Bad to the Bone

Rat Terriers are a spunky breed of dog. They are small and very energetic as puppies. They get a little less energetic as they grow older but not by much. The one thing I know for sure is that they know what they want and they know how to communicate it.

Bonnette has always been a vocal dog. From the first day that I bought her home, she didn’t want to stay in her crate that night. She cried and began to bark her little bark. She gave me those eyes when I went to check on her and well, that was pretty much the end of it. So at 2 months old, she knew how to manipulate. And she was good at it.

After the first couple of weeks, I had to lay down the law with her. There would be no chewing of my shoes, no eating of paper, no begging for food. I trained and trained her and she became manageable. She still barked every so often – bizarre noises, the ‘you aren’t paying attention to me’ bark - but she was much better. She would sit, give me five, lie down, stay and leave it. ‘No’ would get a look but she’d ultimately obey.

Then she got to spend some time with her grandparents and all hell broke loose. When I got her back, she was a barking machine. When she didn’t like something she would certainly let me know. One time on a trip to Vermont, we took her and Foxy on a walk to a waterfall. Along the way, we encountered some puddles and Bonnette got very wet. She turned around and barked at us and ran towards the car. She got to the car and barked at us to get over there and open the door. She seemed to say ‘I’m dirty and cold and I need to get in this car pronto!’. We have been joking since that day that Bonnette is punctuating every sentence with ‘bitches’. “Give me my food, bitches’, “I need to go for my walk now, bitches’ etc.

Despite this barking, she’s very affectionate and protective and I love her tremendously. It’s her attitude that makes her adorable at times. Other moments it’s just that even though she is 12 years old, she’s still a puppy. She’s still got that plucky personality that made me fall in love with her all those years ago.