Happy Ratters

RAT INTRO SESSIONS NOW AVAILABLE!
$15 per dog. Use the “book a session” button below or on the other pages of the site to reserve a spot. Sessions will be outdoors until the building has a roof and floor, so check the weather before you select a date.

Happy Ratter is a dog sport in which dogs earn points for locating and indicating live rats that are hidden on the course. The rats are inside protective containers that prevent any injury to the pet rats. Dogs also earn points in some classes/games by walking on a “bridge” (a safe, slightly raised platform) and going into a “burrow” (a tunnel like structure, or all 4 feet inside a box on the course).

The course is designed to mimic rat hunting in an urban alleyway. So the course will have cardboard boxes of all sizes and shapes, trash bags/cans full of crumpled paper or clothing/blankets, plastic storage bins, buckets, etc. and “fluff” is typically big pieces of crumpled packing paper scattered about.

There are standard classes and there are also a wide variety of games that showcase various skills. In each class/game, there are different levels that get more challenging as you work your way through them.

Happy Ratters allows treats/toys as rewards in the ring, so the dog’s search/indication can be very much taught like a scentwork indication. But the dog can also have a natural indication to the live rats (barking, pawing, biting the container, etc.) But they may not pick up the container or roll it.

Find the full rules here: https://www.happyratters.com/

Private training and fun runs

There will be a few options for training/practice once everything is ready (the building and the rat tubes/burrow/bridge are still being constructed):

• Rat Intro ($15 per dog) AVAILABLE NOW!
• Private Training Session ($120 for 4 separate private sessions)
• Fun Runs (price TBD) From time to time, I’ll set up a course and/or game and folks can come do a run through (or several if you like).

Trials

The goal is to be able to host Happy Ratter trials so dogs can earn points, ribbons, and titles!