Garmin's outings: Development of a young hunting dachshund

I know, I know, just when you expected a report from another blood tracking adventure we have something different here, this time from Teddy Moritz. It is an article about how she goes about developing a young hunting dachshund Garmin and how she adjusts her training methods according to the young dog's temperament. Well worth reading as it has broad applications.

On the other note, a big THANK YOU for all the submissions for the blog. We really appreciate them. This is a very busy time of the year, and our hands are full. We will be posting as quickly as we can, but sometimes there will be a delay, and sometimes there will be 2-3 articles/reports posted on the same day. Above all we want the blog to be educational and interesting, so we always welcome reports that allow all of us to learn something new. Also because of the time constraints, the less editing I have to do, the faster the post will appear on the blog. If I have to pull info from various sources, like Facebook and several e-mails, that usually takes more time.

Garmin's Outings by Teddy Moritz

Garmin is a two year old miniature longhaired dachshund, about eight pounds with a 13 inch chest. She runs rabbits for me in the winter, and trees squirrels as well. She's a pretty good hole dog but lacks a certain amount of confidence, which I believe is an inherited trait. I know her sire and dam, and both are dogs who are happier when told what to do rather than think independently. Those traits are not a bad thing, all around, making the dogs very voice-controlled and obedient but also less likely to be the ones out and about finding game. Despite raising Garmin from about 9 weeks, she shows her sire's "please give me instructions" attitude. Not always, but enough that I have started taking her out alone, even leaving the lurcher home. If he's along she'll look to him for game. She does hunt out and knows where to find game but isn't quite the A-team.

In hunting her by herself I have seen an improvement in her earthwork. She's fine on rabbits, she just needed some confidence doing earthwork on harder quarry. Last spring she did confront and bolt a vixen in a natal den, taking a bite and coming out looking surprised. She went back in and moved the fox till it bolted. Garmin is by no means a hard dog but she'll stay with her quarry if it is in front of her. However, when I used her to dig groundhogs she would give up if the chuck back-filled  a lot before I could dig to her. With this hot dry summer the ground was very hard and I sometimes just couldn't get there.

Recently Garmin and her kennel mate Bane got into a quarry under a pile of very long, thick telephone poles. Bane moved it more than Garmin even though there seemed to be several tunnel openings. I heard Bane growl Garmin off a few times, which did nothing for her confidence. Finally Bane cornered the quarry under a buried telephone pole, which was weighted down by several more poles. I wasn't able to dig to the quarry nor was I able to bar the poles off the area. The quarry was apparently in the back of a slightly wider portion of the den so the two dogs could work side by side. From the growling I knew we had a possum. It had been awhile since the dogs had seen any earth quarry so I let them work  it. It was good to hear the dogs in a confrontation. The lurcher was with us and he lay nearby waiting for some action.

After awhile I cleared the dusty, sandy soil away from the entrance and could see Bane working the possum. I could hear Garmin but didn't know quite where she was in the den. That precluded any thoughts of shooting Ol Smiley, which I really didn't want to do. It wasn't doing any harm to crops where it was and I don't like killing something I can't use for meat for the dogs. I cut through some roots and then ran my trowel next to Bane. When I touched the possum both dogs grabbed hold and began pulling. I think Garmin was pulling against Bane so not much happened except the possum kept growling. Eventually I could see the possum's foot and helped Bane pull it. By then it had 'sulled' and there was no fight or growling. When I slowly pulled the possum out Garmin was attached to it as well. I think this work was good for her as I let her work and Bane didn't keep her away. Sometimes if Garmin doesn't stick with her quarry I'll pull her out and let Bane work it. That surely isn't good for her confidence but I am always anxious to get to the quarry.

Next time out Garmin bayed a groundhog I saw run in. This den is a difficult one because it is under a heavily trafficked farm road, basically compacted clay. The road drops off about ten feet to a railroad track. The ground under the clay is very light sand and there is one den opening at the bottom of the slope. The groundhog also had an entrance at the edge of the road. It was a tight opening because someone had shoved a big limb into the hole. Garmin squeezed her way past the wooden obstacle and began barking. I let her work because I've lost chucks in this den before. Her barking moved to the middle of the road but at two feet. I thought I ought to be able to dig that much. I started to dig and bar met very, very hard clay. Meanwhile my noise moved the groundhog a few feet further along, and Garmin's bark and the locator collar indicated her whereabouts under ground. Then she shifted to the bottom den opening and I alerted the lurcher, who was resting in the shade of the car, the day being very sunny and hot. He went down to the hole, sniffed and came back up. I heard Garmin bark near the hole but then her barking receded back up the slope. No bolt today.

I found her again and pounded and dug and pounded and dug, feeling as if I was making no progress at all. Very frustrating. Garmin came out once or twice, coated in yellow sand. She would sniff the hole down the slope then re-enter the top hole. I got the feeling the groundhog was walling her off or going deep, burying itself in the sand. After awhile I took a break to get some water and Garmin came out again. I let her wander around and gave her water also. The she went down the slope. I waited awhile and didn't hear her bark so I got out the locator. I couldn't get a signal so  presumed the groundhog had indeed gone quite deep, off the box. I turned the box to search mode and still couldn't find the dog. I looked along the rest of the slope thinking perhaps the chuck had bolted and she was in a different hole. I walked along the edge of the roadway and used the locator but got no signal. Had the battery gone dead in the collar?

Suddenly I heard a yip from across the railroad tracks, in a thick bit of brush, trees and briars. I saw Garmin come out, her tail wagging and her nose down. She trailed back into the briars, gave some more yips. I knew then she'd given up on the woodchuck and was running a rabbit. At first I was disappointed but since the digging was so difficult and I was making no progress, I had to laugh. Garmin knew we weren't going to get the varmint and since she likes to run rabbits she left me to my worthless efforts and went and found herself some quarry that ran and left a nice track. I let her run for awhile as hawking season is approaching and she needs practice on cottontails.

On another day I took Garmin to a big woodlot bordered by peach orchards on one side and a river on the other. Squirrel season is open and I know Garmin will tree the bushytails. The leaves are still thick on the trees so seeing a treed squirrel isn't easy. Basically I just wanted to again work Garmin alone. She did a good job of hunting out through the trees and swamp and barked tree once but the tree was full of holes so no squirrel was on the outside. We even bumped a deer but Garmin is so soft I yelled at her and told her no and she came off the deer right  then. Running deer will just get a dog killed as the deer often go right to a road.

As we came out of the woods there appeared a three hole den right at the edge of the woods. Hello! Garmin indicated one hole and barked into it. Good enough. I called her off and walked her to the car. I drove back to the den and let her go in. She soon was barking and digging. I located her and the den seemed to curve right back to one of the openings. I quickly shoveled it full of sand since I only had the shotgun and not the lurcher. If the chuck had bolted it would have been gone to another den. I dug to Garmin after I cut away greenbriar and shrubs. There were lots of roots to cut away as I dug into the soft sand. Garmin kept going each time I opened to her and each time I cleaned away the roots. The last time she moved up I heard a lot of growling from the quarry. I thought I was digging to another possum. However, Garmin kept moving sand back, as if something was backfilling. After one time I opened to her there was a wall of sand and roots ahead of her. She came out and wandered off, as if she felt she had lost the quarry. I let her go and waited. When she came back I encouraged her to re-enter and she did. I had cleared the den while she was off thinking and she smelled her quarry and began digging and barking again. It was as if she decided she could do this with my help.

The den went a big deeper, running under one of the exits so I had more digging to do just to get to the the den. I barred and found it, then opened to it, cutting roots and using the post hole digger to clear the sand. I guess I got to the quarry because Garmin forced her way up the tunnel and really began barking. The growling continued. I decided to shoot the quarry rather than dig another hole. I put the .22 to use and the growling stopped. Garmin slid up the tunnel, barked a few times then began tugging. She pulled and yanked and bounced up and down in her efforts. I let her work, feeling she had earned this reward by staying with the quarry after all. I then saw the back toes of the critter and I took hold too. It was a big groundhog and it wasn't quite dead so Garmin and I pulled it slowly out and I administered some more lead. Then I let Garmin pull it all the way out. It was a very fat, heavily furred groundhog. I let Garmin chew on it a bit and of course took a hero shot with the camera. I was pleased that she stayed with the quarry after one mental setback. I think she will continued to stay at back-filled walls know that she better knows I will help her and that she can succeed.

Patience on the track

June 1, 2012
Update with pics:
Teddy wrote - The only photo I have of Lisa is attached. I've also sent a body shot of Lisa's dam, Tar. Lisa has the same body shape but with more hair. I'll try to get a better photo of Lisa when I get back from the western Pa. field trials.

Bane weighs eight pounds, Lisa weighs seven.

 

Bane

Lisa



Tar

*******

Teddy Moritz shared this story with us a week ago or so. Thank you Teddy!

Thought I'd write up this tracking event the dogs had today. I was patient and let the two dogs work at their own pace. I could have pushed them, called them in or gone on but I was curious as to what they were tracking:

I ran three miniature longhaired dachshunds at a beagle club grounds today. The weather was sunny, warm and windy. The grounds has many small sections of very thick cover, interspersed with mowed paths. I had Fitz, who is eight, with me, as well as Bane, who is 4 and Lisa, who is 14 months. Fitz and Bane are experienced hunters and well know how to track a rabbit. Lisa is all eagerness and tends to run over the scent line, but she has a good nose and will correct herself, even if it takes a few minutes. Today I saw a great deal of persistence as well as patience on her part.

Lisa found a fresh scent going into a very thick bit of briars, tall grass, vines, etc. She was very intent about the smell and jumped right in. Bane soon followed. Fitz took a sniff and stayed with me, which I found quite odd as she is by far the best rabbit tracker of the three. Fitz actually sat in the shade with me rather than joining the other two. I wondered if she didn't feel well. Lisa opened once or twice, Bane never did, then all was quiet. I waited as I usually do, letting the dogs work out the line. Lisa yipped once but then was quiet. I waited and waited, as did Fitz. The two dogs didn't come back and there was no barking, which I found odd. I walked around the square and saw the two of them working very diligently and very slowly, over a piece of ground that is mowed blackberry canes. The dogs seemed to have trouble with the line but Lisa kept moving ahead. Bane would join her, go back and check himself, then come up again. Lisa worked her way into another briar patch where there were locust trees. She came out about twenty feet further and seemed to hit a hot line. Her body language became animated and she seemed to have a good scent. Oddly, her tail wasn't wagging like most scent hounds' tails do when they are hot on a rabbit scent. Bane confirmed her line. Fitz joined for a few feet, then came back to me. I was beginning to worry the little dog was ill.

Lisa took the line across another path and into a brush pile in the woods. She worked ever so slowly, which, again, isn't like her. Bane and even Fitz checked the brush pile and the surrounding area but it was Lisa who took it back across a path and into a small copse of trees. I couldn't understand why it was taking them so long to get up on a rabbit. I thought perhaps it as a young rabbit with little smell, but we'd come several hundred yards, in a circle, and that seemed too great a distance for an immature rabbit. We were going in a circle, so I still presumed the dogs were working out a rabbit track. The brush is thick and high and rank so I wondered if the vegetation was hiding the smell. Most of the time I couldn't see Lisa or Bane because the cover is so high. I heard Lisa yip again and thought she'd found her rabbit. She came out of the trees and headed into another thickly vegetated square. She and Bane ever so slowly worked the line from there through a stand of milkweed and other weeds. They seemed to weave around a good bit, not quite being able to move the line. In my mind they acted as if they were working a feeding track, such as coon hounds do at night when a coon wanders all over the woods looking for food. And not only were they sniffing the ground, they occasionally scented up a plant stem as if their quarry's scent was higher up. Odd.

I've never seen the dogs work this thoroughly and diligently. It was as if the scent was spotty and not in a direct line like a fleeing rabbit would make. Again I waited and watched rather than calling the dogs to a different spot. They seemed intent but not hasty. Their nose work was great to watch. Bane threads his way here and there, making sure he has the line before he moves up. He often checks himself. Lisa, in her youthful enthusiasm, bustles around and jumps in the air now and then hoping to see her quarry. She works and re-works the line, but with more haste than Bane. By now about fifteen to twenty minutes had passed and I was really curious as to what they were tracking. Fitz still stayed with me, appearing uninterested. How could that be?

The two younger dogs soon worked their way to one more patch of weeds, this one with a multi-trunk cherry tree in the middle of it. Fitz and I stayed on a mowed path and watched and listened. I began thinking the dogs would never bump this rabbit, or whatever it was, despite their hard work. As I stood there, enjoying the scenery on a beautiful day, I happened to look up into the cherry tree. And there sat a groundhog, about twenty feet off the ground, settled in a crotch of branches. Pretty soon Bane and Lisa arrived at the tree. I could see them tracking around the base of the tree, where there was less cover. Lisa stood on her back legs and put her front feet on the tree. Bane did the same. So that was what they had been tracking! I would bet it was a feeding trail after all. The groundhog was probably foraging around the different small patches of brush, trees, etc. and was unaware of the dogs on his track. They hadn't opened and the brush is high so the rodent couldn't hear or see them coming. But when he did feel threatened somehow, he took the quickest route to safety, up a tree. Groundhogs easily climb trees and will use them to escape ground predators if no hole is available.

Fitz has worked groundhogs over the years but they are too large and aggressive for her. She only weighs six pounds and her head is too small to do any damage to a groundhog, but a groundhog can hurt her plenty if she closes with it. I don't encourage her to work them, and call her off if she finds one in a hole. Apparently today she agreed and let her kennel mates do the work. However, when I shot the groundhog out of the tree, Fitz was right there with Lisa and Bane, tugging at it.

I really enjoyed being able to watch those two hounds work out the complicated line of the feeding groundhog. They stuck with it, figured it out, and got their game.

Source of the picture: http://apps.carleton.edu/reason_package/reason_4.0/www/images/627713.jpg

Garmin's first chucks



A big thank you to Teddy Moritz for sharing the story

Garmin was a young dog during her first hawking season. She did well on rabbits and learned to find them in thick brush and to run them. She was bred by Bob and Connie LaRosa of Long Island, NY, out of my stud dog Navarre by their Sandy, who is a sister to Pete and Bonnie Mercier's Trooper and Odie. I didn't get Garmin into hard quarry that first summer because she was so young. She showed a lot of interest in holes but I kept her on rabbits. She finished her AKC Field Champion title in four trials last fall. She came into heat in November so I bred her and she whelped four nice pups in January. Now that the pups are weaned I have started taking Garmin out for harder quarry, mainly groundhogs. She is a small, stocky dog, built for hole work with a nice small chest.

On her first day out I took the lurcher and just Garmin as a hole dog. I wanted her to learn by herself and to depend only on her own ideas about hard quarry. The lurcher marked a hole at the edge of a farm field. Garmin checked the hole and showed interest. She had to dig her way in because the hole was full of leaves and twigs. After she disappeared it took a few moments for her to find the groundhog, then she began baying. She came out once to see if I was still topside. Then she went to work in earnest it seemed. I could hear her baying but she sounded deep. I located her via her transmitter collar at six to eight feet. She had to have her quarry in a hibernating den. I let her work for several minutes and listened to her steady barking. Meanwhile, the lurcher heard something down the slope, in the briars, by the base of a big tree. I thought a squirrel might have moved. Garmin had gone quiet so I walked to the base of the tree. I saw a groundhog looking out of a hole at the base of the tree. I backed off and the lurcher found his way through the briars and nabbed the groundhog as it ran into the woods. I waited and then called Garmin. She eventually came out the original hole, covered with sand. I think the groundhog had gone very deep, then come up a tunnel to his escape hole in the tree. Nice work by Garmin.

 

Next hole was in a big mound of dirt and looked like it could be a fox den. Garmin took a long time deciding to go into the hole. I waited for her to make up her own mind, not encouraging her. She has to learn to think for herself. She finally went in. After a few moments she gave a sharp bark, then a yip and she came shooting out a far hole. That made me pretty sure it was a vixen in the den, probably with cubs. Garmin circled the den. Again I didn't say anything to her. I wanted her to decide about hard quarry on her own. She hadn't taken a bite but I believe the fox took her by surprise. Garmin walked around a little, then went back into the hole she'd first gone in. This time she began baying very strongly and moved deeper into the den. Suddenly the fox shot out a hole in the far side of the mound, running through the thick greenbriar. The lurcher gave chase but he couldn't maneuver through the heavy thorns and the fox disappeared. Garmin came out all in a huff and tracked the fox. I called her back after awhile and we left the fox. This gave Garmin the confidence to face harder quarry, given the choice.

 

On the way out of the farm I saw a big groundhog run into the woods. The lurcher, who had been trotting ahead of the car, marked the den, a two-holer under a fallen tree. I had dug this den with Bane last year. The shallow holes I had dug for him were still in evidence, though filled with leaves. Garmin again had to dig to get into the den. I thought she'd head toward the far hole, which was freshly dug. This groundhog chose to go to the old den. I cleaned out two holes with he post hole diggers and could hear Garmin moving through the tunnel, barking. The lurcher showed interest in the furthest hole so I used the digging bar and dropped it between Garmin and the chuck. When I pulled the bar out the chuck tried to go toward Garmin but her barking became louder and faster and she kept him in the tunnel. Eventually he backed up to the far hole and the big dog pulled him out.

 

Thus Garmin met three adversaries in one morning's hunt and faced them all without taking a bite. So far so good for a young dog, although once she gets bitten then I'll know what she's made of.

First groundhog

Teddy Moritz writes about her first woodchuck of the season taken with her longhaired minis. Thank you Teddy for sharing and congratulations on a precocious puppy!

Garmin (Navarre x Sandy) just turned ten months. I took her out with an experienced dachshund today and after they ran a rabbit Garmin found and bayed a groundhog. It dug away from her in buried rocks and very loose soil. I dug a few holes but couldn't find the varmint. Garmin eventually came out and checked the other holes but there wasn't any scent. Then she went about six feet away and marked a hole under the thick roots of a shrub. I opened the hole for her, she dropped in and began barking. I found the tunnel about three feet ahead of her and opened it and put Bane in. He grabbed the groundhog by the tail and it scooted back toward Garmin and buried itself. I let Bane dig and Garmin work for a bit. Then Bane dug enough to get to the groundhog and it charged Garmin, who yelped and backed up. I don't think she knew they bite. I took her out and Bane pushed the groundhog to the lurcher. Nice work by a ten month old pup. Even though the photo was taken with an open field behind me, I was actually working on hands and knees in a very thick hedgerow.

And few days ago we received from Teddy a picture showing her dogs exploring the lake shore.

Here are Cruiser and Garmin exploring the lake shore on a pretty May morning. Lurcher in the background is listening to a deer snorting at him. Took the pups and went the other way so they didn't chase the deer.

Old Dog

Another great post from Teddy Moritz. Thank you Teddy! Gavia is an extraordinary dog.

Took Gavia out with her daughter Fitz today. Gavia is a month away from 15 years old and Fitz is almost 7. When I got to the farm and let them out they found a groundhog under some stainless steel tanks and ran it into a den. I put Gavia away and Fitz got into the den before I could get her transmitter collar on, not a good situation since she is small and can go pretty far into any den. I lost track of her when I dug a hole ahead of her, in the wrong direction as it turned out. I could hear her bark a few times and I could hear digging but I had no idea where she was. The ground was very muddy with roots and loose rock in it. Not good.

I got old Gavia out of the car and asked her opinion. She's hunted for me for her whole life and knows more than I ever will about locating game. She went to the original hole, sniffed a bit, then went to the deeper hole I'd dug. She listened but she's mostly deaf so she stuck her nose into the soil and sniffed a few times. Then she began to dig at the wall of the hole, but up higher than I thought the den would be. I went to the original hole and opened back to the blockage. I poked my trowel in and there was Fitz's nose. She had turned around and was trying to dig her way out. I put her transmitter collar on her and let her go back in. She began digging again and it turned out the groundhog had tunneled up, not down and was in a side room, just beyond the wall where Gavia was digging. I opened the hole and shot the varmint. Good dog work and a happy farmer.

Gavia and Fitz

It is hard to keep up with Teddy Moritz and her hounds

It is impossible to keep up with Tedddy's adventures. One day it's woodchuck control: "I do woodchuck removal at a fairgrounds. The varmints harbor under sheds and in old barns. They eat in the extensive flower gardens and among the decorative shrubs. Bane, Navarre, the lurcher and I, plus the .22 rifle, got into five today and had success."

And next day she encounters a bear. For those who don't know Teddy - she lives in New Jersey, the state that is overrun by black bears.

Teddy's life is well lived and always full of adventures!

Digging woodchucks with dachshunds

Today we are in for a treat -  a very informative article written by Teddy Moritz. There are a lot of misconceptions in this country about what kind of dachshunds are suitable for den work. After all the dachshund was created as a versatile earthdog, and it is used fox hunting extensively throughout Europe. Here, in the United States hunters use dachshunds in a more specialized fashion - standards are used mainly for blood tracking and minis for woodchuck and rabbit hunting. We can better understand the reasons for this when we take a closer look at what is involved in  digging woodchucks with dachshunds.

There is no better qualified person to write about this than Teddy Moritz, a huntress extraordinaire. She has been digging ground game since the mid-1970's. She digs groundhogs on farms during the summer and hawks for rabbits during the winter, all with miniature dachshunds. She also use these fine little hounds for treeing game for the gun. She is an AKC Field Trial judge, an AKC Earthdog judge, an AWTA judge and an earthworking judge for the NATC. Hawking and earthwork are her passions, and the dachshunds are ideal dogs to aid her and her hawk in the field.

Digging woodchucks with dachshunds

by Teddy Moritz

The woodchuck, or groundhog is a seven to ten pound rodent which lives in dens it digs in soil. A large groundhog can be up to 15 pounds, usually in September when it has eaten all summer and is getting ready to hibernate. This solid little species of marmot eats mainly vegetation and thrives on farm crops of all kinds, including orchard fruit. It will eat the bark of young trees and is not above some meat in its diet occasionally. It breeds early in the year and there are four to six pups, cared for solely by the mother animal.

Because it is considered an agricultural pest almost everywhere it is found, the groundhog has few supporters and is controlled by many methods. Most game departments consider the groundhog a varmint, therefore permitting them to be dispatched at any time, while other state game agencies set generous seasons. It is wise to check game laws if you are considering digging groundhogs with your dachshunds. Also, be aware that some states, particularly those which list the groundhog as a game animal, have laws forbidding digging animals out of their dens. These laws were originally aimed at people who dug fox out of dens, but those who wanted to dig groundhogs also ran afoul of these laws. Try to find a farmer who will let you do 'pest control' on his farm and you'll be set. Or talk to horse breeders, they always want the groundhogs out of their pastures.

If you live in a central to northern state east of the Mississippi River you should be able to get your dachshund into groundhogs. Western groundhogs are called marmots and they live in rocky areas in the mountains and are not easily taken with an earth dog. However, where groundhogs are found in the east, they are generally abundant. Ask any type of farmer for permission to dig groundhogs and he'll welcome you.

The groundhog is a squirrel which evolved to live in holes. Picture an overweight squirrel averaging seven to ten pounds, with teeth to match. A groundhog's head, like a squirrel's, is blunt and is very hard boned. There is essentially no 'throat' to grab so a dachshund who wants to be a 'throttler' as the Germans call them, will soon find his face rearranged by a groundhog. When threatened by a dog the groundhog in a den will either bolt or, much more likely, will turn around and backfill a wall of dirt between itself and the dog, even if the dog chews on the groundhog's rear end. They have tough hides and are expert diggers. If they are facing a dog in a den, they will fight by biting down hard, easily jabbing their big rodent teeth into the dog's lips, tongue, ears, nose, foot, whatever is closest. They generally don't hang on but bite and release. There are some 'hogs who do bite and hang on and they can do some damage. Dogs can have their teeth knocked out, their noses totally ripped open, etc. If you don't want your dog hurt, don't try to dig groundhogs.

Standard dachshunds can grab and draw, or pull, a groundhog out of a tunnel if it isn't too tightly buried. If the soil is dense and the groundhog decides to bury itself, even a grown man has trouble pulling it free. A big dachshund can yank on a buried groundhog for a good while before it can be dislodged. Above ground, a good standard dachshund ought to be able to subdue a groundhog if they get the right bite. Groundhogs in dens will also harbor behind roots and rocks, leaving only their big teeth visible. They will take bites and give bites to any dog who wants to confront them.

Now the crux of the matter. An average groundhog has the chest circumference of 14 inches or less. As in most animals, their head circumference is the largest part of their body. If an animal can get its head through an opening, it can get its body through. Not so with dogs. The biggest part of a dog is its chest circumference. (We're talking earth dogs here, dachshunds mainly). Thus a groundhog, fox, raccoon, skunk, or possum, all of which can and do live underground either most of the time or some of the time, have small chests. These animals are also very flexible and can move through their tunnels with speed. Since we are talking about groundhogs, their rib cages are very short and flexible, allowing them to flow between roots, over and around rocks and to jam themselves easily around ninety degree turns in their tunnels. Thus a standard dachshund is usually too big to consistently get to ground and make its way up to a groundhog. Sure, sometimes a standard will find a groundhog who has run into a short feeding hole and can yank it out. Standards certainly have the jaw power and the will to take on a groundhog but for the most part groundhogs go tightly into their dens, backfilling dirt as they go, hiding in dirt-filled side tunnels or going through their nests, which are solid barriers of grass.

So, your standard dachshund wants to have a groundhog. It smells one in a den and tries to jam itself into the tunnel. It may bark and dig and bite the sides of the tunnel and it may get into the den even up to its shoulders or tail. All this fierce activity simply alerts the groundhog that trouble is at the door. The rodent just goes to a tight place in its den and buries itself, waiting until the threat departs. You can participate in this hunt with your big dog in several ways. You can run a long stick or a flexible bit of hose into the den, first holding back your big dachshund because it will likely grab the stick in its frenzy to get into the den. Next you feel the direction in which the den is going, then you take your shovel and dig to the end of that stick. Your dog will gladly jam itself into the opening you've made, if you manage to hit the tunnel. Here's where you'll find the second drawback to a big dachshund. The first disadvantage was not being able to get very far into the tunnel, the second is not being able to fit into a dug hole. If your dog is to get back into the hole you've dug, you now have to dig a much longer hole for your standard to fit into. Once this is done, the dog may indicate which way the groundhog went. I say 'may' because while you are digging the groundhog is still burying itself in the tunnel, blocking off its scent. Your dog will eventually come to a solid wall of dirt with little groundhog scent.

This lack of hot scent will often stymie a dachshund until it learns to keep digging at the blockage. Or the groundhog may have woven itself through thick roots. Your standard is not as lean and flexible as the groundhog and can't maneuver like the rodent can. Or the groundhog may have simply slithered behind a big rock, dropping dirt or more rocks into the tunnel, thus again blocking off your dog. Now it's up to you to keep digging to find the tunnel again. Sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it? Well, it is. You wanted to do earthwork on groundhogs so get tuned in to your shovel.

Digging at the NATC natural den work test

Think about this: you are trying to hunt a ten pound animal with a twenty pound dog. That sort of imbalance is ok above ground. Most coon hounds are much larger than a coon. Fox hounds outweigh a fox by four or more times. A twenty pound dachshund trying to get through a tunnel made by a ten pound groundhog just isn't going to happen consistently. Ask anyone who has tried to dig groundhogs successfully and consistently with a standard dachshund and they'll tell you how much digging it requires. Measure your standard's chest circumference. Any number above 14 inches is too big, and even a dog with that chest size is often too big. In my experience, a dog with a chest of 12 inches or less is ideal.

So, your standard dachshund can handle hard quarry, quarry that bites back, if it can get its mouth on the game. How can you then work groundhogs and consistently give your standard a job? The answer is a miniature dachshund. If they are bred from hunting lines they should be shallow chested, narrowly built and up on the leg, meaning tall in comparison to show dachshunds. And I'm not knocking show dachshunds. Some of them have made excellent woodchuck dogs, despite their short legs and big chests. But for consistently good work underground, find one that has the least chest circumference, some leg under it, and as narrow shoulders as possible. Then when you check out woodchuck dens, if your standard indicates an occupant, you tie off your standard so it doesn't hog the hole, and let the miniature work through the tunnel.

Longhaired miniature dachshund 'Bane' entering dug open woodchuck tunnel.

Your earthdog should be wearing a transmitter collar, available in the US but made by the English company Deben. Once your miniature has located and bayed the quarry, you dig to the little barking dog. Then you block the dog off from the quarry, take it out of the den and either hand it to someone or tie it off. Quickly open the den the length of your standard, then drop the big dog into the tunnel. If all is done in an efficient manner, your standard can face the quarry and draw it, meaning pull it out. This is where flexibility and body strength are important. A groundhog is a fierce fighter and will use its rodent teeth to defend itself. Or it may have begun to bury itself and your standard will have to pull it out by the seat of its pants, then have to fight it out when the groundhog turns to defend itself.

Bane and a big groundhog he located and bayed.

I have seen standards in these situations and I am of the opinion that they are not good draw dogs. The reason is because they generally are too big to drop into the den to get the chuck, and even if they do, they are in an awkward position of hanging halfway into the den, trying to lift an unwilling and biting quarry. Most of their weight is then forward and they have a tough time pulling up and out. Their short legs don't allow them to stand up and pull up at the same time. Also, if you have to dig the den opening big enough to get the whole standard body in, by the time you've done that much more digging, the groundhog has either bolted or buried itself. Efficiency is lost because the standard has to chew on the groundhog awhile before it can draw it. In my experience a long legged dog of any breed is a much better draw dog than a standard dachshund, but if you only have a standard to use as a draw dog, then give it every chance to properly face its quarry. Don't ask it to drop straight down into a den where the groundhog can punish your dog. Quickly, and I do mean quickly, dig the den open away from the groundhog and drop your standard in. This gives the big dog some space to fence with the groundhog. If your dog is brave it will get a hold on the quarry. If your dog will allow you, lift the dog and the quarry its attached to out of the hole so your dog can properly dispatch the animal. The idea of earthwork is to locate and bay the quarry, then dispatch it as soon as possible. The varmint has given you the sport you came looking for, the least you can do is give it a timely death.

This woodchuck is being dispatched by Celtic, a lurcher.

Lurchers are mixed breed sighthounds, usually with a working breed as the minor contributor and greyhound as the majority of blood. The crosses were first made in the UK between Border and Bearded Collies and coursing greyhounds. The half-cross was bred back to a greyhound. The idea was to make a fast collie or a smart greyhound. The collie added coat and brains and biddability, the greyhound gave prey drive and speed. These dogs were designed and used to hunt up, catch, kill and retrieve game.

I use them because they are good-tempered and quiet around the kennel, tolerant of the dachshunds, and very useful in catching bolted quarry, and in dispatching game the dachshunds have bayed. They are big enough to handle hard quarry such as fox, raccoon, and groundhogs and can easily draw their quarry from dens.

Digging fox with dachshunds is another matter. Fox are valuable fur bearers and most states do not allow fox to be dug out of their earths. If you can get permission to dig fox in a pest control situation, you will quickly find out how tough your dachshund needs to be. A fox can get tight into a den and your dachshund will have to jam itself along the tunnel to get up to the fox. Again, a dachshund with a shallow chest, narrow shoulders and a bit of leg, as well as a very flexible body, is the ticket for consistent success. If your dachshund does get up to the fox, it will find out how hard a fox can bite. Many fox will bolt if pushed by a dog but the ones who chose to fight will use their long, sharp canine teeth to punish the dog's face. It takes a strong-willed dachshund to fight a fox successfully. Sometimes the dogs will get mouth to mouth and the fox will hang on and not let go. Or the fox will charge up the tunnel and bite the dog, then quickly retreat. This is where the big strong head on a dachshund is necessary, not only to give good bites but to take the punishment without having its jaw broken or teeth knocked out. American red foxes tend to be smaller than their European counterparts. Our red fox has become smaller so it may use groundhog dens for its home. Fox have even smaller chests than a large groundhog, averaging thirteen inches. They may weigh ten or more pounds, but their bodies are remarkably small and narrow and very flexible. They are a challenging quarry below ground.

Raccoons are often found in dens in the ground. Depending on their size, they can give your dachshund a real fight. Coons can turn in their skins, which means if your dog grabs the coon by the back, the coon just shifts itself around and grabs your dog. A coon will bite and chew on a dog, it will use its claws, front and back to scratch your dog and to hold onto your dog. If your dachshund wants to take the fight to a big coon, the coon is more than capable of defending itself. A coon will even take hold of your dogs collar so it can anchor itself better to bite more of your dog. A coon's hide is thick and in a healthy coon there is a layer of fat under the skin. Thus your dachshund can't punish the coon except by getting a throat or chest hold. In the meantime the coon will defend itself mightily. It's not easy to step in and help your dog when it's tangling with a coon. The coon is just as willing to take you on as the dog, so try to pin it down and help the dog finish it off. Raccoons are a worthy adversary for a hole dog.

Nanus and Tar with coon they located and bayed in a den.

Most possums are easy quarry for a standard dachshund if the dog can get up to the possum in the den. A strong headed dog will bite the possum hard, making it 'sull' or act dead. The dog will pull the possum out of the den, shake it a bit, then let it go. Later on the possum will wake up and walk off. Unless you are doing pest control on a horse farm there's no reason to kill possum. Horse people don't want them around because they carry a disease horses can contract. Possums are scavengers and not a challenge to a standard dachshund.

Picture above was taken by Stacey Samela and shows Teddy with a mini wire of her breeding, Tess. (FC Tess von Moritz mw WC). The lurcher is Keeper, from David Hancock in England. Teddy writes: "Stacey and I were looking for a fox in a den one cold winter's day. I knew of a den in a big swampy area, on the only high ground around. Tess entered the den and began tugging on something, which was odd. She pulled and pulled and eventually came out with the big groundhog, which was alive but very much asleep in his hibernating state. We have no idea why he was so close to the entrance of the den, only about five feet in. I speculated the fox had begun to dig the den open for use as a whelping chamber and had dislodged the groundhog. The fox was not in the den. Tess searched diligently but came up empty. This den has about a dozen entrances/exits and there are big trees growing over it so Tess had to check many tunnels and get through the tree roots. The soil is very sandy and easily dug by the fox.

The coon was in another den and gave Tess a bad time. She located and bayed it while we dug. The merle lurcher in the photo, Keeper, and Stacey's lurcher, Tory, drew and dispatched the coon, a big boar.

Later as we worked along a drainage ditch the female mallard slipped out ahead of us but wouldn't fly. We saw she was injured and sent the lurchers after her. Tory swam the ditch up and down and eventually caught her and brought her to Stacey, who took the duck home and tried to rehab her but she died.

Teddy's note about chest circumference:

I measured my dogs this morning. All are two years old or more. I believe a dachshund is not 'finished' as far as size and chest circumference until it is at least two years old.

Bane: 2 year old male: 12 1/2" (32 cm)
Tar: 2 year old female: 11 1/2" (29 1/2 cm)
Nanus: 3 year old female: 13" (32 1/2 cm)
Navarre: 6 year old male: 13 3/4" (33 cm)
Gavia: 14 year old female: 13" (32 1/2 cm)
Fitz: 6 year old female: 10" (27 cm)
Note that Fitz is very small and therefore a good little rabbit hole dog. She weighs about 5 1/2 lbs hunting weight and is invaluable during rabbit season. She likes to work hard quarry as well but I use her only sparingly lest she get hurt. Last summer a groundhog bit her over both eyes, deeply. If it had bitten any lower she would have been blinded.

Jolanta's note: Our smallest standard-sized dachshunds imported from Germany have chest cicumferences of 18.5 inches (47 cm) - 2 year old Joeri and 11 year-old Asko. Tommy at two years has a chest measured at 20 inches (50.8 cm). Everybody else is above 21 inches.

Usefullness of small and narrow dachshunds in varmint control

Even though this blog's emphasis is on blood tracking occasionally we cover other types of hunting and activities that involve dachshunds. This e-mail came from Teddy Moritz, a longtime good friend of ours. She has been breeding and using her miniature dachshunds mainly for woodchuck and rabbit hunting. This is her account of recent events.

Here's a photo of Tar with a 14.2 lb. groundhog she located and bayed under a shed. She bolted the rabbit to the lurcher, also out from under a shed. Tar weighs about 7 lbs and is very narrow and up on the leg. I do varmint control on a fairgrounds and find that the groundhogs live under sheds exclusively, there are no dens except tunnels under cement barriers. Most of the groundhogs harbor under garden sheds of various sizes, as do rabbits, skunks, and possum. It's interesting that so many animals live amongst the buildings and lawns and gardens of this fairgrounds. Perhaps the variety of plants and the absence of bigger predators, fox and coyote, make the grounds seem like a safe haven. There are events at the grounds almost every weekend so the varmints eat at night or at dawn and dusk, especially during the week when the place is slightly quieter.

In order to work the dogs on these varmints, who regularly eat or destroy the flower gardens maintained by the grounds crew, I need a very narrow, small dog. A big-shouldered dog simply can't get under the sheds far enough to do any real work. Bigger dogs can get just so far under the shed but the groundhog or other varmint can run back and forth under and over the supporting two by fours. And a dog who cannot maneuver will soon get chewed up if the varmint comes their way. Sometimes the sheds are on cement slabs, which makes it even more difficult for any but the smallest, narrowest dogs to move about. And sometimes the sheds are on stone dust and the groundhogs make barriers of dirt so the smaller dogs have to follow the animal as best they can, digging through to their quarry.

Yet the narrowest, smallest dog doesn't have the biting power to harm an aggressive opponent. So the job of locating and baying is given to the little dog and I back her or him up with a .22 rifle as well as a lurcher. If the quarry bolts the lurcher is there to catch it as there are seldom any other refuges for the varmint to flee to. If our quarry won't bolt I lay on my side and slide the .22 under the shed and quickly dispatch the animal, having first called the dachshund out of course, or sometimes simply shooting beside the dog. My dogs learn 'get back' means I'm going to shoot and when they hear the gun go off they pile onto the quarry. Unfortunately sometimes the shot isn't lethal and the little dog finds out the quarry isn't as dead as they thought. Another shot soon follows and the dachshund pulls the quarry out.

I occasionally have terrier people come with me and their dogs invariably are too big to be of use under the sheds. Even my biggest dog, a mini long of ten pounds, is too big to be of much use in moving a varmint under a shed, so a terrier is at a disadvantage as well. The terriers have bigger heads than my dogs and can bite harder, but they seldom can get up to the quarry to put pressure on it. Therefore, small and narrow gets the job done. Each varmint control job calls for certain canine and human abilities and on these fairgrounds and under these sheds, a small, narrow dachshund works best. Fortunately when I added European blood to my lines I got some nice tall, narrow dogs and they have been an asset in most hunting situations. The hunting desire is well set in the American lines I've been using but I needed more leg and less shoulders. I continue to try to breed this type of hunting dachshund as they can move quickly and efficiently above ground as well as below.


FC Tar and Feathers von Moritz ml WC, 16 months old

PS. Walked 14 year old Gavia on a string out the camp road yesterday at 2 in the afternoon. She doesn't hear well or perhaps at all so I keep her on a line when I walk her here. She hit a line off the camp road and started sniffing at the base of a tree. I figured she smelled a squirrel so I let her loose. She knew she was loose and took off down an animal trail at a good pace. I followed for a bit and sent the lurcher with her. She picked up speed and disappeared in a bed of ferns. I ran to catch up and saw her running further on. I realized she was not on a squirrel so I hoofed it faster. I caught her sniffing a fresh bear scat and only caught her because she couldn't hear me coming. She saw me and tried to dodge but I got her. She likes that bear scent. And a further PS, she is Tar's grandmother on one side and great-grandmother on the other.

PS2. Carl came back into camp around 9:30 this morning and said he just saw a sow and three cubs cross where Gavia had run the track yesterday. A friend has been camping here for two days with his Kemmer Curs. He dropped his three dogs, and my lurcher, on the track and they treed a sow wearing an ear tag. We held the dogs back and let her jump and then they ran her up another tree. Cool way to start the day. Thank goodness no dachshunds were with the lurcher because at one point the sow fought the dogs on the ground. So Gavia was correct about the bear line yesterday.