PING Tweed: Boyfie and the rat hunt

Tweed - what happened with the terrier man and his ratters?

Helen M


--
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"Helen Miles" wrote in message
news:1b9504f3752da642e9de0ef33740b9fe.76411@mygate .mailgate.org...
Tweed - what happened with the terrier man and his ratters?


It went well, thanks. I'll paste a bit of what I wrote about it in another
thread:
----
Mick came this morning,early, as promised.
He brought two Patterdale terriers, but said he would leave the male in his
car for the moment as he thought his bitch would be better around chickens.
I thought at first she was going to be useless, all she wanted to do at
first was scratch at the chicken huts to try and get in to them. I wondered
if I'd made a mistake inviting them to come.
However..once we started smoking into the holes (a hedgecutter engine with a
pipe on) and under the huts, she killed three as they bolted. Two were
absolutely enormous and the other was definitely too big for the cats to
tackle.
Unfortunately some got away into neighbouring gardens when we had a
*multiple bolt* of around 6.
We have filled all the holes and runs in and Mick is coming back in two
weeks if there is a sign of digging or opening their holes again.
It might be enough already to make the survivors not come back.

-----

That was Saturday. I saw signs of digging yesterday and spotted a rat this
morning sitting next to the chickens munching on their breakfast!
We needed more terriers really, the bitch could only be in one place at
once.. and although we both stood at difference places with big sticks we
just weren't fast enough to dob a rat exploding out at what seemed like 100
mph.
Mick is bringing some of his friends and their terriers to join in next
time. They're going to physically dismantle my large woodpile and surround
it, it's an ideal place for rats to shelter and lurk. He also promised to
put it all back again afterwards ;-)
I hope these other terriers are all as efficient as little black
rough-haired Jessica. The 2nd rat (a really huge one) bit her on the face
as she grabbed it and made her yelp. This annoyed her all the more and made
her shake and crunch even harder - sorry, I know it's a bit gross to talk
about but this is what happened. It didn't put her off going after the
third one, anyway.
Mick asked if he could control the foxes that I sometimes have trouble with
when he saw my catch-alive box-type fox trap.
I was going to say yes until I found out he wanted to use his dogs to kill
it, so I said no. That is not on as far as I'm concerned. He'll just have
to be happy with the rats.

Tweed

Christina Websell wrote:
"Helen Miles" wrote in message
news:1b9504f3752da642e9de0ef33740b9fe.76411@mygate .mailgate.org...
Tweed - what happened with the terrier man and his ratters?


It went well, thanks. I'll paste a bit of what I wrote about it in another
thread:
----
Mick came this morning,early, as promised.
He brought two Patterdale terriers, but said he would leave the male in his
car for the moment as he thought his bitch would be better around chickens.
I thought at first she was going to be useless, all she wanted to do at
first was scratch at the chicken huts to try and get in to them. I wondered
if I'd made a mistake inviting them to come.
However..once we started smoking into the holes (a hedgecutter engine with a
pipe on) and under the huts, she killed three as they bolted. Two were
absolutely enormous and the other was definitely too big for the cats to
tackle.
Unfortunately some got away into neighbouring gardens when we had a
*multiple bolt* of around 6.
We have filled all the holes and runs in and Mick is coming back in two
weeks if there is a sign of digging or opening their holes again.
It might be enough already to make the survivors not come back.

-----

That was Saturday. I saw signs of digging yesterday and spotted a rat this
morning sitting next to the chickens munching on their breakfast!
We needed more terriers really, the bitch could only be in one place at
once.. and although we both stood at difference places with big sticks we
just weren't fast enough to dob a rat exploding out at what seemed like 100
mph.
Mick is bringing some of his friends and their terriers to join in next
time. They're going to physically dismantle my large woodpile and surround
it, it's an ideal place for rats to shelter and lurk. He also promised to
put it all back again afterwards ;-)
I hope these other terriers are all as efficient as little black
rough-haired Jessica. The 2nd rat (a really huge one) bit her on the face
as she grabbed it and made her yelp. This annoyed her all the more and made
her shake and crunch even harder - sorry, I know it's a bit gross to talk
about but this is what happened. It didn't put her off going after the
third one, anyway.
Mick asked if he could control the foxes that I sometimes have trouble with
when he saw my catch-alive box-type fox trap.
I was going to say yes until I found out he wanted to use his dogs to kill
it, so I said no. That is not on as far as I'm concerned. He'll just have
to be happy with the rats.

Tweed

I'm like you, and hate to see any living thing killed, but OTOH I have
seen rat terriers kill before and it's a quick death, they don't
torture them like cats do. And there's something about using the
"working dog'' for a purpose that keeps us from using pesticides that I
like.
Glad your experience with the "dogs with jobs" worked out good.

Sherry

wrote in message
ups.com...
news:1b9504f3752da642e9de0ef33740b9fe.76411@mygate .mailgate.org...
I'm like you, and hate to see any living thing killed, but OTOH I have
seen rat terriers kill before and it's a quick death, they don't
torture them like cats do. And there's something about using the
"working dog'' for a purpose that keeps us from using pesticides that I
like.
Glad your experience with the "dogs with jobs" worked out good.

I am glad I chose this way. The difficulty has always been finding someone
to do it.
It was quick and efficient, much, much better than using poison which I had
to resort to sometimes, no alternative, and I hated it.
Quick chase, SNAP. RB for ratty instantly, got to be the best way.

OB cats: Boyfie will catch only small ones. Pretty small ones, actually.
If they are longer than about 4 or 5 inches he has a sudden urge to wash
himself if one comes to his attention. "What, a rat? Didn't see it, sorry!
oh, did it get away, what a pity."

Tweed

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
ups.com...
news:1b9504f3752da642e9de0ef33740b9fe.76411@mygate .mailgate.org...
I'm like you, and hate to see any living thing killed, but OTOH I have
seen rat terriers kill before and it's a quick death, they don't
torture them like cats do. And there's something about using the
"working dog'' for a purpose that keeps us from using pesticides that I
like.
Glad your experience with the "dogs with jobs" worked out good.

I am glad I chose this way. The difficulty has always been finding
someone
to do it.
It was quick and efficient, much, much better than using poison which I
had
to resort to sometimes, no alternative, and I hated it.
Quick chase, SNAP. RB for ratty instantly, got to be the best way.

OB cats: Boyfie will catch only small ones. Pretty small ones,
actually.
If they are longer than about 4 or 5 inches he has a sudden urge to wash
himself if one comes to his attention. "What, a rat? Didn't see it,
sorry!
oh, did it get away, what a pity."

Tweed


Can't say as I blame him

Karen wrote:
"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
ups.com...
news:1b9504f3752da642e9de0ef33740b9fe.76411@mygate .mailgate.org...
I'm like you, and hate to see any living thing killed, but OTOH I have
seen rat terriers kill before and it's a quick death, they don't
torture them like cats do. And there's something about using the
"working dog'' for a purpose that keeps us from using pesticides that I
like.
Glad your experience with the "dogs with jobs" worked out good.

I am glad I chose this way. The difficulty has always been finding
someone
to do it.
It was quick and efficient, much, much better than using poison which I
had
to resort to sometimes, no alternative, and I hated it.
Quick chase, SNAP. RB for ratty instantly, got to be the best way.

OB cats: Boyfie will catch only small ones. Pretty small ones,
actually.
If they are longer than about 4 or 5 inches he has a sudden urge to wash
himself if one comes to his attention. "What, a rat? Didn't see it,
sorry!
oh, did it get away, what a pity."

Tweed


Can't say as I blame him

Can't say I blame him either. Boots got an abscess on her face one
time, and I suspect it was from a gopher bite. I saw them after a
gopher once. They will get on their haunches and fight back.

Sherry