100 % Earth Dog

[lakeman 12]

took a bitch up to lincoln digging with a friend of mine, entered her in a 'big place'... after a very short time she bolted a fox (?) out. she had bullied it to the extent charlie thought.... ''fcuk this' and had it away.

 

A vixen with cubs however is a different story.

some quarry bolt, some stay firm.

as long as your dog does its job then thats good enough in my eyes

[bshadle 5]

you question yourself, your terrier is it 100%........ is it 100% determined to do what it went to ground for,,, I have dug terriers that when you break through they are 3" away from there quarry nose covered in snot, the quarry is there in front of them steam coming out of it's ears and the terrier looks up at you and wags it's tail, 'look boss I've done my job' I was with someone and this had happened with his dog, he said to I don't like that, the dog's not commited enough, shows weakness... even though we just dug 5' to the fecker... the verdicts open on this one, I dunno...

Easy verdict IMO. A dog that does its job with voice and brains is as much a worker as a dog that does its job with muscle and teeth. An outstanding dog knows when to use either set of skills.

 

Personally, I'd prefer the dog 3" away and ready to work quarry again that day or the next rather than on it but beat up enough to require a long lay-off, but that's just my preference. As said prior, horses for courses.

[J Darcy 5,871]

Well lads we can surmise 'til the cows come home what actually goes on under the sod, but we will never know for certain.

The way i look at it is, if a dog is bolting alot of tackle then it is giving the quarry "room" to bolt. By this i mean i think it backs off.

I am always suspicious of dogs that "always"seem to bolt being called "100%"

 

But, at the end of the day, it dont really matter, as long as the guy feeding and picking its turd up is happy.

 

I have owned top class bolting terriers, but they were top class because they always gave that fox room enough to bolt.

At that time they were all i wanted, and bloody ideal for my own personal scenario.

 

 

 

 

Good hunting JD

[Guest WILF]

100%............hmmm

 

I suppose you have to ask yourself if you would breed from a bolter or an out and out hard fecker............

 

If its the hard fecker as the sire (which in my uneducated opinion it should be), then you dont class the bolter as 100%...........it may be 99.9, but it will never be 100%

 

Just my take on it.............

Edited August 8, 2008 by WILF

[Guest WILF]

Too many shades of grey

 

How very true.......as with all dogs mate.

Its a case of "how long is a bit of string?"...........

[sulurian 3]

To class a dog as 100% it has to be doing the job required at that time. I,ve got bayer,s and "hard" dogs.Each is used depending on what I need at the time.Not rockett science .I,ve had situations like having to move one from a land drain , no chance of digging or bolting so I use a"harder" terrier to pull it out. Other days I have been required to bolt or dig to them for the hounds. If I put in a dog that finished it under ground I wouldn,t welcome back. Nothing set in stone

[Guest WILF]

To explain my post a bit better, we all know that if a dog works 100% the way you want it to then its 100% for you.............my point was and its all just "in theory".........

 

IF you wanted to establish your own kennel of dogs, then would you chose an out and out, do or die hard fecker as the cornerstone of your kennel?.........you may end of with different work styles, but I am talking about the foundation.

 

And, IMHO if the awnser is yes, then somewhere in your mind you dont rate bolters as 100%, otherwise you would have a bolter as the Sire to all your pups.

[bill88 6]

quarry bolts under different circumstances though and I've bolted a few with my old bitch as she's struggled to get on being a good size. Certain earths were a struggle for her so we'd watch old charlie sniff the fresh air and make a break for it.

 

Just because a dog bolts a few doesn't mean it isn't hard. Too many shades of grey

 

Spot on Stabs,as with all kinds of working dogs its very subjective and "Horse's for Course's"

[Bryan 1,362]

how does game bolt out of a ,cul de sac ???

[sionnach 44]

how does game bolt out of a ,cul de sac ???

by pushing the dog out of the way imo

[lakeman 12]

Well lads we can surmise 'til the cows come home what actually goes on under the sod, but we will never know for certain.

The way i look at it is, if a dog is bolting alot of tackle then it is giving the quarry "room" to bolt. By this i mean i think it backs off.

I am always suspicious of dogs that "always"seem to bolt being called "100%"

 

But, at the end of the day, it dont really matter, as long as the guy feeding and picking its turd up is happy.

 

I have owned top class bolting terriers, but they were top class because they always gave that fox room enough to bolt.

At that time they were all i wanted, and bloody ideal for my own personal scenario.

 

 

 

 

Good hunting JD

 

i agree in the most part with what you say, however i had a bitch a few years back, heart of a lion but small in stature.

great fox bitch but struggled in bigger places..

i think you have to also take into account ths size of the earth.

if it's a big rangey place and the dog has trouble bottling-up, it gives the quarry the advantage

 

(i know they're old photo's but she's been dead 2 years now )

Edited August 8, 2008 by lakeman

[Guest sticker]

A 100 percent dog is only 100 percent to the man who works it. his 100 percent could be different to your 100 percent. its all about standards !

[wink hound 0]

intresting posts lads!

 

my theory is that a GOOD 100% bolting dog and a dog that gets pushed about and the quarry bolts are two differnt things. All my good bolting dogs(and ones ive seen) will fly into their quarry like the best of the best hard dogs, for he first 30 secs/ minuite, the tend to give them room, if that dosent shift them i like a dog that will work itself round quarry and bay and mix it out.

 

swansea.. the dog im mentioned that was hard and i could call out would always clamp on when close to break through if it hadnt already killed his quarry. the longest he was to ground without being called out was put in at 2.30 and broke through to at 3 the next morning.... long enough in my book... i could of called him out at any point.

[Guest Eamon.Mc]

Great how such a small comment causes such a stir!!!

[Bryan 1,362]

if a fox is in a stop end, dead end or pocket call it what you will. A dog doesn't bolt it, it Bolts the dog!

a lot of people ignore it when the box shows the dog travelled up a line and then travels back the same line with the "fox being bolted!"

 

In Ireland a fox that has been hunted can not be bolted for hounds, it has to be dug and killed or not dug at all. So a god dog is not frowned on when your out with hounds.

Bryan