Earth Dog Anyone?

[Skiploder]

Last year,with our staffie bull fast approaching 15, we decided to add another dog to our family.

As we are a fairly active family (hiking, camping, etc.) and seeing as both my wife and I jog, we decided on a dog we felt could keep up with us. In March of 2011 we purchased a patterdale terrier.

Not only has she has been a great companion for all our activities, she has rid our large yard of gophers, moles, raccoons, squirrels and even a possum this fall. All of this in a 16lb package.

This fall my son and I began taking her out to a friend's ranch on the coast to join him and his jack russell terriers in flushing out vermin on the ranch. It's been a workout for both of us, as it involves digging by both the owner and the dog. Some of the daylight holes we've had to dig are 4 feet deep.

Dixie has been so good at it, we decided to get her involved in local earth dog competitions. I built a plywood tunnel system in the back yard and have been using thawed out rats as prey items. While the tunnels are only covered with mulch and hay, they have several hinges on the tops in which I fill them with dirt. We change the layout every few days to increase the challenge factor. It's amazing the workout out, both physically and mentally she gets from these sessions.

I'll post some pics of the tunnel build and some field work later. I know there is at least one other patterdale owner on this forum, so in the meantime I was wondering if any of the terrier owners take part in earth dog work.

If not - cool. In the absence of having a blog I think I'm going to post our experiences here. Before owning Dixie I had no idea this sport existed and that it would become as consuming a hobby as owning snakes.

In the meantime, here's a pic of our little athlete at 11 months. She'll be 13 months in a week.

[DemmBalls]

I've never heard of this breed. Very interesting. We have a Toy Fox Terrier, but she is 12 now and only hunts dog treats. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to future updates from you.

[DooLittle]

Last year,with our staffie bull fast approaching 15, we decided to add another dog to our family.

As we are a fairly active family (hiking, camping, etc.) and seeing as both my wife and I jog, we decided on a dog we felt could keep up with us. In March of 2011 we purchased a patterdale terrier.

Not only has she has been a great companion for all our activities, she has rid our large yard of gophers, moles, raccoons, squirrels and even a possum this fall. All of this in a 16lb package.

This fall my son and I began taking her out to a friend's ranch on the coast to join him and his jack russell terriers in flushing out vermin on the ranch. It's been a workout for both of us, as it involves digging by both the owner and the dog. Some of the daylight holes we've had to dig are 4 feet deep.

Dixie has been so good at it, we decided to get her involved in local earth dog competitions. I built a plywood tunnel system in the back yard and have been using thawed out rats as prey items. While the tunnels are only covered with mulch and hay, they have several hinges on the tops in which I fill them with dirt. We change the layout every few days to increase the challenge factor. It's amazing the workout out, both physically and mentally she gets from these sessions.

I'll post some pics of the tunnel build and some field work later. I know there is at least one other patterdale owner on this forum, so in the meantime I was wondering if any of the terrier owners take part in earth dog work.

If not - cool. In the absence of having a blog I think I'm going to post our experiences here. Before owning Dixie I had no idea this sport existed and that it would become as consuming a hobby as owning snakes.

In the meantime, here's a pic of our little athlete at 11 months. She'll be 13 months in a week.

She's so cute. What an awesome thing, never heard of Earth dog.

[DellaF]

She is a cutie. I have a yard full of mole hills that my dogs like to dig up but they never find the mole

[Mike41793]

I could of used her at my house last summer!!! My yard was over run with chipmunks and trapping them and taking them far away didnt seem to help. I swear i killed at least a dozen and there were still more. Maybe i should get a Patterdale lol!

[Skiploder]

I could of used her at my house last summer!!! My yard was over run with chipmunks and trapping them and taking them far away didnt seem to help. I swear i killed at least a dozen and there were still more. Maybe i should get a Patterdale lol!

Mike, I have never seen a dog verminate so well.

We were getting rats under our house. Before we got her, we hired a company to seal the house up. The service came with a lifetime guarantee.

Well the rats kept getting back in. The company that sealed the house was perplexed.

Right before Christmas I was noticing her rooting around in the ivy around the house night after night for hours at a time. The area is thick with trees and there is a concrete path between the ivy and another planting area next to the house.

After a couple of days I decided to see what was keeping her so busy. I was surprised to find two big dead rats in the ivy next to a tunnel. Dixie had her head and shoulders in the tunnel with her little butt and legs pressed flat to the earth.

The next day I called the rodent exclusion company and they pumped smoke into the tunnel . Dixie had uncovered an abandoned gopher tunnel that led under the house and exited under the lip of the rim foundation. The opening was the size of a silver dollar and the rats were using it as a highway.. The company serviceman said they would have probably never found it. They pumped the tunnel full of grout and we haven't had another rat since (knock on wood).

[Simple Man]

Patterdales are great. I have a Patterdale named Ripley that just turned 2 on Valentines. He's intelligent, obedient, well behaved, and a damn fine rodent catching dog. I've had the pleasure of allowing him to do some ground work on two occasions. He's asleep right next to me as I type this. Fantastic breed that I'm glad has found working dogmen to keep them working dogs. I hope they never become accepted into the show rings. That will be the beginning of the end much like many former working breeds.

Anyway, here's Ripley's birthday bacon cheeseburger

http://youtu.be/G0eT7G3pmB8

Regards,

B

[Wapadi]

I have a new dachshund puppy (only 3 month old!) and we have been teaching him to "tunnel" under blankets to get inside a box at the other end for a treat. I would love to get him into something more "real".....CAan you point me to any web sites? Is Earth dog what I need to search for? Thanks!!

[Mike41793]

Mike, I have never seen a dog verminate so well.

We were getting rats under our house. Before we got her, we hired a company to seal the house up. The service came with a lifetime guarantee.

Well the rats kept getting back in. The company that sealed the house was perplexed.

Right before Christmas I was noticing her rooting around in the ivy around the house night after night for hours at a time. The area is thick with trees and there is a concrete path between the ivy and another planting area next to the house.

After a couple of days I decided to see what was keeping her so busy. I was surprised to find two big dead rats in the ivy next to a tunnel. Dixie had her head and shoulders in the tunnel with her little butt and legs pressed flat to the earth.

The next day I called the rodent exclusion company and they pumped smoke into the tunnel . Dixie had uncovered an abandoned gopher tunnel that led under the house and exited under the lip of the rim foundation. The opening was the size of a silver dollar and the rats were using it as a highway.. The company serviceman said they would have probably never found it. They pumped the tunnel full of grout and we haven't had another rat since (knock on wood).

Awww come on now, thats not fair! Now you got me realllllyyyy wanting one. Ive never really been much of a hunter but boy do i hate the vermin in my yard! The squirells harass the birds at my feeders. The chipmunks eat my garden to pieces. The moles dig tunnels and rip up the whole yard. The mice get into the shed and chew a hole through my bag of birdseed... Well you get the idea lol.

[Skiploder]

I have a new dachshund puppy (only 3 month old!) and we have been teaching him to "tunnel" under blankets to get inside a box at the other end for a treat. I would love to get him into something more "real".....CAan you point me to any web sites? Is Earth dog what I need to search for? Thanks!!

You can check out Terrierman's Website for some links. Plus his blog is funnier than heck.

The AKC has earth dog trials. Since patterdales and some of the other top working terriers aren't in the AKC, we are part of AWTA:

http://www.awta.org/