Earthdog Tests Measure Instinct
Gauge your Dog's Breed-Appropriate Hunting and Working Abilities.
AKC Earthdog tests provide a fun and casual activity for Dachshund and small terrier owners and their dogs to experience the work they were bred for and earn titles, too!
Do you want to know if your dog possesses his ancestors’ ability to pursue vermin underground in a non-competitive environment? If yours is one of the eligible breeds, then Earthdog activities may be for you.
AKC offers four levels of Earthdog Tests: Introduction to Quarry (a basic non-titling exposure to earthwork), Junior Earthdog, Senior Earthdog, and Master Earthdog. The first two are instinct tests, the last two designed to replicate actual hunting situations.
A qualifying run in each class is called a “leg.” The number of legs required to title increases with each level: Junior Earthdog (JE) takes two, Senior Earthdog (SE), three, and Master Earthdog (ME), four.
All tests require a den with tunnels and turns and add difficulty at each level. A cage of rats waits at the end of every tunnel. A “delightful” concoction distilled from urine-soaked rat cage shavings scents each path through.
The Introduction to Quarry den is ten feet long with one turn. The handler releases the dog with one short command such as “Get-the-rats.” Within two minutes of release, the dog must work the quarry for thirty continuous seconds. “Working” in all classes may take the form of barking, whining, biting, lunging, or digging.
Junior Earthdog tunnels are thirty feet long with three turns. Ten feet from the entrance, the handler looses the dog with a command and waits silently until the judge directs otherwise. To qualify, the dog must reach the quarry within thirty seconds and work for sixty.
Senior Earthdog: This class comes closer to duplicating an actual hunting experience. than the previous one.
The labyrinthine main tunnel is thirty feet long with three turns, a false (unscented) exit, and a false den lined with a natural bedding material, such as straw. The den’s entrance drops a steep forty-five degrees. From twenty feet away, the handler issues one command, releases the dog, and waits.
Within ninety seconds, the dog must reach the rats and work for an additional ninety. Subsequently, the handler approaches the den’s entrance and recalls the dog. The dog may emerge from the main entrance or the false, but the handler must recover the dog within ninety seconds of being called.
Master Earthdog simulates the natural hunting situation. Natural dens vary in internal dimensions, and dogs hunt in pairs, called braces. After scenting quarry in the den, each dog works while the hunter digs down to it. Also, the dog must wait above ground (called “honoring”), while his brace-mate works.
A twenty-foot scent line leads to the “real” blocked entrance. The false den entrance appears en route to the test-den area.
Inside the tunnel-- which is Senior-styled with some tweaks-- are a constriction that narrows the tunnel opening to six inches and an obstacle (sometimes called “the root.”), usually a six-inch-diameter PVC pipe, placed crossway within and mounted on a one-inch dowel.
At least 100 yards from the den entrance, handlers, dogs, and judge proceed den-ward. Handlers may direct their dogs by voice or whistle. Dogs may investigate, but barking or working in the false den is verboten. The judge stops at the beginning of the scent line. Dogs must “indicate”-- with a good long sniff-- the main entrance while exploring the den area.
Then the judge removes the obstacle and the handler releases the first dog at the entrance. Within the allotted ninety seconds to reach the quarry and within a short grace period, he/she must work ninety seconds. After a minute, the judge simulates digging sounds with a tool: the dog must continue working despite this distraction for the remaining half-minute before the handler removes him from the take-out.
Concurrently, the second dog is staked and leashed ten feet from the entrance. This “honoring” dog may show interest but may not bark excessively. Then the two dogs switch "jobs."
Earthdog tests are possibly the most laid-back of all AKC events. Since most business transpires underground, they’re hardly a spectator’s sport, but it's great place to meet people and dogs in a friendly outdoors setting! Moreover, no rats are harmed. If anything, they’re bored.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
