It’s a mock hunting trial. Dachshunds were traditionally multipurpose small hunting dogs. Their most well-known quarry is badger but actually they are like terriers in that they “go to ground”- ie they enter dens in pursuit of denning quarry. Badger, European hare, marmot and fox were most commonly pursued. Usually the dachshund did not kill the quarry actually, the “terrierman” hunts with a shovel, digging up and dispatching the quarry cornered by the terrier or dachshund. Still, it takes a lot of bravery to enter an underground burrow and keep the quarry pinned down like that.
But the lesser known fact is that dachshunds are also small hunting hounds, used on the same type of quarry as beagles, bassets, petite basset griffon vendeen and similar dogs. Mainly rabbit and some birds. In North American, dachshund are used on cottontail and jack rabbits, which are not denning animals (unlike the European hare).
So Dachshunds can obtain hunting titles in three types of events:
1. Earthdog, which is a simulated go-to-ground test for dachshunds and terriers. The dogs have to trail quarry under ground and keep on the quarry for X amount of time to pass their test. More advanced tests also require above ground trailing to the den entrance, and then below ground trailing in the den. Rats in cages are used for Earthdog tests and the rats are not harmed. The titles for Earthdog are Junior Earthdog, Senior Earthdog and Master Earthdog.
2. Dachshund Field Trails, which is a simulated above ground rabbit trailing Test on wild or captive cottontail or jack rabbit. The dogs are taken to a rabbity area, the humans beat the bush until a rabbit bolts. Then two dogs are placed on the rabbits scent line and judged on their ability to successfully trail that line. The process continues until the top dachshund for the class is determined, so in the callback process the top few dogs will run multiple times. The title for this one is Field Trial Champion.
3. Hunt Performance Test, which is a simulated above ground rabbit trailing Test on wild or captive rabbit. It’s actually put on by the Basset Hound Club of America but dachshunds are one of a handful of breeds allowed to compete- along with Beagles, PBGVs, and some other rare breeds of small hounds. In the Hunt Performance Test dogs are “cast,” meaning they are turned loose and have to find their own rabbits, trail them, give voice (ie make noise so you know where they are), not be gun shy etc. Dogs can be run solo (usually how a dachshund would have hunted traditionally), in a brace of two dogs or a pack of four. To pass the test, all dogs in the brace or pack have to independently pass all elements of the tests. The titles here are Hunting Hound, Senior Hunting Hound, and Master Hunting Hound.
My little dachshund Phoenix just finished her field championship a few weeks ago. She has a Hunt Test weekend coming up soon, and she needs one more pass of that test in her pack of 4 mini dachshunds to earn her Hunting Hound title. There’s 6 total field trial weekends per year in SoCal, two Hunt Test weekends and two Earthdog weekends. These are complex events to put on and access is limited, so if you’re doing this stuff with your doxies you don’t want to miss a single one!
There now: more than you ever wanted to know about AKC dachshund hunting titles.
