Debby Pritchard's future earthdogs.
ANTA/Past Events/Earthdog Boot Camp
Posted 08/20/01
On May 11th, a spirited group of Norfolk owners gathered at Finale Farm, home of Carolyn and Wally Bishop, in Martinsburg, WV. Purpose of the day was to introduce dogs and handlers to this strange activity that entails convincing captive rats that they should be worried by the sometimes-raucous behavior of a bunch of little terriers and dachshunds.
Actually, the challenge of earthdog work is to test the instincts of short legged terriers and the aforementioned dachshunds when they are exposed to quarry. From IQ (Introduction to Quarry) on up through Junior, Senior and Master, the courses get longer and the qualification requirements more stringent. From the short (10') tunnel with one turn in IQ on up to the 30' tunnels with multiple turns, false exits, and barriers at the higher levels, the dogs work underground and in the dark. For this reason, many dogs that are hunting demons above ground need to be encouraged to go underground, alone, in order to seek out the safely-caged quarry.
This is why ANTA sponsored the boot camp. Dogs were first introduced to caged rats and were then allowed to negotiate tunnels above ground. Finally, they were introduced to a real tunnel that had been buried in one of the Bishop's pastures.
Throughout the day, Rat-Meister Richard Reynolds encouraged, cajoled and coached handlers and their dogs. From his introductory lecture in the morning on through the day, Richard kept things moving. Guests on the day included Jo Ann Frier-Murza, author of "Earthdog Ins & Outs" and earthdog judge Camilla Moon. Thanks to Carolyn and Wally, a sumptuous lunch was served and attendees were invited to go home with a (toy) rat of their very own.
Several attendees attended the earthdog trials in nearby Hedgesville, WV on the following weekend.
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