Hey, it's me, Baxter your roving rover reporter reporting to you today from a field on a farm. That's right, a farm. You see, today I am going to try this thing called earthdogging. I don't really know much about it, so how bout we learn together?
Now, I'm standing here in front of a sign that says IQ and if you're thinkin what I'm thinkin, fuhgeddaboudit. This ain't no smart test. IQ means Introduction to Quarry. Not like where you dig for rocks, but like, stuff you hunt, like bunnies. Or more precisely, rodents. Rats. In a cage. And this introduction ain't no meet n greet with everybody wearin nametags, if ya know what I mean.
So these rats I'm talking about are in a cage at the end of a wooden tunnel that is buried on three sides, with the top being mostly covered in hay and plywood. In Intro to Quarry, the goal is for a dog like me catch the scent of the rats, go into the 10 ft long right angled tunnel to reach the cage, and stay interested in the rat cage for like 30 seconds, all in under two minutes. Moms can talk but they can't touch, and really, they should stay behind the stick line though at this stage in the game, if encouragement is necessary, the judges allow it, cuz u know, at this stage it's all about the learnin.
I'm seventh in line so I have some waiting to do. Lucky for me there are some doxies to mingle with - these wirehaired minis came from 6 hours away just to be here, can u believe it? But there are also other sorts of dogs here, mostly terriers like westies and cairns, but there this one dog that looks like a lamb. Everyone wants to call him a bedlington but me, I just wanna bark at him, which is why there's no picture of him.
Well that was fast! It's my turn now and I've just been informed that I must do this in the buff. So, uh, ladies and gents if you would just ignore anything you don't usually see, let's go inside the pen, shall we? Ahh yes, there's the hole, but there are soooo many interesting things to smell around here in this small fenced in area, who cares about that hole?
Whoops well I guess my mom does so, let's check it out, shall we?
Well, it's dark in here..no bunnies...and i dunno what rats smell like so i can't say for sure if they're in here...yuck i think i just ran into a spider web...ya know this tunnel would be a lot more interesting if there were rawhide in it. good thing i know how to shimmy backwards cuz there's not much here to see, nosirree. i dunno why anyone would really wanna go in here, sheesh...
Ahh fresh air. I guess we're done here then, right? What's that, Miss Judge Lady? Do I wanna sniff the rats anyway? Yeah sure I guess...
Ooooh, is THAT what was at the end of the tunnel? My spidey senses are tingling all over! Maybe next time I WILL go thru that tunnel all the way to the end! I totally gotta go to the next practice event.
This is Baxter your naked ribbonless roving rover reporter wishing you a happy earth and earthdog day.
13 comments:
Yay Baxter, thanks for teaching me about earthdogging. Dexter will probably end up a little too spoiled to do something like this lol.
Baxter, you are one busy boy. Thanks for the awesome photos and story of your first earthdogging experience, looks like fun. Go get 'em next time.
I've always wondered how Lulu would do at that. She was a fierce possum hunter but last week there was a bunny not 6 feet from her and she didn't even notice.
Hey Baxter, I Pawsonally think you did a grrreat job on your furst time out. This was a grrreat thingy. Wish I could have been there.
Hi, Baxter!
Well... you did not get to the end of the tunnel but sure it was pawesome you went inside it! Very brave!
Now, you know you rats smell like so, next time you will do it better!
Glad you had a nice time there!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza
Baxter, that looked like so much fun. All the smelling and sniffing and more smelling. We have never seen a rat either. Why didn't they just put a giant bowl of treats in there if they wanted you to find something? People are so silly. Oh well at least you looked good while you were doing your thing. Good job!
Flash, Alven and Dottie
Yay! Wire minis! they look just like MURPHY! woof woof!
awww Baxter looks so much like our Daisy (the color I mean) & very much curious like she is....
wooty hoo hoo! another crafty doxie girl! I just visited your blog and it's wonderful. Posting to the sidebar so I can keep on a followin! :)
Great Job Baxter! I'm taking my boy to his first earthdog event on May 9. I started practicing with him by making him some cardboard tunnels - which he will go all the way into so I hope that means he'll do fine!
I was thinking of signing him up for Junior as well as IQ - but I can't decide. I have no idea if he will even do well with IQ, but we're driving 2 hours, and I'd like to have the chance to try it more than once. I guess no harm if he flunks out of Junior??
Any suggestions since you are now an expert Baxter?
hi trickponies! I actually optimistically pre-signed up for JE, wanting to save a buck or two for signing up before the event. our folks were pretty easy - i thought we weren't gonna be allowed to do JE since we failed IQ, but another judge (not judging JE) encouraged us to go ahead and do it anyway cuz we paid for it. which made sense. I highly encourage you to go to the practice trials if they offer it, cuz in JE (Baxter's second attempt ever), Baxter actually went in the hole and stuck in there for a bit - I would guess had I not stepped on part of the roof on my way over to the other end, Baxter would have kept going. All this means is, if you get the prelim intro out of the way, then IQ can really be just the test and you'll have a much better chance of passing. Net, sure why not do JE? But definitely also goto the practice trials!!!
hey stacey - by the way, those wirehairs? the girl is at Master level doing the earthdogging thing and they both do field trial stuff! Talk about coolio!
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