German short hair pointer mix or Decker Rat ?, German Short hair pointer or Decker Rat.

i think the toy fox terriers are quite attractive. Can't say as much for chihuahuas or rat terriers with dome heads and short muzzles that look like chihuahuas.

So the heritage decker wasn't the old farm fiest? Created by Milton Decker from scratch in the 1970's then from an Oregon terrier, mostly fox, of mixed ancestry weighing 32 lbs then. Maybe there was a range of heritage dogs, some like you say with legs for rabbit, some to wiggle into the haybales and not needing a lot of food. Different lines bred by different groups in different regions.

Hi All,

Thanks for jumping in on this thread and giving your opinions. No matter if he is a Decker or part Decker or not... What ever he is, he is very intelligent. I ran into the Protection dog trainer last week, and he commented on his intelligence again. I also ran into another dog owner from the neighborhood today, who I haven't seen since the summer. He told me he was impressed when he saw me in the park. I had Duke aka Chupee off leash in the fence area... he comes when called and fetches on command. Drops the ball when I ask, circles me when I tell him to, and backs up if I tell him to do that as well. Not that impressive I know... but he is doing well from a few months ago. When he is doing "his job", he now can ignore a dog on the other side of the fence... even if the dog barks at him. I can run him around for an hour or 2 if no other dogs want to come in. Being that I am in a very high populated dog area... I can only bring him in the wee hours, to accomplish being able to stay in there. The minute I take him out of the fence and back on the leash... he reacts to almost any dog. His intensity level goes down the longer he stays in the park and more energy that is drained. The same dog that barked at him through the fence he ignored... will be the same dog he reacts to... even if it's calm on the leash & far away ! Slickrock as far as taking him to the down position I do do that. I can hold him in the down position BUT, he then continues to make the weirdest sound and will not stop till the dog is out of sight . You should see the faces of the pedestrians BLOCKS AWAY from us. He has a strong guard dog bark when people come to the door. This noise he makes is not a bark its very odd and makes quite a scene.

OK, I took that completley in the wrong way -- I apologize! Please forgive me for the misinterpretation.

My parents dogs... Well, they are very old-fashioned type to me... But, do not bear much resemblance to the Deckers other than they are big. They are very leggy, and lighter boned and just overall built a little lighter than what most Deckers are, and their heads are completely different, especially their ear set and carriage. I think Rebekah nailed it when she said "whippet-like"...

No problem Danielle. Written communicaton like this can often be misunderstood I think, without the give and take of an actual conversation.

Travis may have a lighter build than rats with the decker influence, but he doesn't look as skinny as a lot of rats I see. Don't know if there is something in them other than the Whippet influence...

How's his temprement and hunt drive compared to your deckers? Do you run him with the pack?

Travis was a great hunting dog, he passed away earlier this year. But when we did have him, we ran him with the pack and he loved it... He was gun shy, so we had to be careful about shooting around him, but to just go out and hunt... He was very prey driven and LOVED to hunt. He was plenty gritty, that's for sure.

Honestly though, I hated his temperament. He could be really nasty when he wanted to. He was a one person dog, he ONLY loved my husband and just tolerated the rest of us. He was EXTREMELY territorial and agressive with strangers and trespassers. He was a great guard dog!!! But I always felt that he was kind of a liability because when he went after something, it was not as a warning, he meant BUSINESS! Also, even though he was neutered from the time he was like 6 months old, he hated other males and would pick fights in the yard, etc.

Travis would not have made my big dog outcross list then. Rest in Peace ol boy.

I have to brag on Carrie Bear. We just got back from tempremental testing, otherwise known as the balloon glow at the annual balloon regatta in Page. They close down main street, line the balloons up, and make pretty lights. Carrie handled the crowd and the roar of the propane like it was a walk in the park. She has only been on leash a few times and doesn't heel but there was no pulling forward or away. She must have sniffed 200 people. The closer we passed by the balloons, the closer she walked to me. You could feel the heat when they fired up. I tried this with Slickrock last year. He barks the balloons up, even when they are in the air over the house, as he did this morning.

I didn't try this with Bobcat, but the walks in the park are getting much better. She just needed to get out more.