Go to Ground Gets Fancy

 

Go-to-ground has gotten pretty fancy since "back in the day".  At JRTCA nationals this was one of several go-to-ground set ups, complete with sign.  As you can see this was a pretty long  set up -- far longer, but also far easier to negotiate, than any natural tube you are likely to find in the real world. 

 

The inside dimensions of a go-to-ground tunnel are 81 square inches (9x9) and smooth, while the inside dimensions of a tight natural earth pipe are more likely to be closer to 30 square inches (a 6-inch diameter) and continually twisting.  The result is that go-to-ground actually has nothing to do with real hunting in the sense that over-large dogs can easily qualify, and the goal here is not to actually "find" a wild animal on several hundred acres or more, but to "race" to the end where no danger lies and "quarry" is guaranteed.  A dog that ran down a pipe to a fox, raccoon or groundhog at the same speed these dogs race to a caged rat, would soon lose a bit of flesh, if not an eye!  The good news is that dogs that actually hunt and also do go-to-ground seem to figure out the difference in short order.  As a training method for young dogs, some form of go-to-ground is at least 100 years old, though back in the old days it was a simple artificial earth three bricks high with a slate roof, and there were not signs or electronic timers.

Notice in the second picture that there are a series of little "pop-up flags" that rotate up like an ice-fishing flag, to show spectators how far the dog has gotten down the tunnel.  Go-to-ground as spectator sport!

 

In the third picture, you can see how the sections are joined with a wooden "lip" put on the framed box in order to keep out the light, with eye-hooks and bungee cords affixed to keep the sections held tight together. 

 

The last picture show a solid "critter box" to house the rats used as "quarry" (they are completely unharmed and unfazed by the experience).  Notice the two little white towers next to the hay bales, one with a short antennae off the top?  Those are electronic timers that stop the clock as an electric eye is broken by the dog approaching the critter box.   The electric eye is not for the dog -- it's to keep people from arguing with the judge!  If a ribbon is going to be given for go-to-ground, as with anything, people will start to argue and take the game a little too seriously.  The electronic clock keeps things simple and above-board.  On the upside, the dogs could care less how fast one did compared to another.  Instead, they all ask each other the same thing:  Did you smell RATS?

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