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Rat Terriers / Feist

Hi all,
I have a question here please. Is there any difference between a Rattie and a Feist? I was just reading the Rat standard and it says in the South that Ratties are often called Feists.
However you often see them talked about as different breeds. Can anyone clarify this for me please?
Thanks!
RAven

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"Feist" is a term refering to a general type of dog such as "terrier" or "hound". There are recognized breeds and well-known varieties within the general term "feist".

The Rat Terrier is a "feist" in the general sense and was developed from the small terrier-type dogs known as feist. If you go to the Rat Terrier Club of America's website they have a "Family Tree" for the Rat Terrier. It shows that the Rat Terrier was developed by crossing the feist dogs we already had in America with newly arrived toy breeds such as Toy Fox and Manchester Terriers and Chihuahuas.

The RTCA also acknowledges that the dogs that became the Rat Terrier arrived in America circa 1890. Feist dogs had been around for a considerable amount of time before that. Some historical accounts of feist/fyce/fice dogs include a poem, "The Bear Hunt" by Abraham Lincoln before the Civil War; George Washington's Diary and later the novel "Go Down Moses" by William Faulkner.


Hope this helps.

-Marc

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