Welcome to the BGH Clyde.

I'm courious, Deckers and Rat Terriers are one and the same? The Rat Terriers I've seen were certainly barve but a bit small for things like bears and hogs; not to mention cats.

According to registries they are one and the same..... but that couldn't be farther from the truth....
You are right, rat terriers are smaller varmit/tree dogs. Deckers on the other hand were a line of rat terrier bred by Milton Decker to be a versitile hunting dog as well as family companion..... My deckers average, females 30-35 pounds and males 35-40 pounds sometimes a bit heavier.... with all the tenacity, bravery, grit and drive you could ask for..... yet the brains to use it to their advantage, they are not suicide terriers like some terrier breeds.
My foundation dogs were bred for hogs, and some from that branch of the decker tree were sent to South America to hunt jaguar....
I have hunted most breeds at one time or another over the past 25 years and nothing has come as close as they have to fitting the defenition of versitle.....

I posted some pics of a few of my decker playing with an unwelcome guest......
You can also check out some of my dogs on my website

Clyde

Have fun with someone giving you one if you find any lemme know. I just paid a nice chunk for my new boy he comes home on the 20th of this month. I cant even sit here and talk about it cause its getting me excited, been awhile since I had a good dog. I bought a chocolate and the parents look amazing so hopefully he gets thier genes and he's from the mother's first litter.I'll post pics soon. Great looking dogs guys.

I also agree with Don, If your dog makes you happy who or what else should matter.

I have Chinook X Alaska Husky/Timberwolf(25%). He is my backcountry splitboarding companion.

He hunts squirrel, snowshoe hare and mtn. cottontail. Over the summer we spent some time out with a buddy and his Visla. Now he is pointing grouse.

He learned how to play fetch from a former neighbors lab. I don't know if I trust him to retrieve birds with out eating them .

I haven't taught him a thing! He figured it out all on his own. Last summer we adopted an Alaskan Village Dog. He is learning from the other dog quite well.

try this site and they are drathaar,s

http://www.vdd-gna.org