Interesting thoughts on terriers..

[J Darcy 5,871]

i was having a chat with a freind the other day on the phone and we got onto the subject of terriers. This lad does more than his fair share and has had some very good dogs, and bitches. so we were chatting and the subject of big earths came up in reference to how a dog should work them. As we all know, the large earths sometimes hold more than one occupant and therefore my friend sometimes puts the terreir back in again to get two bites of the cherry, so to speak. Do others do the same, or would they call it a draw after the first dig on a particular earth? My friends theory being that, a terrier will work great on the first dig, in a fresh earth, but it takes a very good one to get the second dig in that earth, the fox having skulked away into a tight tube, or blocked itself in a little, and what with the fresh scent being all over the place too.... so , would you drop back in again?

[Hybred 3]

out at cubbing time one year it was a bit early and the weather was'nt that great when we put down a one of the bitches she started to work straight awayafter 15-20 mim a dog fox was bolted into the net then dispatched , then the bitch came out looked at me and turned back down the hole to bottle up a vixen till we dug to here , i think the dog knows whats there im always happy to let them go down again if they want no point in missing another one

 

Hybred

[Hybred 3]

i should have added the holes that im on about was only a 4 holer but she has done the same thing in the past

 

Hybred

[Guest trev]

Its an intresting topic this and one i had to do on saturday gone, not from the want of doing it, but the dog offered us no other choice.

The dog was entered and almost imediatly got on, he was left to settle but he never moved so we got down to buisness, now this earth would be at least 50 years old and the tubes are big, some big enough that a lurcher would be able to crawl up them.

Our intentions were to open up about a foot behind the dog in order to lift him and let some younguns have there turn, however when we opened up it was into a huge chamber and as soon as the light was in your man decided to bolt, he was quickly held up the lurcher.

Now at this stage the dog had moved on further up the bank about 10 feet, again the digging was started but he moved again, this dog was fresh from lying up most of the summer and he was trying to hold his game in tubes big enough for a lurcher to get down, after a couple of times of this happening he eventually pushed his game into a stop end were we dug to him fairly messed up at 4 foot.

 

Now had this been a young dog that had been dropped in the second time he would have had his work cut out for him and taken alot of unnescary stick, but it was an experienced dog that knew the game and only for that i dont think we would have got to dig the second time.

Whilst we were working on the first whole one of the lads asked the man whos dogs we were using when we open up would he be running his dog back through the earth and the terrierman said no, he asked could he run his young dog through and i asked him was he mad?? one reason being even if there was nothing there the young dog would be at a fresh scent and would most likely stay to ground and secondly if there was something at home it would be awake by this stage and would surely give the young dog a good pasting.

Its not something id tend to do, i wont say i havent done as i would be lieing but its not something ive done very often.

 

Be intresting to hear others comment.

[socks 32,253]

i would expect any terrier on my yard to stay to ground and work all the game in the earth .... i wouldnt expect to dig to the dog and him come away knowing there is something else at home .... now whether i would re enter the dog depends on the time of the first dig and the punishment the dog has taken .... if the dog had been to ground for 2 hours + and had taken some stick then after the first dig he would be lifted and a fresh experienced dog would be entered ... if the dig was a quick half hour then he would be allowed to work on ..........

[Sadie 55]

I have had 3 foxes from one big earth with 3 diffrent terriers. Tried a hard black bitch, dug to her. Tried another black bitch, dug to her and finally tried my black dog and he was dug to a dead fox in a really tight tight place. The fox had pushed it's self in to a tight block end with the noise of us digging the others out and had suffocated. All 3 dogs did what was expected of them, 3 foxes accounted for, happy farmer and happy terrier owners.

From my point of view the more time a terrier has to ground the better it will become through experiance. Obviously you don't want to put a pup in a big place where it is chasing a fox all day as it knocks it's confidence if you don't get a result. Also I imagine some young dogs would not work the earths as thoroughly if they had been dug to once and re-entered if whatever they had worked once was dead on top just waiting to be ragged! Just an opinion!

[Guest Dillon]

I agree with Trev with regards to not letting a hyped up youngster into a lions den, however I personally would prefer to carry on till the earth was empty, the decision to do this would obviously be made upon what dogs we had out and how much stick the dogs had taken etc. I used to be much harder on my dogs in years past and would have expected the same dog to carry out what was asked of him under any circumstances, we still got results and the dogs were tested to the full.

 

I suppose it also depends what you are digging and what your aiming for as an end result.

 

A big old sprawling earth can afford to be dug a few times if backfilled correctly,but you can soon spoil a small earth by digging multiple holes so again it really depends what sort of earth it was.

 

Cheers

Dillon

[jessdale 416]

during hound exercise this morning we entered a bitch that "was on" straight away.We dug down 3-4 feet to find two backed in to a stop end.The bitch was reentered and found another at the opposite side of the earth.

[Stabs 2]

A lot depends on how your dog deals with them. I've never owned what I would call a good terrier, although I'veseen many I've been envious of.

[Guest DeeD]

Of course i'd drop the terrier back in.

 

This happened to me a few times. 5 weeks ago was the last time it happened, we dug down about 5 foot and pulled the terrier out because we thought we had the tunnel running upto the dead end blocked off, so we thought it can't go no where now, so we'll slip the Lurcher inn to pull it out, but there was a tunnel running off to the left that we didn't see and the game ran up it.

 

Then we put the terrier up it, this is a big set with with chambers so we let the dog settle for 20/30 mins, then we got a bleep on him that was reading 6/7 foot so we dug down about 6 foot.

 

You can't call a terrier a good terrier if it's digging ''handy'' sets all the time. If your going to breed off the dog/bitch you'd need to see what he/shes made off.

[Guest DeeD]

I may be 19, but i have not ''just started''.

[Guest DeeD]

I emailed you looking for terriers not abouting getting into terriers.

[Guest DeeD]

Yes.

[Guest Fell & Moorland WTC SW area]

I have had Terriers come to a hole after a Bolt and go straight back for another, I have also had them kill to ground and been hyped too much to be tried again, where a fresh dog was needed. This can be difficult if the replacement has seen whats gone on, or the Fox and Dog have left lots of scent. This decision comes down to whether your Terrier is experienced enough, as a youngster could get it all wrong!

Further Foxes (if any) have been 'given best' if the dig was deep and darkness was drawing in, or I have only been out with one entered Dog. There is of course the situation where I just couldn't give a f**k if there were another in, I just aint digging no more in this Weather. As with all Terrier-work though, every situation is different and some decisions you can live to regret.

[Guest trev]

I have had Terriers come to a hole after a Bolt and go straight back for another, I have also had them kill to ground and been hyped too much to be tried again, where a fresh dog was  needed. This can be difficult if the replacement has seen whats gone on, or the Fox and Dog have left lots of scent. This decision comes down to whether your Terrier is experienced enough, as a youngster could get it all wrong! 

Further Foxes (if any) have been 'given best' if the dig was deep and darkness was drawing in, or I have only been out with one entered Dog. There is of course the situation where I just couldn't give a f**k if there were another in, I just aint digging no more in this Weather. As with all Terrier-work though, every situation is different and some decisions you can live to regret.

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Good post.