First Quarry - Finally

[bshadle 5]

Had the day off so decided to go out this morning. 50F and overcast with a 40% chance of showers, but we were only going to be ten minutes from home so decided to chance it. Hit the hedgerow where we worked a bolt two weeks ago, but in spite of seeing plenty of fresh kick out since the rain earlier this week, Dot checked several holes and didn’t find any scent she liked. Back to the truck for a three minute drive to a field across the road.

 

Parked the truck and eyed the hedgerow across from the rural airport runway where we have permission. Looked promising, but the farmer had his dairy herd out which meant his electric fence was on. Wasn’t in the mood to verify that the LRT works under electric fences, so again we moved on.

 

Five minutes later, we were at our favorite spot – a small field along the bank of the Tulpehocken Creek. Better yet, I spotted a groundhog eating breakfast in the field as we pulled up, and watched it dive for the hole in the middle of the hayfield as we got out of the truck. Knew it was there, now to see if Dot would find it.

 

We took an indirect path to it. I can spot ‘em 200 yards out, but this was Dot’s test on finding. As we approached, I saw it was a nice two-eye sette. Dot found it, and as two weeks ago, went ballistic. She checked both holes, chose one and went in. Within seconds, I heard her working. I blocked the second hole with my pack, gave her a few minutes to settle down, then marked her at four feet. Then, just as I was un-strapping the shovel she comes out of the hole.

 

She headed across to the second hole, and tried to dig past my pack. I moved the pack, and she dove in barking and growling, settling seconds later at the same spot I’d marked before. Several times over the next fifteen minutes, she’d return to the top, switch holes and go back down, always returning to the same spot, and always raising a ruckus. Finally, the last time she went down I rechecked the mark and started to dig.

 

The shovel cut the clay soil, damp from the earlier rain, like a hot knife through butter. But it was sticky clay. Every few shovel-fulls I’d have to stop and scrape the shovel clean to be able to move any dirt. As I approached the four-foot mark, I started to hit the underlying limestone. Please, I thought, let this box be accurate. I didn’t want to open my own limestone quarry to get to the dog. About that time I cut the tube right in front of Dot and something curious, at least for me, happened. Dot backed out of the tube and dived into the hole I was digging. She set to work trying to dig at the bottom edge of the hole. WTF is up?

 

I pulled her, staked her out and cleared the bottom of the hole, but no sign of a groundhog. I had the tube open in the direction of both entrances, but there was nothing there. Meanwhile, Dot is trying her best to get back in the hole with me, straining at the lead, barking, whining and growling. I unhook her, and she’s back down in the hole digging along one edge. I probe with the trowel, but find no sign of a tube. Then I remember some advice from a friend – always trust your dog. I pull her again, and start shaving the side of the hole in the direction she wanted to go, then probing with the trowel. Finally, the trowel breaks through into a tube. The two entries Y’d off to a stop end, the groundhog was in the back of it, and had blocked the tube so the dog couldn’t get through and I couldn’t find it. But now we had it. I cleared the tube, and hung headfirst over the edge with a flashlight. There was the groundhog in the back of the stop, clicking its teeth and being as frightening as a groundhog can be. I unhooked Dot again and let her back in the hole, but as much as she was working the groundhog, it wasn’t budging.

 

I pulled her again, and decided to try to grab it with my snare pole. Squatting in the hole I couldn’t see the groundhog. Dangling headfirst into the hole with a flashlight in my teeth and the snare pole in my hands, the hole was too deep to see the groundhog. In fact, at one point I went past my tipping point and ended up on my head in the bottom. The groundhog almost got me!

 

Finally, I shaved the side of the hole ‘til I could see the groundhog from on top and slid the bar in for a coup de grace. Even at that point, the groundhog wasn’t giving up. As I slid the bar forward, it clenched it in its teeth and proceeded to give the bar h***. Even in death, it was determined to hold its ground. When I reached in to retrieve it, it was six inches past my reach and I had to drag it out with the trowel. It was a female heavy with young. The farmer will be happy, since he figures that one in April is six he won’t have to feed in August. But Ms. Groundhog, I salute your spirit. You were a worthy opponent and will have my respect. My boots had five pounds of clay caked on the bottom, and Dot, who weighs about eleven pounds, weighed about fourteen from the clay plastered on her coat, but our feet were light for the walk back to the truck.

 

I tried to take photos, but the batteries in the camera died mid-way through the dig. Normally I have extra batteries in the truck, but my wife used them for her walkman last weekend. The “trophy shot†was set at home in my back yard, but there was no way I was going to not have a photo of our first quarry.

 

 

 

 

For all that, a question I now must ask of the diggers and terrier men who have more experience than I do. I’ve often read that the job of a terrier is to “find the quarry and stay until dug to.†Both times we’ve been on quarry my dog has left the earth and re-entered looking for another route. Both times as I broke through and had the quarry bottled up, she’s left the tube she entered and dived into the hole I dug to dig there herself and to approach the quarry from a better angle. Do I have a “quitter� Or do I have a young dog that needs experience? Is her prey drive just so strong that she wants to get to the quarry the best way she can? Or is she just too smart for her own d**n good? I really don’t know enough about this yet to know.

[BRYKAY 2]

NO WAY IS THIS DOG A "QUITTER", THIS IS SHEER DETERMINATION TO GET THE

BETTER OF THE QUARRY. "KEEN AS MUSTARD" IS WHAT I WOULD CALL IT!!!

[jultaylor1972 2]

nah, she's off to a crap start bill. bring her over- i'll take care of it for you.

 

she sounds the bees knees to me

[charlotte hill 0]

Cracking story

 

And a belter of a dog

[woolbr8stl 0]

Congrats Bill, you and Dot did great, I don't think you have to change a thing

[PBurns 9]

Doing good. All this "quitter" crap is dead air with me. Give the dog experience, go slow and don't quit on the dog is the name of the game. Most dogs do fine in time, and eventually learn butt from breath. Every dog has a different style too. You are well on the road, and the dog too.

 

P.