Prior to UKCI's acceptance the Rat Terrier was being developed all over England, Great Britain and the United States into the breed that it is today.  The development of the Rat Terrier does not start and end in a few years but continued until 1998 when UKCI

closed the stud books to the dogs that were currently registered at that time. 

It's origin starts in England in the 1820's where they were crossing the Smooth Fox Terrier and the Black/Tan Manchester Terrier along with other breeds like the now extinct White Terrier in the hopes of achieving a superior varmint dog.  Few breeders at that time

cared about color and/or pattern.  Their objective was to produce a superior working dog for hunting and ridding the farms of Rats.

Thus NOBODY can give you the full history, breeds involved or detailed development of the breed as written document does not

exist.  We can only tell the story from recent developments and personal experiences.

American Breeders however refined the Rat Terrier into the breed that it is today with crossing England's version of the Rat Terrier to Toy Foxes, Miniature Pinschers, Chihuahuas, Italian Greyhounds and Beagles.   In recent years the Whippet, Dachshund and

Corgi have also been added to the story as to being part of the Rat Terrier breed history.  I personally am not aware of any

of these as being accepted crosses with the Rat Terrier from 1984 to today but anything is possible and apparently somebody at

some time either found a link to these breeds or deduced in one way or another that they were.   With the inclusion of all of these

breeds we now have a breed history of Smooth Fox Terrier, Black/Tan Manchester Terrier, White Terrier, Toy Fox,

Miniature Pinscher, Chihuahua, Italian Greyhound and Beagle and possibly the Whippet, Dachshund and Corgi.  A very much

varied gene pool that gives us the current day Rat Terrier.  Keep in mind, that depending upon the location, setting and

desire of the individual breeder these are breeds that are associated with the Rat Terrier breed and in no way means that every

Rat Terrier has all of these individual breeds in their own make-up. 

UKCI (Universal Kennel Club International) was the first registry to recognize the Rat Terrier as a purebred and accept them as a recognized Purebred breed in 1936.

The Rat Terrier is a well known farm dog as far back as anybody can remember but their numbers started dwindling in the 1950's when modernization of farms turned more to chemical/poison varmint control thus the need for less varmint type dogs.  A few breeders still had small packs of these wonderful dogs but the gene pool was declining to very small numbers.  In an attempt to revitalize the dog and it's numbers the crossing of these dogs with the Toy Fox, Miniature Pinscher, Chihuahua, I.G. and  Beagle breeds was acceptable practice from the '70's until January 1, 1998 when UKCI officially stopped registering any dog as a Rat Terrier that was a known cross thus closing the UKCI Rat Terrier stud books to known crosses.  I want to make it clear that they no longer allowed known crosses to be

registered as Rat Terriers from that point forward but till this day they still allow hardship registration of dogs that have the appearance of the Rat Terrier so it's anybody's guess as to what breeds are now part of the Rat Terrier breed.  Those who state otherwise are truly

lacking in knowledge about the Rat Terrier. 

The introduction of the Toy Fox, Miniature Pinscher, Chihuahua and Manchester Terrier into the bloodlines gave the smaller size that many desired for a smaller dog needed for hunting of small prey. The Rat Terrier is a tenacious squirrel dog and some say can do the job of finding, killing, retrieving and bringing home the kill all by themselves.  The Toy Fox as listed in AKC is to be 3.5 to 7 pounds.  The Chihuahua breed standard calls for them to be up to 6 pounds.  The Miniature Pinscher breed standard has stated 8 to 10 pounds

at one time and the consensus for the Italian Greyhound is 7 to 15 pounds.  The Manchester Terrier has a breed standard of

the Toy being up to 12 pounds and the Standard being 12 to 22 pounds.  The introduction of these breeds EASILY shows where

the Toy variety has come from and is a vital part of the history and make up of the Rat Terrier as a whole.   Those trying to exclude

history to justify their own version of the story are only doing a discredit to the breed. 

The introduction of the Chihuahua and Italian Greyhound gave the breed the multitude of colors that it enjoys today including the merle pattern.
The introduction of the beagle was done to hone hunting instincts but served little other purpose.  The Beagle may have been responsible for the shorter legs that we know see in the Class B, bench-legged, short legged or Teddy Roosevelt Terriers. 

If the Whippet is a part of the make-up of the breed then it would of been an early part of the history.  The Whippet is thought to of been developed from the crossing of a small Greyhound to a terrier type dog which possibly could of been the ancestors of the Rat Terrier.  This would make the Rat Terrier part of the Whippet gene pool and not the other way around - simply 'kissing cousins'.  Many want to credit the Rose ears to that of the Whippet but genetics lead us to believe that it came from the Beagle whereas the dogs inherited erect ears from other ancestors but the rounded shape of the Beagle.  The Corgi and Dachshund, if part of the breed, could of also contributed to the Rose ears especially the Corgi since one breed of Corgi are known for their Rose ears. 

The Corgi, if part of the breed, would of introduced (*depending on which breed of Corgi) Rose ears, offspring with no piebald genetics thus the occurrence of  SOLID offspring with no markings, MERLE and heavier body types of 25 to 38 pounds.  They would of also introduced the more fur that we do see on some Rat Terrier lines today. 

The Dachshund, if part of the breed, would of introduced shorter legs, a variety of hair coats, genetics from under 12 pounds to those of 16 to 32 pounds.  They could of introduced the MERLE gene, the rounded tipped ears and more drive. 

It only takes watching this vivacious little dog in it's determined attempt to retrieve it's prey to see that it's hunting instincts are very much intact today in the breeders stock who have worked diligently to keep them true to the breed and have not narrowly focused on looks over ability or a ribbon over what is in the best interest of the breed.  A rat stands little if any chance against a determined Rat Terrier of any size.

This little dog may have started out being developed as a small type hunting dog but it has evolved into a dog of many purposes. It is as at home in somebody's bed as it is in the woods. It is as happy in somebody's lap as it is in the back yard. It's heart may be small in comparison to larger breeds but NO dog can be any more loyal.

The Rat Terrier made a huge come-back and gained the publics eye in the 1990's and with the popularity came the "WILL OF OTHERS" to change things to their own liking.  Breed standards that had served the Rat Terrier breed well for over 50 years started being scrutinized, argued over and changed.  One change was in the acceptable patterns.  Merle and Brindle became an overnight disqualification in some registries.  Colors and Patterns were hashed over from one end of the United States to the other and eventually the "POWERS THAT BE" got their way and most breed standards across the nation were changed to their will.  2 registries stand out for their courage and knowledge in not allowing a few to change the standard for us all and those 2 are ACR - American Canine Registry and APRI - American Pet Registry Inc.  who stood their ground and refused to eliminate things in the breed standard that was certain to once again reduce the Rat Terriers numbers and gene pool and without doubt would be unfair to the breeders who were already registering with them.

The UKCI adopted the National Rat Terrier Association's (NRTA) standard of the Rat Terrier and that is the standard that all UKCI registered Rat Terriers should be judged by.
The ACR adopted the Rat Terrier Club International standard of the Rat Terrier and that is the standard that all ACR registered Rat Terriers should be judged by.
Keep in mind here though that several registries now accept the Rat Terrier as a recognized breed for registration and each Registry carries their own set of standards according to their breed clubs standards.

Registries that are most prevalent in promoting the Rat Terrier as a purebred are ACR (American Canine Registry), UKCI (Universal Kennel Club), APRI (America's Pet Registry Inc.) and UKC (United Kennel Club).
Other registries do register the Rat Terrier as a breed but their registration policies are less stringent than the ones above therefore making me question the true purebred status of such puppies/dogs.
There was rumor in 2001 that AKC (American Kennel Club) was to accept Rat Terriers for foundation stock into their registry. This would be a happy/sad occasion for the Rat Terrier as a breed. It would mean that one of the largest registries in the world has finally accepted the Rat Terrier as a breed probably due to it's increasing large number of breeders and pups being produced but it could also mean the loss of health of our beloved Rat Terrier. Show Breeders have a tendency to continually breed back to related dogs which can give them a superior show dog but can also give them less vigor, more health problems and will surely start to change the looks of the dog that we so love as it is now.   The rumor was indeed true and AKC now does FSS Foundation Status Registration of the Rat Terrier.  Once the database has been built to a sufficient number they will be recognized as a full AKC breed.  As predicted large

numbers of show dogs are already experiencing genetic issues. 

While the RTCA tries to make it seem that they were the official breed standard producers of an accepted breed standard that could be nothing further from the truth as UKCI did and does to this day have a recognized breed standard long before RTCA was even a dream.

Many try to accredit UKC (*UNITED) as being the first registry of Rat Terriers and again this is nothing but untruth.  UKCI (*UNIVERSAL) was the first REGISTRY to recognize and REGISTER the Rat Terrier.  A registry is nothing but a company who DOCUMENTS and ISSUES paperwork and that is EXACTLY what UKCI has been doing with the Rat Terriers since 1936 which is a far cry longer than UKC's acceptance and documentation of the breed in 1999.