Our subject title resonates with us for a reason we’ll explain a bit later. For now, it’s worth noting that today’s earthdog trials have their roots in concern—specifically, the unease of a woman named Patricia “Pat” Adams Lent.
Pat was a farmer, a breeder of milking shorthorn cattle, and a devoted Lakeland Terrier, Cairn Terrier, and Border Terrier enthusiast. She raised all her critters on her 120-acre farm in New York’s Finger Lakes region where a farmer’s life gave her a practical, ‘real world” perspective: Valuing animals not just for their appearance, but for their abilities and usefulness. As a cattle breeder, Pat understood the necessity of maintaining traits essential for an animals’ intended work, whether it was for milk production in cattle or hunting and vermin control in terriers, and in the late 60s, it was the latter that started worrying Pat.
She noticed that many terrier owners and breeders placed more emphasis on appearance and success in the show ring than on the dog’s ability to perform its original purpose: hunting and controlling vermin. She wondered if certain terrier breeds still had the instincts needed to hunt and dispatch, say, a rat, and how anyone would know without putting the dog to the test?
It was clear in Pat’s mind that there was a need for structured tests that would evaluate and preserve working instincts; Concern led to action! Pat founded the American Working Terrier Association (AWTA), its mission to encourage and promote the breeding, hunting, and ownership of terriers and Dachshunds. Pat’s organization established den trials in which a dog’s with the correct size, conformation, and character could demonstrate their natural ability to enter buried tunnels and “work” safely caged rats in a controlled, humane environment.
In fact, Pat’s American Working Terrier Association held the first organized “earthdog” type event in the United States in 1971.
To be clear, there had been earlier “go-to-ground” events, but they could be breed specific (Dachshunds-only, for example), and were short-lived. Pat’s AWTA, in contrast, welcomed a wide variety of terrier breeds and Dachshunds, as well as breeds that might not have fit into more restrictive earlier trials (i.e. larger chested Scotties). Unlike earlier trials that used brick, slate, or clay pipe tunnels, the AWTA created an organized system of artificial – and roomy – tunnels that accommodated more breeds. AWTA trials weren’t intended to replicate actual hunting, but to give owners a first-hand experience of seeing (or not) their dogs’ natural prey drive in a safe and controlled situation.
The AKC worked with AWTA advisors to develop its own Earthdog program several decades after the AWTA’s first trial. The AKC’s first licensed Earthdog Test was held in 1994, twenty-three years after the AWTA’s first organized trial. The AKC’s program added levels and new challenges (scent tracking, false dens, and the need for dogs to “honor” their bracemate in the Master Earthdog level); The AKC also increased tunnel complexity at higher levels and added features like false dens and more challenging scent work.