Can You Dig It?

Earthdog enthusiasts and their driven dogs put ancient instinct to the test.

By Patricia Komar | Photographs by Dina Goldstein

Tabu spots the opening in the ground. She whines and barks. Her little body is like a tight muscle, writhing, twisting. In the dark recesses of her mind, she must hear the howls of ancestors urging her on. I put her on the ground. She sniffs the earth. Picks up the scent. She’s off. With her nose plastered to the ground, she runs, looking like a mini-rhinoceros, chasing the invisible scent line right to the hole, disappearing into the tunnel. She’s gone.

Tabu, my Cairn Terrier, is one of many terriers and Dachshunds tested in simulated hunting situations at this earthdog practice held in Aldergrove, British Columbia. Owners bring their dogs here to test the dogs’ instinctual behaviour on scent trails and in underground tunnels leading to quarry. They want to see if little Angus and Heidi can still do what their doggie ancestors were bred to do as early as 55 B.C.: go to ground and get rid of fox, badger, river otters, and other vermin that were wreaking havoc on their owners’ land. Dogs that do well here can go on to participate in Earthdog Tests, Canadian Kennel Club (CKC)-sanctioned, non-competitive events leading to the titles Junior Earthdog, Senior Earthdog, and Master Earthdog. British Columbia held the first Canadian Earthdog Tests in 2002 and the Sea to Sky Earthdog Club now sponsors two sets of testing events each year.

Early Sunday morning, the day of a scheduled practice, Tabu senses something’s up when I begin packing the SUV with her special blanket, favourite bed, stuffies, snacks, and my gumboots. A dead giveaway, the green gumboots. Tabu knows. She races to her seat in the car.

We’re off for an extreme adventure heading down the highway in the direction of rolling hills and fresh country air, leaving behind city noise and traffic jams. As I turn off the highway, Tabu remembers. She’s been here twice before. Her body begins to shudder. She whines and barks. Weird utterances escape her little mouth as she talks in a language known only to other Cairns. She jumps from window to window, her instinct awake. She knows. We’re here to play the game and she’s ready.