Zipper.....earthdog?

Okay, I know Zipper really can't be an earthdog. After all, he's a
Miniature Pinscher. Official dog-ona non grata at any earthdog venue.
But boy are they making a mistake.

Did the whole 4th of July picnic thing tonight and they have an earthdog
tunnel. After most of the people left, some of the Border Terriers were
working the tunnel and honoring. So I said, "what the heck, let's try
Zipper."

First we just introduced him to the Rat (a cute black headed white rat
named Nim). Nim was safely in his cage. Zipper was allowed to sniff Nim,
then Zip started getting really excited. He finally barked! Yay! After
we got 3 good barks Zip was put back into the car where he screamed for
the next 15 minutes while the Borders worked the rats in various
configurations.

I know nothing about earthdog. But I can tell you that the "tunnel" was
above ground in an L configuration, with Nim's safe area at the end of
the L. The tunnel was 9" square plywood and covered start to end so
there was no light. There was a place at the corner where you could lift
the top to help the dog make the turn, and a place just before Nim's
cage where you could lift the top to take the dog out. Nim's cage was
further protected by 5 stout wooden bars, so there was no chance for Nim
to actually get hurt. Nim is an old hand at this and pretty much thinks
all this scratching and barking at him is stupid and it's beneath his
dignity to respond.

After the borders had worked, we brought Zip back out. Within 10 minutes
he was doing the full tunnel, fully covered, and working his rat! We
stopped him before he did too much bar biting to keep him from hurting
his teeth.

Zip hummed a whine for almost 10 minutes after working the rat. As one
observer said, "I think you've got an earthdog!"

On Wed, 05 Jul 2006 03:49:45 GMT Robin Nuttall <robinjn.RemoveThis@mchsi.com> whittled these words:

> Okay, I know Zipper really can't be an earthdog. After all, he's a
> Miniature Pinscher. Official dog-ona non grata at any earthdog venue.
> But boy are they making a mistake.

Yeah - protest protest unfair to a good vermin dog!

> Did the whole 4th of July picnic thing tonight and they have an earthdog
> tunnel. After most of the people left, some of the Border Terriers were
> working the tunnel and honoring. So I said, "what the heck, let's try
> Zipper."

> I know nothing about earthdog. But I can tell you that the "tunnel" was
> above ground in an L configuration, with Nim's safe area at the end of
> the L. The tunnel was 9" square plywood and covered start to end so
> there was no light. There was a place at the corner where you could lift
> the top to help the dog make the turn, and a place just before Nim's
> cage where you could lift the top to take the dog out. Nim's cage was
> further protected by 5 stout wooden bars, so there was no chance for Nim
> to actually get hurt. Nim is an old hand at this and pretty much thinks
> all this scratching and barking at him is stupid and it's beneath his
> dignity to respond.

I don't know much about earthdog either, except the one they did at the
place where I herd they dug tunnels. The boxes were in the ground.

> After the borders had worked, we brought Zip back out. Within 10 minutes
> he was doing the full tunnel, fully covered, and working his rat! We
> stopped him before he did too much bar biting to keep him from hurting
> his teeth.

> Zip hummed a whine for almost 10 minutes after working the rat. As one
> observer said, "I think you've got an earthdog!"

This brought up an interesting observation. The reason the earthdog trial
was at the place where I herd is because the connection was made through
herding. Judy (who runs the ranch) has Rottweiler and Beauceron. And so
naturally she attracts people who want to herd with their Rottweilers.
Four of them (that I know of) have both Rottweilers and Border Terriers.
I wonder why that breed combination?

--
Diane Blackman
There is no moral victory in proclaiming to abhor violence
while preaching with violent words.
http://dog-play.com/ http://dogplayshops.com/