Can a dog ever be as effective as a cat in hunting mice or rats?

[MouserDog]

I've heard that some breeds (Jack Russells are one that I've seen mentioned) can be effective at hunting rodents. I am curious, do some dogs just have naturally good instincts for hunting rodents, or do they need to be trained to do it? Has anyone on MN had a dog that has caught a mouse or rat in or around their home?

We have a Schnauzer/poodle cross with a really strong prey drive. She’s quick as well. We don’t have mice or rats though.

I’ve got lurchers and greyhounds. Some of them would and some wouldn’t get out their beds.

I have a pit bull terrier who had killed 3 rats in the garden before i ever saw them and mice don’t stand a chance.

There are dogs that specialise in rat catching - usually small terriers. I have seen a whole channel on FB dedicated to showing dogs catching rats on farms (I assume its a sort of a pest control, by the look of it). They are VERY effective, quite vicious to rats.

We haven't had mice but my dachshund gets flies lizards cockroaches bugs beetles anything that moves she's onto it.
Though many many many years ago that was their job to hunt (saying my dachshund) so she loves it.

I think they are as effective. And as PPs have said terriers have traditionally been working dogs for rat catching. They get the job done on demand. Can you imagine successfully demanding a cat do anything it hadn’t already chosen to do? Maybe that’s why some farmers have a family of feral cats. They can leave them to keep vermin at bay in their own sweet time.

I think they need to be in a pack to be effective and the young/new to the job learn from the older ones so essentially yes, they do get training. My Jack Russell loves chasing rats, rabbits and anything small that moves but does not catch or kill them

We used to have a patterdale terrier. About 100 times more effective than our cat at hunting rats.

I had a JRT and was 1000x more effective than a cat. We had a rat issue in the tack room and I chucked the dog in and shut the door. She got them all. She was always ratting in the stables and barns.

in east anglia there’s a “rat pack” you can hire out if you have a rodent problem and they turn up with about 40 terriers. And photo the bodies of the rats they get in a couple of hours. I’ve seen photos of mounds of dead rats.

I had an Australian Terrier and they were originally bred as ‘ratters.’ He could move like lightening - after a cat (who he wanted to play with!), but we never had a rat problem so I’ve no idea how useful he would have been.

I have a Border terrier who is rat/mice obssessed. Patrols our perimeter fence checking every day

My Terrier is useless at ratting, I put him in the chicken pen and he just mooched about eating chicken poo while the rats ran round him.
He does like to drag around dead bits of animals that he finds, pretending that he's killed it.
But he's grown up with lazy lurchers and greyhounds and identifies as a long dog.

It might have been bred out if them now but someone who is a bit of a doggy expert told me that chihuahuas were once used for ratting in Mexico. Can anyone corroborate?

When my cats would bring in a live mouse and lose interest in it (didn’t happen a lot but three times I recall) I just had to put my miniature labradoodle in there and job done. I suspect she has some terrier in her. She also killed two rats outside.

My previous JRT failed spectacularly as a rat catcher . We literally had a rat that had got into our house and was resident under our sofa for days before we knew it was there!We had found scratch marks on the door and scuff marks on the carpet but didn’t realise until husband moved the sofa ! The rat raced out through the conservatory and only then did doggie chase ! We didn’t rehome her 😂

That's sweet @CherryogDog , he sounds marvellous 😍

We used to live out in the sticks and had half a dozen chickens and a cat. One morning, the cat brought in a live mouse and let it go in the living room. This was actually such a regular occurrence that we didn't bother about it, daft cat had no killer instinct at all so we used to just leave the back door open for most of the day and the mouse would eventually escape.

I sat down with a coffee, and the chickens wandered in to say hello. Suddenly there was an almighty commotion - squawking, flapping, general mayhem - the chickens had spotted the mouse and were after it faster than any terrier I've ever seen! A few seconds later and all that was left was just a speck of blood on the wooden floor 😢

My Labradors will chase and kit rats but not the guinea pigs - they know one they can and one they can’t

My cairn was a very effective ratter

Was going to suggest JRT or a Miniature Pinscher

Not our sadly deceased Jack Russell - she was a princess ! Wouldn’t walk through a puddle or mud and at the stables would find a warm spot to sleep in & observe, definitely wouldn’t chase anything ( except next doors cat in the garden)

I used to have an allotment, there were rats, one of the other allotment holders would run his terrier over the plots in the morning, I think its record was six in a day. Very quick, there’d be a sharp squeal for a nano second. Probably kinder and definitely quicker than poison.

I have a terrier whose ancesters were mighty rodent killers.
Well. Mine isn't. His prey drive is appalling. Squirrels run past him he hardly notices them.

Watch some of the working terrier accounts on You Tube and then come back and tell us you still have doubts!

Mr Johnsons Working Terriers
Kent & Sussex Ratters
Yorkshire Rat Pack

Fair warning that you see lots of rats being killed so viewer discretion advised. Personally I didn't find it too gorey to watch (the rats are killed by the dogs shaking them, it's all very quick) and fascinating for seeing the dogs doing what they had been bred to do by instinct.

I've had cats all my life, most of whom would occasionally bring in a mouse or bird, and dogs bred to work at shoots, I never witnessed such a strong hunting instinct until I owned a terrier!

My border terrier is a ratter and good at it, she loves killing rats on the farm.

Yes. I had a terrier used to leave mice and rats on the back step. Frequently.