PRESENTED BY THE DOMESDAY BOOK OF DOGS Rat Hounds. Rat hounds appear to be all things to all people. From a bobbery pack of terriers: border, fox and Irish in Collingham, Yorkshire (Dixon Evening Telegraph, 1931), to a motley assortment of various sized dogs as sported by Jane Dane, mistress of the Back Bay Rat Hounds and her friends. That particular Back Bay, Boston pack and followers were described as: “one Airedale, one Airedale-Poodle cross, one Dachshund (my own) and one Jack Russell Terrier belonging to Mrs Tuckerman my sister, and assorted people (The Chronicle of the Horse, 1957). Thirty fox terriers described as rat hounds worked the port of Buenos Aires and accounted for about 30,000 rats a month apparently, whilst working strict union hours: 7 ‘til 11AM when they took lunch and then 1 ‘til 5 or 6PM when they would voluntarily go for an antiseptic bath before their evening meal. All steamers coming into the port were gassed first and the ra...