Using dogs for rats in flats

[Scheme_Lakeland 32]

I’ve got a four month Lakeland lassie and we stay in council flats in Rutherglen.

Recently there’s been a lot of rats seen nearby and she’s chased after a good few of them.

is she too young to be allowed to hunt them? If not, how do I go about using her to kill them? 
 

always respect the working heritage of these dogs and I’ve known her mum to be a good rat catching dog. 

[fireman 10,905]

Once your dog has it's adult teeth then just let him chase them,try to head off any rats and give him a chance to grab one.If it's in him to kill a rat you will find out when he has one in his mouth,good luck..

[SheepChaser 8,089]

Same as above. When dog is ready get yourself a head torch and go mooching about at night 

[Scheme_Lakeland 32]

50 minutes ago, SheepChaser said:

Same as above. When dog is ready get yourself a head torch and go mooching about at night 

 

1 hour ago, fireman said:

Once your dog has it's adult teeth then just let him chase them,try to head off any rats and give him a chance to grab one.If it's in him to kill a rat you will find out when he has one in his mouth,good luck..

Thank you guys, I thought from reading on here it would come down to whether the dog had it in them or not, hopefully she does cause the council will be no help 

[huckelberry 114]

just wondering why is the need to wait for their adult teeth? i have heard it before, but would like to know why. i have a patterdale that started killing rats a lot earier. and she still is a great ratter now.

[DIDO.1 22,825]

What's going on there

[dytkos 17,793]

1 hour ago, huckelberry said:

just wondering why is the need to wait for their adult teeth? i have heard it before, but would like to know why. i have a patterdale that started killing rats a lot earier. and she still is a great ratter now.

Mental maturity comes with age, we've all had young pups that can kill rats but not all dogs have that drive from an early age, entering them too young can spoil them for life, but you knew that, just trying to show off imo best way to spoil a dog 

Cheers, D.

[Scheme_Lakeland 32]

17 hours ago, huckelberry said:

just wondering why is the need to wait for their adult teeth? i have heard it before, but would like to know why. i have a patterdale that started killing rats a lot earier. and she still is a great ratter now.

She’s certainly got the drive already, tries digging up the holes and getting in there every time she’s off lead 

[dytkos 17,793]

4 hours ago, Scheme_Lakeland said:

She’s certainly got the drive already, tries digging up the holes and getting in there every time she’s off lead 

Wait until a big doe with young latches in to its nose or under its eye and see how much drive your 3/4 month old puppy has then?

No one ever spoilt a dog by entering it too late but many, many been spoilt by entering them too early.

There's no great rush mate, rats will still be about when it gets its second gob by all means let it hunt and learn but I certainly wouldn't push it.

Cheers, D.

[Scheme_Lakeland 32]

On 23/06/2021 at 18:11, dytkos said:

Wait until a big doe with young latches in to its nose or under its eye and see how much drive your 3/4 month old puppy has then?

No one ever spoilt a dog by entering it too late but many, many been spoilt by entering them too early.

There's no great rush mate, rats will still be about when it gets its second gob by all means let it hunt and learn but I certainly wouldn't push it.

Cheers, D.

I agree mate, thanks for the advice 

[huckelberry 114]

On 23/06/2021 at 19:58, sid g said:

thought the same then i thought do i really wanna know so i never asked but been as you have i cant fecking wait for the response now 

do you mean those 2 rats hanging not on the back of the trailer but on the back of my top case? they hang there because they came from a different job. one of the jobs was poison free the other one not. so from one job ferret food the rats from the other job where going under ground. 

[huckelberry 114]

On 22/06/2021 at 22:05, dytkos said:

Mental maturity comes with age, we've all had young pups that can kill rats but not all dogs have that drive from an early age, entering them too young can spoil them for life, but you knew that, just trying to show off imo best way to spoil a dog 

Cheers, D.

when i went out to choose the right dog out of 2 nests of patterdale pups. i took with me i big wild living brow rat in a cage.  i allready had my mind on one of the pups but when i showed her the rat she didn't want anything to do with the rat. so we took out the other pups from both nests. and van hamelen the dog that i got right now did not hesitate a moment and went like crazy for the rat in the cage.  at that moment i knew that would become my dog. and form that moment on she went with us every rat hunt. only when there where young rats i let her do the killing and held my other 2 dogs back.  the bigger rats where for my other older dogs (they where much quicker and smarter at that time so van hamelen did not stand much chance to catch a big rat. when i had van hamelen about 3 weeks one of my older dogs nina died. and within just a few weeks of time she replaced nina  and van hamelen became even better than her.  my other dog ravi still was way smarter and faster than van hamelen and took most of the rats. and when van hamelen was strugeling with  a big rat ravi or i was always soon there to help here. but she never lost her drive one bit. out here most of the farmers even say that a good ratting dog first must be bitten in its nose so they get a big hunting drive. i don't know if that is the case but she sure as hell didn't loose hers.  with her puppy teeth she killed about 500 rats in total and got quite a few rat bites in here nose. a always hoped that it would make her a bit more carefull and that she would learn from the rat bites. but it didn't seem to be of interest to her. catching rats and try to catch them before my other dog could catch them seemed to be the only thing that mattered to her.  she is 1,5 to 2 years of age right now and she starts to become as good as my older dog ravi right now because of the energ and drive van hamelen is better but because of brains and experience ravi (allmost 9 years old) is still a bit better.  i will need to start thinking about an extra pup soon to ad to the team. and if the new pup has the same drive as van hamelen i dont think i will let the new dog wait long before she can come to hunt with us. 

[huckelberry 114]

41 minutes ago, W. Katchum said:

I thought you had mounted them as trophy’s keep at em pal

that is also more or less the case.  i hang my rats in the colder months (when there are not many fleis around) on the back of my trailer. both as trophy. as a comercial sign for my rat hunting buisness. and to let them turn cold and loose the fleas on the way home . and an extra advantage is that i don't got many bumper sticking cars on my ass that way. 

[huckelberry 114]

4 minutes ago, W. Katchum said:

Get yourself a Plummer

i would love to get one but they will be hard to find here in the netherlands

[huckelberry 114]

if you know any good plummer nests you can always give me a shout. and i'll try and work something out to get a pup here.