I am a happy owner of two rat terriersThey are half brother and
half sister and other than coat color and size and natural hunting abilities they are not at all alikeThe male "Bingo" is bossy and impudent and outlandishly boisterousThe female "Zoey" is shy and somewhat retiring and loves nothing better than to curl up in your lap and be petted.
I can speak with authority that they are not the dog for everyoneFirst of all they are not "cuddly" in the sense of a lap dogThey have short hard coats and hard bodies....not a lot of soft fur, that sort of thingBUT they look at you with their liquid eyes and can melt your heart with the best of the soft cuddly little fru fru dogs!
Their coats do shed a lot..( I also own large hairy goobery slobbery newfoundland dogs and let me tell you the little rat terriers shed equally as much AND their hair is short and "sharp" and has a tendency to stick better on the furniture than the longer hairs of the Newfoundlands.