Real Earthdog

My Westie, Honey, going into a tunnel to find rabbits.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• earthdog
• terrier
• westie
• tunnel
• hunting
• rabbit
• west
• highland
• dog

[auntielindy]

@Lina - I disagree, I know many westie owners and breeders, know their lineage and finally, I know my own dog. He definitely is a "hunter" and highly motivated to hunt mice, rats, and rabbits. He has actually hunted rodents and found and killed them.

He has an inborn desire to hunt and I have encouraged this. he has been trained to search for rodents and he is fearless.

[VvSpartanSoccer]

isnt that dangerous? i mean if it was a long tunnel he might get lost and stuff!

but cute name and dog!

[auntielindy]

You will see that he is digging his way down. When he first started going into the warrens I kept hold of his tail in case I needed to pull him out. But he learned to go in deeper by digging and hasn't gotten stuck yet. He even turned around inside of this one! He comes out head-first.

Rabbit warrens are often quite large underground, especially the older established warrens like this one in the Holland heatherfield.

[dinoroxxx]

He's just doing what he was bred to do!

[junglistmassgrave]

i got a 7 year old westie i take him in the mountains here in colorado he will disappear for 30 min at a time and come back with all sorts of game i was really worried the first time but he always comes back westie and extremely tough mine has killed fox, coyote and held up against a mean pittbull he's a little trooper

[torotexas]

@mpw604 single minded and persistent.... very good description of a cairn going after quarry. Cairns back down from NOTHING!

[Astrelius]

nice is the first time that i see a westie in a tunnel! :D

[mpw604]

I have a Cairn terrier that hunts all the time. She just killed a possum a few days ago that out weighed her by a good bit. She is fearless and as fast as lightning (even at 11 years old). When digging up rodents she is single minded and wholly persistent. This is what these dogs were bred for.

[mathiastheok]

@VvSpartanSoccer Westies have been bread specifically for underground hunting. Their bark is especially piercing, as it was bread so that once the Westie had done its job, it would start barking wherever it was under the ground and the handlers would then listen for the bark and go actually dig the dog out. Westies tail vertebrae are bread to be thick so you can grab their tail and pull them out of holes and finally they are white so they don't get accidentally shot if used when hunting.

[LinaVH]

I'm not trying to be a "know it all" now. But the westie was never ment to hunt rabbits or rats or whatever. They've been used fr fox, wildcat and badgerhunting. Not many westies have the courage to do this today, but we actually have a couple who hunts for real in Sweden :)

[mbdulka]

Awesome! My Westie is just 8 months now -- he's a city dog, not many rabbits here, but when I go to our mountain home, he's going crazy in the fields ... can't wait for the spring to teach him how to hunt! ;-)

[sherbert500]

@Tobin426 thats the most stupid comment ever lol a badger is in a sett a rabbit is in a set or is your rabbit in a nice warm cage? if the dog works in the ground then hes an earth dog no matter what

[xlxCharlie98xlx]

@auntielindy

you could just dig them out like i do !

[SikkJumpshotzz]

I Think One Day there Will more Than Just a Rabbit