She roams Brooklyn’s parks and streets in search of prey. It’s not hard to find.
Gift link
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/nyregion/katie-dog-rat-hunter.html?unlocked_article_code=1.j04.AYBK.o6O_7aWxKh0U&smid=url-share
1 Like
I saw this article this morning and sent it to my husband as one of his friends used to do the same in DC.
Interesting article. When I was a kid our dog used to love to play tug-of-war. She’d grab her end and she’d give it a furious shaking, much like Katie seems to do when she catches a rat.
Please send dog to Chicago. We have a bad problem. Feral cats aren’t working.
1 Like
Many of us who do dog activities do a sport called BarnHunt where the dogs find rats that are inside a pvc tube that is hidden in straw. My last dog, a field spaniel, was amazing at finding them. He alerted to a rat once at an outdoor restaurant in DC. It was hiding in the pachysandra near the tables.
1 Like
oof. We kept pet rats (“fancy” rats, not wild ones) when my kids were in elementary school. They are very intelligent, have personalities much like those of dogs, make wonderful pets. I realize that they carry disease, and I do feel that our communities should try to keep the rat population down by denying them access to garbage and to bird seed (a big attractant for rats). But to hunt them for sport, by caging a rat in a PVC tube and hiding it, for the dog to find? That I could not do.
2 Likes
@parentologist — Oh. I didn’t make myself clear. No rats are harmed in Barnhunt. There is a person who is assigned to make sure they are protected (rat rangler) and several rules that the dog handlers have to follow in order to keep the rats safe. These rats are someone’s pets. The rats get use to the game and get treats in the tubes. I think most participants actually gain some respect for the rats.
4 Likes
Some dogs are amazing ratters. My mother and I kept a very dark secret from my sister. Sister’s favorite dog, half Maltese half who knows what kind of a mutt, killed her guinea pigs when she let them out to graze in a makeshift pen in the backyard garden. I saw the dog squeeze through the fence, but before I could get to the pen, the pigs were toast. Horrified, I ran to my mom, and we both decided that it would be best to tell sis that the guinea pigs escaped and disappeared. I disposed of the dead bodies… Only a few years ago I told my sister what really happened. She did not believe me! 
We had pet rats and yes, they are very similar to dogs. We now have a trap outside because our are has an issue. I saw a documentary on a club in NYC that goes out and hunts with their dogs, I think there is a winner. Our terrier has caught chipmunks and baby bunnies is the yard, but never mice or rats.
The subject of the article, Katie the dog, most rate kills in a day is 8. Definitely a worker.
A couple of decades ago, I had a dog catch a possum. I picked up the animal with a shovel to dispose of it and quickly learned why the term “playing possum” was coined.
2 Likes
I think this is it https://youtu.be/PXTiYQzzbB8
This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.