ANSWER: No, rats are not really like dogs in the sence that if you train a rat you can never be sure that the rat will always obey like a dog might, and you can't expect that from a rat.
Rats do not have the same social organization as dogs have, which is easy to see for anyone with some education in etology. Rats are not dependent upon a leader rat in the same sence that a wolf is. So rats are more independent, their survival and success is not dependent upon obedience towards the leader.
But rats are fairly intelligent and can be trained to do the most astounding tricks! Since you usually keep rats in their cages they will want to be active and do things when you bring them out. And they are very curious and also they like interacting with others. So if you provide some kind of reward for every little thing you try to teach your rat you will see that he wants to learn...
Once your rat has learned one trick it will be a little bit easier to teach him the next rick, since he is also learning to understand the learning situation, he learning how to learn, just as any dog does when you train the dog.
Rewards: Rats like food so you can give him treats as rewards, but when he has had enough he is not hungry anymore... Rats also likes interaction with others, so you can praise him (tell him how wonderful he is doing in a high pitched voice exactly when he is doing fine) and rats can never get too much praise!
Punishment: Never punish a rat! You can yell "No!" to him exactly when he is doing something very wrong (or just clap your hands once), but then it is essential that you show him something better to instead and praise him for doing that instead!
Copyright Eva Johansson.
Last update: 11th of August 2006.