[Yogi]

Originally Posted by cigwyllt

Cross breeding is one thing but cross species???? LOL. All she needs is some white spots and it would be hard to tell whether she was a dog or a deer. I would have loved to see them with tails though. Only out of interest - do you dock for aesthetic reasons or because they will be working?

Its two fold here. I live on a farm and we have Norwegian rats, these are the 3 to 4lbs rats. If you have ever seen what they do to tails you would understand why. In this case though they were docked as they were suppose to be purebred. Docking and dewclaw removal is still a requirement here thought luckily the ear cropping is no longer. It was not til the day after they tails were docked that I noticed her brother had white feet. Turns out my son let out the male Papillon instead of the female and ta da, I ended up with a litter of Papillon/Miniature Pinscher mixes. Had I known they were mixed, I would not have had the tails docked. But then again, with my Pinscher brood going after rats here, I cannot afford to lose a dog to nerve damage due to a rat attack to its tail. Luckily my Papillons show no interest in the rats or mice.

[cigwyllt]

Eurrrgh - the only good kind of rat is a dead one in my book! Hard to believe those little pups could grow up to be ferocious enough to take one on. I'm on the fence so far as docking is concerned - see no reason for it in pet dogs but I tend to trust the "powers that be" to have done the research and therefore understand that it can be beneficial for a working dog to be docked.

It could be said that I am a bit hypocritical in that I have a dog with a docked tail - he was born days before the ban came into place and everyone was docking like crazy because it was the last chance to get a legally docked pet. I would have loved to see his tail though.

[Todd]

Originally Posted by Yogi

Its two fold here. I live on a farm and we have Norwegian rats, these are the 3 to 4lbs rats. If you have ever seen what they do to tails you would understand why. In this case though they were docked as they were suppose to be purebred. Docking and dewclaw removal is still a requirement here thought luckily the ear cropping is no longer. It was not til the day after they tails were docked that I noticed her brother had white feet. Turns out my son let out the male Papillon instead of the female and ta da, I ended up with a litter of Papillon/Miniature Pinscher mixes. Had I known they were mixed, I would not have had the tails docked. But then again, with my Pinscher brood going after rats here, I cannot afford to lose a dog to nerve damage due to a rat attack to its tail. Luckily my Papillons show no interest in the rats or mice.

Those are some BIG rats...

[Yogi]

One of my Pin rescues is a little all natural Chocolate, full tail etc. She is a cutie but opens a whole new can of worms. You see I also bred and raised Manx cats for years. Unfortunately anytime they see a tail on a dog it is full attack mode. As Manx cats (though in fact can be born with a full tail) generally are tailess ie: rumpy or rumpy riser (small one vertebrae tail) or bobbed, they find tails fascinating and great fun to chase. To note, the cats are larger than about 2/3's of my dogs.

Originally Posted by Todd

Those are some BIG rats...

The Norwegian rat is most likely the largest species in North America, it dwarfs the city gray rats. Norwegian rats are brown in color and literally with tail can reach upwards of close to 16 to 18 inches. Misty my oldest Pin got ahold of a 3lb one few years back. The damn thing was as long as she was. It took her but a couple seconds to trash it to death. Luckily I got to it before she tried to eat it.

[Todd]

Originally Posted by Yogi

One of my Pin rescues is a little all natural Chocolate, full tail etc. She is a cutie but opens a whole new can of worms. You see I also bred and raised Manx cats for years. Unfortunately anytime they see a tail on a dog it is full attack mode. As Manx cats (though in fact can be born with a full tail) generally are tailess ie: rumpy or rumpy riser (small one vertebrae tail) or bobbed, they find tails fascinating and great fun to chase. To note, the cats are larger than about 2/3's of my dogs.


The Norwegian rat is most likely the largest species in North America, it dwarfs the city gray rats. Norwegian rats are brown in color and literally with tail can reach upwards of close to 16 to 18 inches. Misty my oldest Pin got ahold of a 3lb one few years back. The damn thing was as long as she was. It took her but a couple seconds to trash it to death. Luckily I got to it before she tried to eat it.

OMG! I'll bet that was a sight to see!

[CorkyMax]

Originally Posted by Yogi

One of my Pin rescues is a little all natural Chocolate, full tail etc. She is a cutie but opens a whole new can of worms. You see I also bred and raised Manx cats for years. Unfortunately anytime they see a tail on a dog it is full attack mode. As Manx cats (though in fact can be born with a full tail) generally are tailess ie: rumpy or rumpy riser (small one vertebrae tail) or bobbed, they find tails fascinating and great fun to chase. To note, the cats are larger than about 2/3's of my dogs.

Lol! I bet that when those Manx cats get a hold of that tail it probably gets as noisy as when you go to say Good Bye on the phone! (Never a dull moment!)

[Yogi]

Originally Posted by Todd

OMG! I'll bet that was a sight to see!

Actually I have seen in many times before but more so with mice. Usually the rats have a greater percentage when it comes to getting out of the yard before being caught.

[Yogi]

The boys have definitely grown in the last couple weeks and are pure terriers. They find the yard a play ground of things to chase, chew and shred. Typical of the true Miniature Pinschers.
Here are some current pics. They are now 11 weeks old and solidly built. Great top lines and tail set and their feet are perfect for their size.

[CorkyMax]

I guess they have gotten bigger! Good looking too--I especially like the 4th pic of the red--very alert looking! Lol, guess you got your hands full for sure!

[Yogi]

Originally Posted by Corky/Max

I guess they have gotten bigger! Good looking too--I especially like the 4th pic of the red--very alert looking! Lol, guess you got your hands full for sure!

Without a doubt my hands are full with these two. One second they are under foot and right there but soon as I go to pick one up, it darts away like a bat out of hell. They definitely give the big ones a run for their money. Not intimidated at all and will actually go out of their way to provoke them.

[Todd]

Very cute!

They look like they're having loads of fun in the yard!

[Yogi]

Well the boys are growing up somewhat quickly. They will be 5 months on Sunday the 29th and both are over 10 inches and 10lbs.
Introducing Blackhawks Jerry Garcia (black 7 rust) and Blackhawks Carlos Santana (red). Jerry is a button ear and Carlos has natural standing ears.
Not the best pics but what can you say when you raise terriers. Hard to keep them in one place for more than a second.