Earthdoggies

[Dachshundrsq]

Louisville Dachshund Club had their FIRST Earthdog Sanctioned Test today. We are hoping all is well with our paperworks and will be able to start having our own Earthdog Tests in Mid Kentucky. We REALLY lucked into finding some Great people and Grounds, when we found the Rolling Fork Beagle Club. All the members are FANTASTIC and we had our Field Trials there last fall for the first time. Then when we applied for a Sanctioned Earthdog Test, they agreed to let us have it there as well as putting in permanent Dens on their some 350 acres of land. The Bunnies have been plentiful when we was there, they allowed practice with the dachshunds in the fields this weekend while DCA Region IV had 2 earthdog tests and we had our match. Cheri Faust and Larry Golhke both donated tons of time and their expertise to help us get started. It was a HORRIBLY HOT weekend with Temps near 100 degrees and humidity at 95%, I think the comments of the weekend were...Lets do this some other time of the year!! We just had errors in our paperwork due to misunderstandings of what needed to be done up front that by the time it was fixed, our time to have the Sanctioned Test was NOW. Anyway, the Beaglers watched most of the weekend, they are very helpful and curious about our short and long dogs. A few of them went out to the fields and ran their Beagles with the Dachshunds, how awesome is that?? It is a win, win situation and a great opportunity to learn from eachother.
So how did things go??
I ran numerous dogs both days. I started several in Intro. Cinder has passed intro once a few years ago but has not been back out since then. Milo (Cinder's Daddy) has always wanted to just cheat and go to where the judge is and get the Rats from above. I entered Missy Ann strictly in the Intro. She is almost 10 years old and dearly loves Rats, Mice etc. but it has never really "clicked" with her, so I didn't want to push her too much. I entered Onyx and Homer in the Intro, both almost a year old, they had seen their first REAL rat a few weeks ago outside the fence, since they carried on so much and really had a drive to get the Rat I entered them. It would have been nice if they had known a verbal command to "Get The Rat" prior to doing this. Onyx totally refused to go into the den, Homer refused during the intro, enough to fail but he judge was VERY nice and let us work him a bit longer and see if we could get it to "click" then once he figured out what he should do about going into the den to find the rats, he did it perfectly/ So I entered him in the JE Later.
So Saturday, I ran:
Miss Mon: Intro and JE, which for Intro, she went in, came back out, went back in, worked them a bit and came back out....FAILED.
I already had her entered in JE, afterall she LOVES to get the RATS! And she FAILED!
Homer: Intro and JE: Failed/Failed (That JE tunnel is Looooooong and Dark!!) But since he did kinda "Get It" I entered him for our match and Intro On Sunday.
Onyx: Intro and JE, Totally refused to go into the Den on Intro, so I ended up not even running him for JE.
Missy Ann: Intro....QUALIFIED! I didn't have her entered for JE at the time, but since she did so well in Intro, I entered her for JE...ans she QUALIFIED!
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL959/4873249/11582811/168018565.jpg
Milo, Intro and JE, Qualified, Qualified!!
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL959/4873249/11582811/168018553.jpg
Cinder, Intro and JE, Qualified, Qualified!!
The judge was impressed with this Father/Daughter Duo, Cinder was 2 seconds behind Milo for Intro, then closed the gap a bit more for JE and they worked almost exactly the same.
At the last minute, since Truffles had gotten out of my ex-pens numerous times and came to the clubhouse looking for the rats, I decided to enter her in JE but wished I had entered her in the Inrto since she has absolutely no experience with Dens. She took 10 seconds too long to figure out she needed to go into the hole in the ground to find them, she reached the rats at 40 seconds, then worked them the required 60 seconds. Maybe next time!
On Sunday, I had 6 entered in the match, Everyone doing the match failed! They couldn't seem to get past the entrance to the den.
I had Homer and Miss Mon entered in the Intro to Quarry. Homer QUALIFIED! Yeah, not bad for a baby who has never seen a den or knew what the word "Rat" meant. Miss Mon needed the second command once again to go and stay in the Den. She worked the Rats as required but still failed. Since she was more excited I went ahead and entered her again for JE.
My JE starters for Sunday were Homer, Truffles, Milo, Cinder, Missy Ann, and Miss Mon. Everyone did HORRIBLE for the JE Match so I didn't have much hope anyone would do anything. Everyone wanted to Cheat to get to the rats via where the judge was sitting. So I was HOPING someone would get back on track for the official JE run.
Homer wouldn't go into the hole and his 30 seconds was up, so the judge asked me to encourage him again to go in, so I actually picked him up and put him inside the entry of the hole and said "Get the Rats", well he cautiously went in and did make it to the rats and then worked them the 60 seconds required. I think he will eventually get it, but alas he will be going to a pet home and I don't know if they will have any interest in taking him to ED tests.
Miss Mon did her usual in and out mode til her 30 seconds was up, so I encouraged her to go in, she went maybe past the first turn and came back and looked at me. I think her biggest problem is, she knows she just can't get to them in there. Some don't care, they will work them and bark at them anyway. Miss Mon says...I can't get them in there so WHY bother! And that hole is too dark and too long for all the effort!
Milo tried to cheat, he went along the top of the den, went to the judge, messed up his time so that when he did finally decide to go in he missed his 30 second limit. He did however work them for the allotted time, maybe next time! At least it finally "clicked" with him. He always tried to cheat in the past and would never go into the den. He said, I can just get them from the top down by that person sitting at the end :D
Truffles went into the Den immediately and QUALIFIED for her first leg of her JE
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL959/4873249/11582811/168018559.jpg
Cinder went in and immediately started working the Rats and QUALIFIED for her second JE leg and she is now:
Romandachs Return To Cinder NW ROM JE
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL959/4873249/11582811/168018552.jpg
I am SOOOO Proud of her. She is due to have puppies around August 3rd, and she REALLY had the hunting drive.
There was two titles earned this past weekend. Minnie a Parson Russell Terrier completed both of her legs for her Title and Cinder got both of hers for her JE title.
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL959/4873249/11582811/168018558.jpg
I look HORRIBLE in these pics, but with the Heat Index at 105, humidity at 95%, I was sweating to death!
We had a GREAT weekend, far better than I ever expected!

[Suzanne R]

:welcome: to DBB; I don't think I've seen you on this board before - you have adorable furbabies, and sounds like they did very well and had a blast! Don't worry - we totally understand the heat and humidity problem here. So glad you could join us - the pictures are terrific! Again, :welcome8: Duh - you're NOT new to the board. Sorry!!! - it's Monday.

[Schatz's Mom]

Well it sounds as if :congrats: are in order Beckie! I don't know how in the world you manage that many pups! Your pups are amazing!

[Doxiegal]

Oh your wire baby is sooo cute! Gotta love her markings! Do remember to show us the babies when they come but do not offer me any I am weak... LOL Way to go earthdoggies!!!!

[oscarforevermom]

Congratulations!!! Sounds like a wild fun time!! :)

I'd love to watch one these someday. I'll bet the puppers have a riot. They are such cuties.

[kpm_tex]

Congratulations! It's so much fun to watch these guys do what they're instincts tell them!! I wish there were a way to put a little camera down in that tunnel so you could watch what they're doing.

[Heide]

to all those gorgeous babies of yours.:banana02:

[Joyce]

:cheer: Good job done by all. I so love hearing and seeing your puppers, they are beautiful.

[Girrl's mom]

Oh your wire baby is sooo cute! Gotta love her markings! Do remember to show us the babies when they come but do not offer me any I am weak... LOL Way to go earthdoggies!!!!

Beckie has LOTS of beautiful wire babies. Her website is dachsie "porn", stimulating us to want another dog! I was saved at the NE Ohio dachsie picnic because she is keeping the gorgeous Dirks Bentley for a show dog.

I second the vote to see Cinder's pups...and your other dogs...as often as possible.

Beckie, I don't know how you do it. I know southern Indiana's heat and humidity.

40 seconds to get to the rat! These dogs are FAST! Bet they'll love doing what they were bred to do once they "get it".

[Dachshundrsq]

Oh they LOVE doing it. Miss Mon is PO'ed because she knows she cannot possibly get to the rats inside the tunnel and knows for a fact that the judge can open a hole on top and get the cage out. I think she believes she can do some damage enough to that cage to have a Rat Snack! I really enjoy the earthdog events, if I could walk to the fields, then walk IN the fields with them I would do the field trials too. It is a way to give back to them with "fun days" what they give to me each and every day, at every show and giving me beautiful babies to continue on with. I wish I had the money to run them ALL in the event. They just don't get enough time to play in the tunnels. We plan to put in some underground tunnels at home and olay with them more with the rats. Some are satisfied with just getting to see them and bark at them. Milo and Missy Ann would hold vigils near their pen and bark for hours if I would let them. Milo has jumped up and grabbed the cage and pulled it to the floor. It is a good thing the bottom and door is secure with spring latches which we keep tight. Milo and Shay (Cinder's parents) have both caught their own rat that made the mistake of coming into my house. (they cannot hide as well as the mice can and can't fit into the same cracks as a mouse can either) I am not sure Miss Mon would be tough enough to take care of a rat. The one Shay got had come in under the sink from our crawl space under the kitchen, they had changed the position of the sink and left the previous drain hole open. It was coming in there, going under the cabinettes, coming out beside the dishwasher and helping itself to the dog food bowls/bags and running back for cover. I found out later than my husband and youngest son KNEW it was doing this for more than a month and neither one got one of the dachshunds after it. I was sitting at my desk one night and saw a flash of something run accross the floor in the kitchen, I got up to look and saw it run back to the dishwasher. I was like OMG, it is HUGE! I went and got Shay, went and got a screwdriver to remove the screws holding the dishwasher to the cabinettes then started to pull out the dishwasher, the rat rode the dishwasher out as I pulled it out and Shay nabbed it, as she grabbed it, it grabbed her lip and wouldn't let go. She wouldn't let go either and she kept wimpering. Then she pushed the rat against the floor with her mouth, kept pushing it and pushing it til is screeched out in pain, then she snapped its neck. Once it was dead she was done with it so I let the others at the time play around with it before I disposed of it. When I told my husband about the incident, he said Yeah I knew it was in the kitchen! I said have you LOST YOUR MIND! I don't and won't poison around here because of the dogs. Just when you would think you have things where your dog can't get it, you would find how determined your dog is to get something they are not supposed to have. I just won't risk it so I live with the mice and the dogs do catch them occasionally. We used to have sheep up until a few months ago and the grain in the barn attracted the rats, as well as our neighbor being a pig farmer and my sons said their barn was crawling with them, so as long as they stay out of my house, they are kinda a fact of life in the neighborhood. I am just hoping that when they get hungry enough they go back to the neighbors barn to get their food supplies and not into my basement and up into my house. Anyway the dogs get lots of practice with vermin here at home, but they do enjoy getting out and chasing bunnies and finding rats in tunnels. I live on almost 5 acres, so I do let Missy Ann, Milo, Cinder and Miss Mon run the property outside the fenced area occasionally when I can be outside with them. They are the ones I KNOW will come back to me when called.