Customer Reviews

Rat Terrier: A Complete and Reliable Handbook (Complete & Reliable Handbook)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Rat Terrier: A Complete and Reliable Handbook, is a very handsome book. The photos couldn't be more glossy and enjoyable to look at. If you are a Rat Terrier lover, you will surely find these photos, taken of all sizes and colors of Rats, in various stages of life, locations, and poses, great fun to compare to your own special pet.

This book is 93 pages long, and the first 29 pertain to the history and standards of the breed. The vast majority of the remaining 64 pages might just as well apply to any breed of dog, as they contain general dog care information: feeding, grooming, housetraining, obedience training, and general health issues. I found the book somewhat disappointing in that respect, however, I still enjoyed it, even if just to learn a little more about the breed and to peruse the wonderfully shiny photos in the book. (Excluding the eight totally unnecessary photos of various recommended "Nylabone" products.)

I am glad, however, that Linda Hibbard put together this book so that there is at least one easily obtainable publication dedicated exclusively to this wonderful little breed of dog. If you are a book lover as well as a Rat Terrier lover, get the book - it's fun! If you are primarily seeking information on Rat Terriers, but don't feel the need to buy a book to get it, check out the National Rat Terrier Association website at NRTA.com - you can learn just as much, if not more, about the breed there.

Being a new owner of a Rat Terrier I found this book excellent from an historical perspective. Everything I read seems to be present in my Rat Terrier. I found it very useful and informative regarding their traits and habits.

I enjoyed all the pictures,description and explanation of the various sizes that these little guys come in....I would highly recommend purchasing this book!

I ordered the book expecting a definitve guide to the rat terrier breed and was very disappointed. The information contained within the book was very general and there were more pictures of nylabone chew toys than you could shake a stick at - the author must have stock in the nylabone corporation. Hopefully someone will come out with an exceptional guide for this exceptional breed - until then, don't waste your time or your money.

I haven't quite figured this book out yet. At times it seems like a compilation of different authors as the tense seems to change from chapter to chapter. There's some neat information in the first half, but as some have already pointed out the second half is generic in it's dog care.
While the pictures were in themselves nicely done, 80% of the dogs shown were overweight and didn't even match the standard set on the inside covers of the book.
Of course if you don't like nylabones stay away. If you are interested in rat terriers this seems like the best first attempt but you can get more accurate images and information on the rat terrier sites on the web.

If you are a new Rat Terrier admirer/owner like myself, you will like this book. The quality of the book and the photographs are surprisingly extra good.

This book is a gallant first try. While the first half of the book,the history of the breed, is interesting and informative, the second half is typical dog how-to.And am I the only one who found the excessive pictures of dog chews annoying! I am not a breeder,but I do own 2 rat terriers, and I was not impressed by the dogs depicted in the book.While there were some good representations, many of the dogs did not meet the potential of the breed.(the pics on pg.7,9,43&44 are the best representations in my opinion)I was impressed,however,by the quality of the photos.They are very glossy.Again, it's a good start,and I am glad someone finally put a book out there about this amazing breed,but improvements can be made.A good read for those interested in the breed,but look somewhere else for pictures of good specimens.

I bought a puppy from this woman in 2002, and she gave me a free signed copy of this book. My dog has mange and two luxating patellas. I wrote her to warn her of the genetic problems with her breeding stock, and to tell her that otherwise I adore my dog. What I got back from her were angry, ignorant replies where she accuses me of trying to get a free dog from her. I told her that a "free" dog from her would definatly not be "free". Please do not support this woman, and by all means, do NOT buy a dog from her! If you'd like to see the email transcript- see my puppy's blog at Myspace-- user name is weasagail . For what it is worth, her book has nice pictures of rat terriers, but thats about it (as other reviewers have described much better). At the time I received it, it was literally the ONLY rat terrier book out there, and therefore it was the best. But the day a second book became available, this one became worthless.

I have read this book as well as many, many others on different breeds of dogs. This book does a good job of giving the basic information and has some lovely photos. It is a good, inexpensive book for those looking to research the breed or as a precursor to buying a Rat Terrier pup.

There are few breed books written on the Rat Terrier and I have to say that I enjoy this one. I also have Ratter Chatter, which is a different type of book entirely. I have to recommend the Hibbard book as well as the Ratter Chatter (by Blair) book as they are both wonderful if you are into the breed.

As a general rule, most dog breed books contain puppy information which could apply to basically any breed of dog. I would not discount this book's credibility because it contains information on raising a pup that applies to all breeds. I also have to agree with one reviewer in the fact that some of the information was duplicated in different parts of the book. I discovered that as well, however, I choose to believe that the author felt it may have been prudent to revisit that information maybe worded slightly differently in more than one section.

I do recommend this book for all Rat Terrier enthusiasts. Don't limit yourself to reading just this one book though. There is limited information on this breed so read as many books as you can on the subject.

I stopped reading this book part-way through the second chapter. The author's writing style in uninviting, and some of the material in one section is repeated in a later section. My wife read more of the book, and found that some sections of the book read like they were cut and pasted from earlier sections of the book. The author also repeats as fact the story that Theodore Roosevelt named the Rat Terrier. In other sources that I have consulted, this story is presented as legend. In one source, the breed of the dogs owned by Roosevelt was something other than Rat Terrier. I, too, disliked the many photographs of various dog chews and toys. I purchased my copy from another on-line book store. I didn't think before ordering it to check for reviews at amazon.com, I wish I had. I will be returning my book.

I bought the book for my husband for Christmas. Our whole family enjoyed reading it. I think there could have been more pictures of the different types of Rat Terriers; classes and colors, etc. The same dogs seemed to be displayed throughout the book. We did enjoy the book. It was quite informative