May 1999 Earthdog Trial
May 1999 Earthdog Trial
| This was my 2nd earthdog trial. I did pretty well, and Mom was proud of me. I competed in 4 classes over 2 days. I was in an Intro to Quarry and a Junior earthdog class each day. I qualified in the Intro both days. On Saturday, May 1st, only four dogs qualified for Intro, and my friend Hattie, another Welsh terrier, and I were two of them. Intro is just an instinct class and you don't win any titles for qualifying you just get a ribbon. Mom was really proud of me though. There were about 12 dogs in that class, so I did really well. It was a lot of fun too. At first I didn't go in the tunnel, I'm too smart for that. I knew where the rats were and went over there. But Mom told me I had to go in the tunnel. Boy, was I glad I did! There were rats in there and you could see them as well as smell them. I dug and bit at the bars between the rats and me. You could hear me from pretty far away, and that's how I qualified. |
 Here I am going toward the tunnel. |
 Here I am going in the tunnel. |
 Yeah! My Intro qualifying ribbon. |
| Junior earthdog class I didn't qualify, but then nobody did either. It is a lot harder than the Intro. The tunnel is a lot longer and you don't think it will end but it does. I didn't bother with the tunnel since I could smell where the rats were and just went over there. But you are not supposed to do that. After the trial was all over we got to practice, and it wasn't till I saw Hattie go in the tunnel and get to the rats that I found out you could get to the rats through the tunnel. So then I raced through the tunnel; it only took about 10 seconds, which it pretty good considering I have to crawl the whole way. Then I got to work the rats. Working the rats is barking, digging, scratching, biting, everything except giving the rats the death stare. |
This is me working the rats! |
| My friend Hattie also went to the trial. She did great too! Here she is with her Mom, Barbara. This is pictures of how her Intro went. Mom lets you go. You run to the tunnel. You go in the tunnel. You work the rats, and then Mom comes and gets you. Fun!! |
 Hattie running toward the tunnel. |
 Hattie going into the tunnel. |
 Hattie's all done! |
