Here we go again -- yesterday we were out doing yard work and found 2 rats in the storeroom and then another one right outside it later on in the morning. They seemed to have been poisoned -- none were caught by the sticky traps we set out. We are on Dee Rd. My neighbors reports rats in their storeroom, too. Let's all be aware and proactive. 

Any tips on dealing with rats without the possibility of poisoning my dogs?

I will be calling Vector Control today to come out and set traps like they did last summer even though they had a total bad attitude about it. 

I found out last year you cant fight rats all by yourself.  You have to get with your neighbors and make an entire effort to kill them or run them all off.

Rats are looking for food, water and shelter....dont give them any !!

Clean your yard of pet droppings and make sure your birdfeeders are not drawing rodents.  Dont leave pet food or water bowls outside overnight. 

Make sure your neighbors follow the same rules.

Calling Vector control helps but I also set traps and laid out poison in a safe place no pets could get to it and warned my neighbors of what I was doing.

My vet told me a well fed pet will not eat something dead they find in the yard but they may bring it to you - so you still have to be careful using poison with pets.

I used a live trap to catch a rat 2 yrs ago.   It had eaten all the poison w/ no luck.    Live traps work well and are available online on sites such as this one where I got mine -

http://www.livetrap.com

Thanks, y'all. Good advice! Haven't seen any since the previous post, but am still waiting on Vector Control, so I will try some of these things you suggested.