What is barnhunt?

Rats must be bred for this game in order for it to not be stressful or scary. Barnhunt is a scent detection game for dogs where the rat is put in a secure ventilated tube where it must be sniffed out by a dog within a certain amount of time. Your dog will be disqualified if it is too rough on the tube so the rats are not spun or kicked around. The temperament of a rat is mainly genetic. So I breed for rats that are not afraid of dogs, their barks, or the tubes are key to a happy barnhunt rat. All of my rats are raised with a barnhunt tube in their cage, rats naturally like small and dark spaces so they love the tubes. A rat you buy from a store is probably not good for this game, the rat being happy and not stressed is key. Only one of my lines isn't good for the game, the rest all have perfect temperaments. More information on barnhunt can be found on Barn Hunt Association. Our personal dogs do this sport which is why we started doing this, I saw rats that were used in the game being shoved in, clearly not loving it so I could not, in good conscience continue the sport with some of the rats being so stressed out. I had to do something about it and starting this program is what I did. Now we sell to several barnhunt homes and give preference to them. Several of our rats are used all over the PNW as barnhunt practice rats, competition rats, or as personal barnhunt rats. All of our Barnhunt Rats are personal pets first and barnhunt rats second.