Strong Dog Practice is fashioned in part after the old field trials that they put the tall terriers through, as part of their championship status. I believe that practice stopped quite sometime ago.

The tunnels are 11"x11" dug down into the earth. The dogs must locate and pull out the quarry. For practice, they use a weighted dummy wrapped in a skin and it can be anywhere from 30 - 50 lbs of dead weight. In this case, a tanned raccoon skin was used. Some groups are using a skin that has only been salted so is pretty sweet smelling to the dogs.

Picture #1: The dog is required to go down into the tunnel, (sometimes with 90 or 45 degree turns).
Picture # 2: The dog must grab the scented quarry that weighs anywhere from 30 - 50 lbs. (Note the "butt" muscles! That's from agility!)
Picture # 3: The dog must drag the scented quarry completely out of the tunnel, and then leave it on command.

The dogs really love it .. sometimes the instinct takes a bit of time to kick in, but I'm thinking that with a heavily scented quarry, it begins to make sense to most. Contrary to some beliefs, this event does not make your dog aggressive at all. It's pure instinct that drives them to the quarry. It's pretty wild to see it kick in -- especially with a dog that is a sweet. lovey companion with a CGC or other obedience titles.

Victoria Kniering
connecticut, USA


Editor's Note:
Kerries are not yet recognized to participate in AKC recognized Earth Dog Trials, but that does not stop them from working at the sport in practice sessions. Victoria will post more information about Strong Dog practice events on the USKBTC elist, uskb-list@uskbtc.com.

Please view another article on Earth Dogs entitled, "Kerry Blue Terriers . . .Earth Dogs," by Susan Dunivant and the first article by Victoria on this subject entitled, "Strong Dog Practice."