Bridey makes the Stayton Newspaper!!!

Saturday, March 18, 2006  

Photo by Kathleen Ellyn “Brighty,” a dachshund, is getting too wise to play the game well. She knows Judge Schuster of Woodby Island has just put the rats down into the maze and she’s hoping he’ll give her a clue. Brighty, like many dogs, went down the “false hole” nearer to the official rather than the hole that was scented with rat. She found the rat anyway and didn’t want to come back out when owner Claire Moncha of Portland called her.

TURNER – More than 60 dachshunds and another 70 plus small terriers strained at their leashes Saturday and Sunday at the Belden and Sons farm outside Turner aquiver with the desire to dive down a hole in the ground.

The event was an Earthdog Trial, and the dogs were there for the American Kennel Club Earthdog Test Weekend, sponsored by the Greater Portland Area Dachshund Club.

The Beldens host three Earthdog trials a year at the farm; one for the Dachshund Club and two more for the Oregon Trail’s End Earthdog Club.

Here’s how an Earthdog trial works: The dogs search for rats in an underground maze the Belden’s have built on their property. Diving in the dirt after a rat is what these dogs were originally bred to do, and here they get a chance to enjoy their natural tendencies.

There are four different categories of competition: Introductory, Junior, Senor and Master, each with slightly more difficult underground mazes to traverse.

In the Senior trial, dogs run from their owner’s starting position toward an underground maze where they know they will find a rat. They have 90 seconds to traverse the 30-foot underground tunnel with three 90-degree turns and find the rats, which are safe inside a cage. The tunnels measure 9 inches by 9 inches and are made of wood on the sides and top to protect the dog from tunnel collapse, but the floor is dirt.

Dogs have another 90 seconds to “sound” (bark) to indicate they’ve found the rat. Once they have done that, an assistant to the judge opens a little door in the roof of the tunnel and removes the caged rats.

Then, the dogs have 90 seconds to respond to their owner’s recall and come back out of the maze.

There are some tricks to the test for Senior Earthdogs including a false tunnel and den. And a false entrance, which does take a dog into the maze but has not been pre-marked with the scent of rat.

The dog should sniff out the entrance that smells of rat, not the entrance that smells of the other dogs that may have gone down the “false hole.” Inside the maze, underground, there is also a time-consuming dead-end to avoid. But the hardest part for dogs is leaving the underground tunnel.

“They just don’t want to leave the rats,” said Ben Belden, who in addition to co-owning the farm, served as test chairman.

Many dogs refuse to leave the underground area where the rats were found and eventually have to be rescued out the rat exit. Some return as far as the entry hole, but won’t come out, looking up at their owner as if to say, “But you promised me a rat!”

On this Sunday, they had to dig a dog out, Belden said.

“It’s rare, but it does happen sometimes,” he said. “It makes the weekend more interesting.”

If a dog is successful at performing three times under two different judges, he or she becomes a Senior Earthdog.

That means serious bragging rights and official recognition by the AKC.

It’s not easy to become a Senior Earthdog. Less than one third of the dogs passed the test last weekend, but everyone had fun, Belden said.

The next test is May 13-14 at Belden’s farm. Spectators are welcome, Belden said..

“It’s a lot of fun and we’re more than happy to have more Earthdogs come and run,” he said.

Photo by Kathleen Ellyn Angel emerges from the hole into the arms of owner Robin Kelley of Port Angeles after finding and “sounding” (barking at) the rats.

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