Highs and lows at the Earthdog trial
Getting down and dirty
The Manitoba Dachshund Club held their first Earthdog event in August, and I piled the dogs into the car for a weekend of exploration.
The joy of earthdog is that they use their hunting drive to find prey. Aside from releasing them, there is not a lot else you can do, except try not to fidget, and enjoy the sunny day.
I was mainly focused on competing the older dogs, but I also wanted to use the event to introduce the young dogs to earthdog, and see if they start to figure it out.
The judges were very helpful, and the people relaxed and up for some fun. Our venue hosts Sandy and Tom, and the MDC, were gracious and accommodating. The judges brought some different equipment to work with the dogs (the octopus maze was great!), and it was interesting to see the dogs respond to the various puzzles and challenges.
If keenness is measure by barking and leaping like crazy fools, then I certainly had the keenest dogs there. Successful or not by competition standards, my dogs adore it. They go into a zone that is very deep; a long bred in instinct, and barely notice me.
Gideon had a go at the Into Quarry tunnel, and for a first time ever meeting a tunnel did not bad. He was really keen working in tandem with his mum, so he just needs some confidence building.
I am proud to say that Beatrix, with very little preparation beforehand, finally figured out the complexities of the senior tunnel to achieve her first SE leg. She still needs to learn to use her nose more and her eyes less, in order to find her way into the hidden den opening, then through the different maze options to the rat. We will work on that.
The real shocker was Peabody, whose killer instincts and short attention span usually lead to fast frustration at the quarry box (I can’t kill the darn thing if it’s all locked up! she says). For some reason, she finally stuck to it and got her first, hard won, Junior leg.
It was a great couple of days with the dogs, and I am really hoping the event catches on with local enthusiasts, because I am really looking forward to the next one – and so are the dogs!
