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Rat HuntThere's a new sport in town - Ratting!!
Ratting harnesses a dog's scent receptors (they have 200 million to 230 million of them) to locate a tube containing a rat. In this sport, your dog will learn the art of scent discrimination - tubes may contain rat, rat litter or may be clear of anything. Rats used in this sport have all been trained and socialized with dogs. |
Over the years, dogs have had many jobs to help humans. One of which was ratting. This originally was to rid farmers of infestations of rats on their land and in their buildings. Fast forward to today, this has now become a sport! But don't worry, none of our little rodent friends are in any danger. The rat care rules are strictly implemented to keep the rats safe. Without this, there would be no ratting.
You and your dog will be introduced to the two Rats! Canada games - the Barn Hunt and the Brush Hunt. In the Barn event, the dog must discriminate between tubes which may contain a rat, rat litter or be clear of anything. This event requires teamwork between the dog and the handler as it is up to the handler to decide if the dog has found the correct tube containing the rat. The Brush event requires no discrimination from the dog but does require them to search independently from the handler to find and mark the rat tube.
Rat Hunt is offered in our Expeditioner (Rat Hunt, Musical Freestyle, Agility) and Explorer (Disc Dog, Rat Hunt, Engagement Games) tracks. Our other training tracks are Navigator (Engagement Games, Disc Dog, Agility) and Adventurer (Agility, Tricks, Rat Hunt).
You and your dog will be introduced to the two Rats! Canada games - the Barn Hunt and the Brush Hunt. In the Barn event, the dog must discriminate between tubes which may contain a rat, rat litter or be clear of anything. This event requires teamwork between the dog and the handler as it is up to the handler to decide if the dog has found the correct tube containing the rat. The Brush event requires no discrimination from the dog but does require them to search independently from the handler to find and mark the rat tube.
Rat Hunt is offered in our Expeditioner (Rat Hunt, Musical Freestyle, Agility) and Explorer (Disc Dog, Rat Hunt, Engagement Games) tracks. Our other training tracks are Navigator (Engagement Games, Disc Dog, Agility) and Adventurer (Agility, Tricks, Rat Hunt).
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Meet Our Instructor
Julie Connor
Julie Connor is a 'Rats! Canada' judge, an active member of the organization since its start up in the spring of 2015.
Julie has trained and competed in multiple sport with her dogs in the last 12 years. With her dogs Chubbs and Remix, she has competed in agility at the masters level. They have competed in dock diving and Remix has gone to the Dockdogs World Championships in 2014 and 2015. They actively competed in sport detection (nosework) and Remix earned 2 special (sp) titles for each of the starters and advanced levels in only 1 trial. Her first ratting dog acheived 4 titles in 6 months. They also actively play disc, harness sports (bikejor/sledding) and flyball.
Julie Connor is a 'Rats! Canada' judge, an active member of the organization since its start up in the spring of 2015.
Julie has trained and competed in multiple sport with her dogs in the last 12 years. With her dogs Chubbs and Remix, she has competed in agility at the masters level. They have competed in dock diving and Remix has gone to the Dockdogs World Championships in 2014 and 2015. They actively competed in sport detection (nosework) and Remix earned 2 special (sp) titles for each of the starters and advanced levels in only 1 trial. Her first ratting dog acheived 4 titles in 6 months. They also actively play disc, harness sports (bikejor/sledding) and flyball.
