When the resolution designating May 1 as National Purebred Dog Day was put before Colorado legislators in 2015, one word in the document seemed to puzzle the lawmakers: Earthdog. It even baffled the legislative editor, the person whose job is to review, edit, and prepare legislative documents before they advance to the floor for a vote. It was an easy thing to explain, but it underscored how little of the dog world the average person actually knows. 

Since we’re always welcoming new readers here, a brief explanation of “earthdog.”

Simply put, earthdog is a noncompetitive hunting dog sport developed specifically for dogs bred to hunt vermin. There are no placements—every dog passes or fails the test on their own merits. The breeds eligible to earn an AKC earthdog title are small terrier breeds and Dachshunds. In an Earthdog Test, dogs are sent into man-made, underground dens to hunt vermin, also called the “quarry.” The quarry is usually rats kept in a wire cage placed at the end of the tunnel, and the dog must use his nose to locate the cage. Once the dog finds the quarry, he must “work it,” which is to say that the he or she has to show behaviors suggesting that in a less controlled situation, the dog would do its job of dispatching the vermin. Those behaviors include pawing, digging, barking, and scratching.  Since the animals don’t come in actual contact with each other, neither the dogs nor the rats are endangered.

Many dog owners have witnessed an unofficial earthdog trial in their own backyard every time the dog goes out and furiously digs in the ground to get at a critter, but the first official earthdog trial wasn’t held until 1994, an event organized by the Greater Portland Dachshund Club after the AKC formally implemented the Earthdog program. The first two days of tests drew 110 entries, and the trials quickly grew in popularity.

That said, the Earthdog sport is said to have a steep learning curve for a variety of reasons which is why fewer dogs pass the lower levels than the higher levels. It takes a bit of time for a dog to master the complexity of tasks which include navigating through dark, twisty tunnels, encountering obstacle and false dens, and using natural hunting instincts in a controlled environment – and the sport has multiple levels of competition, each level increasingly more challenging. Regular Earthdog titles (Junior, Senior, and Master) are earned individually by passing the specific level’s requirements a set number of times.  In 2010, a new title was introduced, the Endurance Earthdog title – or EE title which represents an even higher level of achievement by combining the skills required for both Senior and Master levels in a single event, and repeated over multiple trials.

Most dogs love this sport. While we don’t have numbers reflecting the time at which this is published, we do know that in 2001, 4,742 dogs participated in 96 AKC Earthdog tests.  Presumably, that number is far greater now.

Since we have a fondness for “superlative statistics,” we got to wondering what breed is the most-titled earthdog in history.  What would you guess?

The most-titled earthdog in history with an impressive twelve Endurance Earthdog titles is a Cairn Terrier lad named, GCh Ch KinLoch David Douglas of the Isles,CDX PCDX BN RM3 RAE4 FDC AX AXJ AJP NF ME EE20 CA BCAT RATCHX DN CGCA TKI ATT (also note the conformation title at the beginning of his name) owned by Bette Shuh/Ryan Westund and trained by Ryan Westlund. Impressive!

Keeping to “superlative statis,” we also learned that the first dog to earn the Master Earthdog title in 1996 was a longhaired Miniature Dachshund named Beejay’s Chocolate Smoke CD, ME, and that the first Senior Earthdog title was earned by a Border Terrier lass named Lady Wheaten who did it the year before.

Help us “flesh out” this article: If you know other “superlatives” (for instance, the breed and age of the oldest or youngest dog to get an AKC Earthdog title, breed of the first dog to earn the first Junior, Senior, and Master Earthdog titles, etc),  we want to hear from you!

Image:Dachshund Digging by ©Alexey Antipov | Dreamstime