It used to grace the royal palaces in the Middle Ages. It was later used as rat catchers by commoners. It has been a breed since before the Polish king Boleslav II The Brave (1058 -1080). He became fond of the Ratter. He had two and they came from Bohemia (the Czech lands). It is said that the Prague Ratter started to lose favor in the 19th century as the Miniature Pinscher became more prevalent. The breed started to experience a renaissance in the 1980s as Czechs and Slovaks started to breed them again.