat Vlad(RIP) was on my lap and my dog came over to sniff him. Vlad promptly nipped his nose and my dog turned tail and ran! Ever since I try to keep the ratties away from him.. for his sake not theirs


----------



## AMJ087

My brothers dog gets so excited to see mine but whenever she gets close to them they bite her nose so shes learned to turn her head near them.


----------



## MissHinasaki

I'm really worried about introducing my dog to my rats. She's very small (a Pomeranian mix) and loves small animals but gets a little over zealous at times. She absolutely loved my guinea pig (she would lick her through the cage and was absolutely heart broken when she passed away) and she even loved when one of my dad's ferrets staid with us for a week (but he didn't like her and would nip her on the nose when she tried to play with him). I'm a bit worried that she might scare them or be too rough, even though she is really small. She's obsessed with my mice and just sits by there cage and stares at them when she's in the room where they're kept. I know she would never try to hurt any of her little friends intentionally but just doesn't seem to realize that they might not be as excited to play with her.

I would really like to introduce her to the rats when I get them but I'm just worried about her rough housing. I was thinking about maybe waiting until they are full grown males, since then she wouldn't be much larger than them. 

What do you think I should do? I'll have a tall cage so would it be okay if I just let her by it and they could go up higher if they don't want to be by her? Should they ever be introduced outside of the cage?


----------



## maddy

i've never let my guide dog get near 2 my girls because i don't know what she'd do to them,
i wouldn't forgive my self if something happened to one of my rattys...


----------



## APBT Kisses

I have 2 dogs. A Pit Bull Mix, who would love nothing more for me to let them loose so she could eat them. Her prey drive is through the roof. 

My Pit Bull who's 10months wants to be their BFF.


----------



## MissHinasaki

My rats and my dog (whom lives with my grandparents now) met for the first time the other night through a cage when I took them to visit. She gets easily excited (and is a very small dog) so I wasn't too comfortable letting them out around her. They poked their noses up through the top of the cage in curiosity and she gave them a few licks. They didn't seem quite sure what to do about this but a couple of them put their noses back up for seconds! 

Later she went into the room where I had let them run around and sniffed all over the blankets and couch that they had been on and ran all over the place looking for them. Maybe when they're full grown I'll see about letting her meet outside of the cage (they'll be about her size by then  ).


----------



## tipsytails

We have 4 corgis here and we CLOSELY supervise them around the rats and rabbits. For the most part, they just want to herd them, lol!

But we have one girl, Temari, who is the most easy going dog in the world. She's a moose of a corgi at well over 40 lbs! (She is a Cardigan so it's not that bad as they do tend to weigh much more than the Pembrokes). She and my son's rat, Stacey, get along wonderfully. Temari will lie on the floor and let Stacey explore her. She even lets Stacey ride around on her back!

This is the only dog / rat combo that we really allow in the house. And it is always closely supervised.


----------



## mariposa0283

yes and no.... my in laws have 3 dogs. one is 11 years old so hes pretty cranky and set in his ways... jack is about 2 years old i think, he wants to eat them... gracie the weenie dog is 6 months, she played with one of my rats once for about 15 minutes then she forgot she was dealing with such a small animal, she hurt him a little bit and i havent let her near them since... once they get bigger i dont see why it would be a problem to let them play with gracie but in the mean time i steer clear of it. it just really depends on what kind of temperment your dog has.. introduce them slowly. hold the rat securely in your hands and show the rat to the dog and see how they both react.. dont let them get too close or things can get ugly fast... if the dog snaps or snarls (certain snaps are playful, you'll know if its one of those "i want to eat you" snaps) then i suggest not letting them greet each other just yet.... i know that somewhere out there theres bound to be rats and dogs that romp together though...


----------



## Paterson.S

My pitbull rotty cross ADORES them. I used to let him play with my oldest male (RIP) in the grass outisde and he would get so excited. Not to mention the babies, he can't resist them. I hold one out in my hand and his eyes light up, he tries to lick them but they are too little so I don't let him. Yesterday I had them in a tank in the living room to give mom some alone time to do as she pleased. Bransen saw them, he ran over and stuck his head in the open tank and his tail started going like mad.


----------



## cassi.opeia

I've been so worried with all our other animals, i make sure that my rat's free range time is alone.. since we have a HUGE lab[possible newfie mix] and 2 cats with 2 baby kittens.. I'm nervous about letting him roam with other animals in the room. 

Most of the time Ginger, the dog, is outside.. and whenever I take bbyy out to play the cats are nowhere to be found..


----------



## thunderstarstruk

my dog peaches LOVES my rats! she thinks they are her babies ;D
herbie, however, is blind and has no idea what they are.. he likes to sniff them though!

they are peekapoos  pekingese poodles.


----------



## Suzanne

My dog LiLo is 100% sure that they are squirrels. She LOVES to chase squirrels. My other dogs Seth and Sofie are very curious about them, I am however very cautious. I know LiLo would chase them to try and play with them and probably kill them because it would be fun. [She has killed a chicken and injured another one.] I don't think Seth would intentionally go after one of the rats, but I really don't give him the chance. Sofie doesn't seem bothered either way. When she was younger [she's going to be 13!] she got to play with some guinea pigs and she just treated them like puppies, flea biting them and pushing them around.


----------



## kawaiikitsune

My little Japanese Chin, Riku, loves to see the rats. Their like his pets. He even knows what "rats" means and runs all the way to my room when I ask him where the rats are. 
He likes to sniff them and watch them and sometimes shakes when he's watching them. I've caught him nipping at them a bit, but never actually hurting them except when he paws at them and they squeak. I've let him chase them once or twice and my ratties will stand up on their hind legs as if to tell him to stop lol.


----------



## Junebug!

2 of my dogs are curious and sniff, Barney (who is 13) sniffs them and occasionally tries to nip them so I usually dont let them near him. Cooper is our chihuahua and responds with curiosity but he sort of winds down after a bit. However our other dog Samson is wayy too over curious and his only goal is to kill them. He critically injured a bird once and it ended up dying, so as you can imagine, contact with my smaller animals is completely forbidden with him!


----------



## Paterson.S

kawaiikitsune said:


> My little Japanese Chin, Riku, loves to see the rats. Their like his pets. He even knows what "rats" means and runs all the way to my room when I ask him where the rats are.
> He likes to sniff them and watch them and sometimes shakes when he's watching them. I've caught him nipping at them a bit, but never actually hurting them except when he paws at them and they squeak. I've let him chase them once or twice and my ratties will stand up on their hind legs as if to tell him to stop lol.


My pitbull does this, too!
You can say, RATS, KITTY, BIRDS, BUNNY, or anything like that and he SO gets excited.
He loves all little animals, and he acctually got to meet a Senegal Parot and they got along great.


----------



## Alexc844

My dog, Rumer just comes up to me while I am holding my rats and tries to lick them. Higgins will sit there and let him do it, but the girls nip him, lol!


----------



## Mylasrubies

my dog is a 3 y/o chihuahua dachshund mix and she gets along great with my dumbo rat emmette, they're both girls. Although she doesn't get along too well with my other rat gryphon who is also female and is hairless. :/ i often see my dumbo chasing after my dog and nibbling on her legs. she hasn't shown any fear as far as i know but i still have to watch out because my dog is sometimes rough and thinks she's smaller than she actually is. haha I'm thinking that maybe my dog doesn't like my hairless because she has a different scent and since she has no fur. it's unfortunate. I would think that she'd be used to it since I'm not a werewolf. if you get where i'm coming from


----------



## puppydude30

My pet dog Zooey is not comfortable since I brought home my pet rat named Ratty. At first I put him on the table where Zooey usually stays. He keeps on barking on the rat. Since this starts him to make some mess, I put the rat on the safe cage and hang it away from the sight of Zooey.


----------



## ZoeHale

Puppydude, I highly recommend that you bring home a few same-sex friends for your Ratty! Rats are highly social creatures that need to be kept in groups of two, or more! Three rats sounds like alot, but I have three girls and for me, it's the perfect number!


----------



## oatsnyogurt

My dog has killed many small critters including birds, mice, moles, rats , and rabbits. There is no way that I would trust her with one of my ratties! She is a sweet little labradoodle with a big prey drive. The only smaller animals that we can trust her with is OUR cat and guinea pigs.


----------



## hansloas

Lucy (my beagle/lab) doesn't really mind the girls. She comes up and sniffs and licks them, and tries chewing on their tales. xD


----------

