Training with the badger

So I realize that the blog so far this year has been SUPER Baxter heavy. He is our youngster and since we did not do extensive training with him last year, we are trying to make up for it this year. Although Freddie has had to sit out on a lot of our activities, I think it is for the best as shows and tracking are no fun when you aren't participating. That being said, when we heard that Gryt (Den/Pot) training was starting in our local dachshund club, we jumped on the opportunity.

As I've talked about previously, despite being a bit bigger, Freddie is a monster in the artificial dens. He has completed both trials in Italy with 100 pts (and one RRCAC) and BhFK95 in Germany, where he was complimented by the judges for his working style. We figured that trying him on
the dens in Sweden would be worthwhile.

from pitchcare.com

So there are a few things that are different about dens in Sweden:
They are smaller overall and hexagonal in shape.
The entries are narrow so the dog must go through the smallest spot in the den first.
There is an arm through the middle with a decline and 60 cm "jump" up to the kessel.
There is a badger, which is enclosed in a den to protect it from the dog and the dog from it.

Here is a diagram of the Swedish den

So earlier this week we went out to practice with our dachshund club in the den. There was a very nice and very experienced coach there as most of the 7 dogs that would be practicing were first timers. He was really good at making the whole experience positive for the dogs and not keeping them too long with training, especially since it was quite warm, which isn't nice for the badger, dogs, or people. For an initial experience, the dog was allowed to sniff and react to the badger in the light. Like in German, the top of the den were covered in wooden board that could be opened in several spots. The dog was placed in and given a LOT of praise when it started being very interested and barking at the badger. You could tell in the dog when instinct kicked in as the god sunk down and the bark changed. Of the dogs there one dog other than Freddie had experience in den testing, but in Denmark. Denmark is more like Finland in how they run their tests (I reported on a Finnish fox test early last year) and have an open den where the dog and fox are able to make contact. It was interesting to see this dog work as she seemed to keep waiting for the badger to come at here and kept running in and out of the den.

Then it was Freddie's turn. Fred was already crazy before he got to the den as he could hear the barking of the previous dog from outside the barn. Obviously the dog was saying there there was something interesting and Fred starting barking high pitched excited barks. He then ran into the barn and looked like a complete idiot with his tongue lolling out of his mouth. The trainer initially wanted him to do as the other inexperienced dogs had done and go to the open arm, but Simon said no and instead wanted Freddie to enter as you would in a test (though without the narrow part). Fred wanted to sniff around a bit, but Simon quickly convinced him that going in the tunnel was a good idea. A few seconds of silence and then-BAM-music. Ok, music for me. Freddie working is a wonderful sound to my ears. He has a very strong and powerful bark and is extremely persistent. This is both good and bad as in the Swedish test, the fox doesn't move, but there is a portion of the test where the opening between the dog and badger is closed and the dog must be quiet. The trainer tried to do this with Fred while he was in the tunnel and Fred would stay quiet for 30 sec or so and then get frustrated and let out some pathetic "why can't I get at this?" barks. He promptly was told off for that, since this isn't what we want. We also tried Freddie through the narrow starting tunnel. This was new and he wasn't so sure, but with a little coaxing, he went in just fine (and the 2nd time was better). Overall it was an excellent practice and Freddie received a lot of praise from the trainer.

 The trainer also took it upon himself to personally ask us where the dog was from and what his pedigree was like. When we told him that he was 4 years old from French and Austrian/German lines, he asked if he was available for breeding. We said that he was, to which he loudly replied "Every breeder in Sweden should use this dog. This is one of the best working wires (in den) I have seen in a long time." He promptly tried to pimp Fred out to the Danish wire breeder that was also present. It made me both proud and slightly embarrassed that this man I had just met was so in love with our dog's working abilities that he wanted to line up ladies for him. After the practice we went to go say thank you and good bye to the trainer who spent the majority of the time convincing Simon to get Freddie his Swedish Championship in Gryt (den). This involves real work underground on badger or fox (as well as the artificial test) and we are thinking about it. With the right hunting crew -of which we know a few now- I think it would be possible.

Freddie really is an excellent hunting dog and I'm happy that we can start to do more with him. I foresee Drev (Hunting) and Spår (tracking) training in the future for our brown dog.

Good boy Fred!