Rat Mischief

By Lisa Frankland
From the November/December 1995 issue of Kerry Klips.

Here's a Kerry anecdote to top them all. Ever since my son got two pet hooded rats, Uncle Rat and Michaelangelo, my Kerry Lav (Casey's Lavish Mischief, CD, CDX, UD) has been fascinated by them. He spends a lot of time in Will's room staring, sniffing, and woofing at them. He's even more intrigued since we moved the rodents out of the ten-gallon tank into a roomier wire cage that sits on the floor.

When we got the rats in June, I warned the kids that Lav is a terrier and not to be trusted around them. They must always close the bedroom door before they take the rats out. I usually monitor this pretty carefully, as I don't want any accidents and I'm getting pretty attached to the little rodents myself. Lav has killed gophers and an opposum (very quickly and efficiently, I might add), and tangled with raccoons, so I know his killing instinct is definitely there.

One morning when Will was at school, his little sister went into his room to play with the rats. She took them out of their cage, put them on Will's bed, then got tired of playing with them and wandered out of the room. When I walked by the room, I found Lav standing on the bed with two very soggy, but perfectly fine rats. Apparently Lav sniffed and licked them like crazy, but didn't harm them. I put the rats back in their cage, and Lav is currently busy trying to sniff and lick them through the wire. And the rats seem to like it!

So, what do you think? Has Lav lost his ratter's instinct-and his senses? Or is he intelligent enough to realize that these are "pets" that are to be treated differently than "vermin?"

As soon as you think you know everything about your Kerry, he pulls a stunt like this. I, for one, have a heck of a lot more respect for Kerry common sense now!

By the way, the neighbor that we got the rats from lets her male rat have free run of her house with her two male Scotties. They treat him just like another dog (albeit a rather small and ugly one).

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