How to Train an Andalusian Ratter

The Andalusian Ratter is considered by many to be one of the best hunting dog breeds in history, for small prey such as rodents, rabbits and hares, among others.

As a companion dog, they're also excellent, which is why their training needs to cover techniques both for living together and for hunting.

How to Train an Andalusian Ratter?

To properly train an Andalusian Ratter, we should wait until they're at least six months old, since during their first months of life they'll only want to eat, sleep and play, like puppies of any other breed.

From six months old we can start teaching our Andalusian Ratter some tricks, always with plenty of patience and without losing our temper. Actually, it's not until they turn a year old that we should start with their proper training.

When we want to start training our Andalusian Ratter, we should do it after they've been for a walk and played, this way they'll have burned off their excess energy, making it easier for them to focus.

Ideally we should train them somewhere calm where they won't be distracted by the presence of other dogs, animals or people. Always using positive reinforcement and not exceeding thirty minutes of daily training.

If we want to increase training time, we should split it into two sessions, half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the afternoon.

The Importance of Positive Reinforcement for Training

Positive reinforcement is the training technique most widely used by professional trainers the world over, since it's the one giving the best results when training a dog or an Andalusian Ratter puppy.

Positive reinforcement involves rewarding our dog with plenty of cuddles, praise and strokes as well as a treat, when they do something right, such as, for example, following the command we've given them.

In this technique there's no punishment, scolding or reproach — that is, we'll reward our dog when they do well, but when they do badly, we'll simply ignore them entirely. No reward, no praise, but also no punishment.

Using force, such as aggression towards a dog, shouting or similar, will only cause the dog to develop trauma that will sooner or later show up through bad behaviour or aggression. Because of this, all physical punishment should be avoided entirely, without exception.

Training Techniques for an Andalusian Ratter

Although there are thousands of canine training techniques for training our Andalusian Ratter, these are the most common and widely used generally. We can always teach our dog new tricks once we know how they should be taught.

Remember patience is a trainer's best gift, and the Andalusian Ratter can be a bit stubborn at times. Patience, persistence and good rewards are all you need for your Andalusian Ratter to learn within a few weeks.

How to Teach Them to Sit

Training an Andalusian Ratter is very simple if we know how to do it, so the first thing will be finding a calm spot to start teaching our dog this simple trick.

We'll call our dog by name and immediately follow with the sit command, for example "Trufo, sit". Obviously the dog won't know what to do, since it's up to us to teach them.

So, very gently, we'll press on the back part of their body, right by the tail, to get them to sit. Once they do, we'll praise them and give them a reward, using positive reinforcement.

The technique involves repeating this exercise several times over several weeks — dogs learn through repetition, so it's simply a matter of time before they learn to sit on command with no need to press on their back.

How to Teach Them to Lie Down

Once our Andalusian Ratter has learned to sit properly on command, we can start teaching them the lying-down technique. We shouldn't start with this technique until they know how to sit properly on command.

To teach our Ratter to lie down, we'll first give the sit command "Rufo, sit", and once they sit, instead of giving them a reward, we'll give a new command, the lie-down one, "Rufo, lie down".

To teach them to lie down, we can move their front paws forward with our hand's help, or show them the reward (a dog biscuit) and place it in front of their nose, gradually moving it away so they lie down instinctively.

Once they've lain down, we'll praise them and give them the reward. With repetition, they'll learn this technique within a few days.

How to Train Them to Come When Called

This is one of the simplest techniques for teaching our Andalusian Ratter to come when called, and in it we'll simply use food. We can use dog biscuits or small pieces of sausage, which they love.

We'll show our dog the reward and call them by name, followed by the command, "Rufo, here". Immediately afterwards we'll give our dog the reward so they can enjoy and eat it.

We'll start walking, and once our dog moves a little away, we'll pull out a new reward and show it to them while calling them "Rufo, here". Once they come to us to eat their biscuit or piece of sausage, we'll praise them and give them the reward.

We'll repeat this exercise whenever we need to call our dog, this way they'll link our call with a reward and will always come without a second thought. There's nothing dogs love more than eating.

How to Train Them to Learn to Follow Trails

Developing our Andalusian Ratter's sense of smell is very simple with this training technique, perfect for teaching them to follow trails during hunting or simply to have a great time with them.

We'll ask our dog to sit with the correct command "Rufus, sit", and once they do, we'll pull out a reward and show it to them. They should stay sitting at all times, while we place several rewards behind the legs of furniture around the house, under the sofa, behind the table and so on.

They should watch us hide the rewards, and once we're done, we'll give the command to search and eat, "Rufus, go". They'll start searching for the rewards and eat them, using their sense of smell.

Afterwards we'll repeat the exercise, but placing rewards in only some spots — in others we'll pretend to leave a reward without actually leaving one, so they think there's a reward there too.

When we give the command, they'll use their sense of smell and start searching for the rewards in the spots where they saw us put our hand. In some they'll find their reward, and in others they won't.

We should repeat this technique over several weeks, then hide rewards in a room without them seeing us do it, and once we bring them in and give the command, they'll know they need to search for their hidden rewards.

With this we'll develop their sense of smell to a higher level. We can also practise this training technique outdoors, hiding rewards behind trees or bushes.