Why Choose Bear Paw Rat Terriers?
Should you choose Bear Paw Ranch for your rat terrier?
We know you have many options when it comes to choosing a breeder and where to get your next dog. Let me share a little about us and our philosophy so you can understand our breeding program and the benefits of working with us.
For us, it all starts with you. When I think about where I want my dogs to go, I think about my owners and the lives they’ll lead with one of my pups. I want you to love your pup to pieces, I want you to have that dog that when you look at them and shake your head because something in life was ridiculous, the dog will give you that look that says, “I know exactly what you mean, can you believe those people?” They’re partners in crime (although we don’t recommend you use them in crime 😉), they just seem to get you at a deeper level.
I want you to have a dog like that, so I have to breed a dog like that. When I think about that perfect moment you’ll have in your kitchen with your dog 12 years from now, that’s what I want for you, a dog that’s your sidekick in life. That’s how I pick my breeding dogs: they have to be capable of giving you that.
Sometimes it’s just easier to talk to a person. While I’m a often busy with my other job, I can usually text! Click the button to kick off a text message conversation with me!
What are dogs for?
Dogs are not children, they will never replace your children; nor are they human friends, it probably wouln’t be healthy if you stopped going to the coffee shop with your friends and instead shared all those stories with your dog. I mean, don’t get me wrong, a Bear Paw Rattie will definitely listen, but they might not be able to give you honest feedback in the same way as a friend.
Dogs don’t replace humans, they can’t, that’s not their place in life; instead, they give us a whole different kind of relationship. It’s a relationship where they are there with you, walking through life together, witnessing your every day, your little moments, and they’ll be there no matter if it’s good or bad. They love you and love to spend time with you.
Rat terriers are particularly great companions because they are so healthy, easy to maintain, and they live long lives, allowing you to enjoy them for many many years–not to mention they’re so smart, they figure things out very easily, making you look like a great trainer, even if you aren’t sure what you’re doing!
Our Priorities in Breeding
Sound Mind & Body
Rat terriers are the perfect companion dog. They are loving, intuitive, and quick as a whip. When we select breeding dogs, we select for healthy dogs, both in body and mind, this way you’ll have a long, enjoyable life with your rattie, without unnecessary vet bills nor heartache.
Raised with Love
Rat terriers are one of those breeds where they don’t simply trust everyone, they’re a little discerning with new people. I love this about them, but it’s very important they learn people are good and worth trusting, this is why we handle our puppies a lot throughout the time we have them.
Matched to You
When the puppies are 4-5 weeks old, we begin temperament and personality testing. This allows us to better understand each puppy and their preferences. When we align the puppy’s preferences to your lifestyle, it makes your relationship with your pup a joy.
How We Do Things
Small Breeding Program
We keep our breeding program small and manageable, we have found that taking the time with each puppy is most important, and so we’ll never get so big we can’t personally get to know each pup and their personality. The dogs are raised in our home, in the room right off the kitchen.
Health & Temperament Tested
We screen all of our breeding dogs for health through the Rat Terrier Club of America’s Recommended Testing, to include hips, patellas, cardiac, and primary lens luxation (DNA test, all of our dogs are clear, non carriers). We further observe temperament, drive, and the desire to spend time with humans, to ensure our dogs are the perfect loyal companions.
Aligned to Your & Your Lifestyle
We work hard to understand you and your lifestyle so we can match you with the perfect dog for you. While we’ll ask about your activities and plans with the dog, we promise we aren’t interested in violating your privacy, we just want to match you with the right pup. With the right match, everything is easier.
What’s Included with Your Puppy?
It’s helpful to plan for your puppy and we’ve got you covered. Below are all the things that come with one of our puppies. Some of the items below are things you get with our breeding program, while other things are parts of our process in preparing a puppy to leave our home and go to yours. Further, we are big fans of preparation and education, so we have a lot of educational material to help you get started the right way and make the transition to your home as easy as possible.
If you’d like to learn more about any of this, let us know! We’re more than happy to discuss the particulars.
Lifetime Support
We believe in being available to you for the life of your dog and beyond. While we fully respect the dog is yours and the decisions for care are also yours, we are always here as a resource for you. And we’ll always take our dogs back at any age, in any condition, no questions asked.
Educational Email Series
Puppies are babies and sometimes they’re stressful, so we’ve created an email series to help you prepare for your puppy. We share our best tips and tricks for management and health, to help you get started the right way, as easy as possible, so you can spend more time enjoying your pup.
Simple Contract
We believe in providing you full transparency with our process, which is why we use a simple contract that’s written in English. You can read and review our contract prior to placing a deposit, this way you know exactly what you can expect from us.
Microchipping
Our dogs are all microchipped using an internationally recognized microchip. We place you on the microchip (with us as a back up) when you pick up your puppy. This is included in the purchase price and has no additional fees for life.
Vaccinations
While we believe in a minimal vaccination protocol, we do vaccinate for parvovirus using Neopar and we will do the first puppy vaccination (5-way shot), prior to the puppies leaving, this gives them the best chance against these diseases.
Herbal Dewormer
We’ve found herbal dewormers to be the most successful in treating worms and protozoan infections and have ceased using chemical dewormers back in 2016. We use Perfect Log Herbal Dewormer and love it.
Health Guarantee
All of our puppies come with a 24-month genetic health guarantee. While this doesn’t cover normal responsibilities of dog ownership, it does guarantee you’ll get a healthy puppy, without genetic issues. We’ll either replace or appropriately refund should there be an issue.
30-Days of Free Insurance
We’ve partnered with Trupanion to give you 30 days of free pet insurance (no credit card required), to give you peace of mind during the transition from our home to yours. Puppies are little and accidents happen, it’s nice to know you don’t have to worry about the vet bill, too.
AKC Registration
We register all of our litters with the American Kennel Club so you can take pride in having a well-bred, purebred rat terrier. Registration cost is included, pedigrees (with the golden seal) are available from AKC for an additional cost.
Hand Raised
We raise all of our puppies in our home, with our kids. We even have puppy parties where we invite the kids’ friends over so we can expose the puppies to more people and commotion. The kids are also guilty of having puppies in their laps while doing this online school classes 😬.
High-Quality Diet
While breeding healthy dogs is the most important start to health, we ensure the continuation of that start with longer nursing, nothing beats mom’s milk, so we allow our puppies to nurse up to 6 weeks of age, or until our moms are ready to be done. We follow that with high-quality dog food.
Litter Box Trained
We all want a dog who is house trained and easy to have in the home without worry. To give your pup a start to house training, we use a litter box in the puppy pen. While it doesn’t work like a cat litter box, it does teach good habits, making the transition easier.
We Believe & Practice Continued Education
It’s not enough for us to have good dogs, we have to continue to stay in the loop on new information in the industry, new research and how it impacts our dogs, this way we can make pivots as new research and evidence come to light!
One way we do this is by being a member of the Dog Breeder Society. The Dog Breeder Society is an educational community for breeders, so they can continue to learn and produce better dogs for their puppy owners, while supporting their owners for the life of the dog. They believe in dog breeding the honest way. We are proud to be founding members and have continued our membership since.
Plus, if you’re on our email list, you’ll benefit as we share all the new things we learn that help you have a better relationship with your dog, while keeping them healthy and happy.
Ready to Get a Pup?
The best way to get started is to fill out our puppy application, this helps kick off the conversation! (PS. There are no right or wrong answers!)
Want to see available puppies?
See our available puppies and upcoming litters on our Available Puppies page. What if your new family member has already been born?!
Meet the Family
Want to meet the people behind Bear Paw? Meet our family and learn about how we all work together to raise our pups.