Cloned Dog Not a Fake

A Korean science company has run tests on the dog that Korean scientists claimed they had cloned and they say the dog is indeed the result of a cloning process. The Korean scientists tnat made the claim, HwangWoo-suk, is under fire for fabricating virtually all of his embryonic stem cell research. The Korean institute HumanPass ran tests and determined that Snuppy is the world's first cloned dog. It said DNA fingerprint tests showed cells from Snuppy matched those of its cell donor, an Afghan hound named Thai.

Hunt Numbers are Up, Up, Up

Yorkshire Post, December 27, 2005

Outlawed - But Hunting is More Popular Than Ever

Massive crowds expected to show support at Boxing Day meets
by Simon McGee, Political Editor

HUNTING with hounds is more popular now than before it was outlawed - and today's Boxing Day meets are expected to be the busiest in the history of Yorkshire's hunts.

Membership across the county has risen by about 10 per cent, although in some areas hunt rolls are up by 20 per cent, the Countryside Alliance (CA) says.

A year ago there were widespread fears that the Hunting Act, which came into effect on February 18, would lead to the disbanding of packs, retirement or destruction of dogs and loss of thousands of countryside jobs.

But masters of hunts and organisers say the ban and the controversy surrounding it have galvanised support for the pursuit and acted as a recruiting sergeant for people who had previously no links or interest in the sport until the political furore made it front-page news.

It is now so popular that at least one Yorkshire hunt has had to take the almost un-heard of decision to cap the numbers of riding members turning up on meet days, because of concern for the farmland they ride across.

Hunts say the law, which took eight years of Parliam-entary wrangles and hundreds of hours of debate in Westminster, has so many loopholes and so much scope for interpretation that they can continue going out with hounds and killing foxes.

The law allows packs of hounds to be exercised, and absolves huntsmen from blame if dogs catch a scent and kill a fox, so long as they do not set out to go fox hunting and do everything they can to stop the chase and a kill taking place.

Dogs can also be used to flush out underground foxes that are considered a danger to game or livestock, so they can be shot.

Yorkshire's hunts are killing about 15 foxes a week, the same number as before the ban, the CA has previously estimated, and to date the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has not proceeded with a single prosecution anywhere under the Act.

The CA's Yorkshire regional chairman John Haigh said: "Everyone said last year's Boxing Day hunt would be the last, but as it happens we're now looking forward to massive crowds of support at every meet across the county.

"We've shown we can stick together in the face of the Hunting Act and we're determined to carry on and keep everything in place for when the Act is one day repealed".

In North Yorkshire Glaisdale Hunt says subscriptions are up 20 per cent, while the Bedale has not only reported a 10 per cent rise but also a limit on meet days because of concern about the potential damage to farmland by too many horses.

Hurworth Hunt has also seen a 10 per cent boost in members.

Subscriptions to the Badsworth and Bramham Moor Foxhounds, which meets across the middle of Yorkshire, are up by eight per cent.

Barlow Hounds, which hunts in South Yorkshire and North East Derbyshire, has seen the number who turn up to ride regularly rise from about 50 to 60 and a clear increase in subscriptions.

Hunt secretary Caroline Excell-Thomas said: "We have more subscribers and members coming along twice a week than ever before. And we have all these people coming along who had no connection with hunting before the ban gave it so much publicity.

"Overall, we're well up on last year and are expecting our biggest Boxing Day meet ever. We're going great guns".

The Holderness and York/Ainsty South hunts said membership was as strong as it was a year ago.

Ryedale's Tory MP John Greenway, who vigorously opposed the ban, said the popularity of hunting with dogs had shown that the Act had been "a complete and utter waste of time".

"The law is unworkable and defective. It's as simple as that and we said so at the time. You only have to look at how it's boosted hunting. I'm not surprised that membership is up - it's what I'm hearing all the time. As many people as ever, if not more, will be turning up today".

One of many Yorkshire Labour backbenchers who supported the ban, Selby MP John Grogan, said: "So long as everyone is obeying the law I'm happy that the spectacle of horses riding across the countryside continues.

"If they are not staying within the law, as some people allege, then no doubt there'll be a prosecution at some stage".

The CA's new chairman, pro-hunt Labour MP Kate Hoey, will be at Riley-Smith Hall, Tadcaster, on Thursday, January 12, as part of a regional tour to meet members and supporters.

Keeping a Dog Warm After Work

It's foxing season, and though its about 50 degrees out at the moment, that will change very soon and fox will then be found to ground. After an hour or more underground in very cold weather, a dog ending its work will come out of the ground very adrenalized and warm from the work and the natural insulation of the earth.

That will soon change, however, as the adrenaline in the dog's system falls and its body temperature drops. The dog will be breathing heavily, drawing large volumes of cold air into its lungs. At the same time, it's energy and sugar levels may be falling. If the dog is a little wet from the ground or the snow outside -- and especially if a wind is blowing -- it may begin to suffer from hypothermia.

Take care of your dogs and keep them warm. A space blanket weighs very little and costs very little, and can boost a dog's temperature and cut off the wind if it is rugged up inside it. Another good item to have with you is some sort of chemical hand warmer. "Heat Factory" warmers are disposable and cost only 75 cents to a dollar for 12 to 24 hours of continuous heat. These are excellent things for you to have for yourself, and may be critical for the dog. "ReHeater Reusable Heat Packs" are another variation. These can be reused, but cost $7 dollars a unit and provide only 45 minutes of heat. See Cheaper than Dirt for other options.

Scouting for Fox Dens

Went out today without the dogs to explore a new large tract of land. Found a lot of old groundhog dens and three or four dens I suspect are fox digs due to their size, placement and/or recent digging.

It rained yesterday, and the temperature was over 45 degrees, so the snow is melting and the ground is far too boggy to dig and no self-respecting fox will be to ground in this warm weather. Come a cold snap, however, and I have a couple of new likely spots to try.

Trapping Still Going Strong in Pennsylvania

From the Scranton (PA) Times-Tribune:

Deer and turkey hunting seasons get most of the attention, but few realize the trapping industry is alive and well in Pennsylvania. In 2004, Pennsylvania sold 24,094 furtaker licenses, up from 1999 when 17,604 were sold.

While the sport provides enough financial return to just about cover the trapper’s expenses, they do a far more important job keeping the state’s furbearer population in check.

“Residents who think nuisance wildlife problems are bad now can’t begin to imagine how bad they’d get if these individuals weren’t removing some of the surplus furbearers our state produces annually,” Vern Ross, Game Commission Executive Director, said.

“Trappers help reduce the number of furbearers that spread rabies, stalk pets, prey on livestock, raid garbage cans, flood rural roadways, and cause crop-damage,” Ross said. “Each year, they annually remove thousands of surplus furbearers from fields, forests, waters and suburban areas.

“In the process, they are helping to align furbearer populations with the carrying capacity of the habitat they live in, and reducing the frequency in which residents will encounter these animals — or the damage they can cause to property. It’s a great help to those people who are looking for relief from the troubles caused by nuisance furbearers.”

Generally the trapping season begins around mid-October and lasts through February with special seasons for some species. Prime pelts, ones that bring the most money at the international fur market, are found when animals grow thicker coats as the weather gets colder.

In 2004, the Game-Take Survey that the Game Commission normally conducted was cut due to budget constraints. But in 2003, furtakers took about 105,000 raccoons; 71,500 muskrats; 34,000 opossum; 31,500 red fox; 16,000 gray fox; 6,500 mink; 11,500 coyote and 9,500 skunks. These figures have been relatively stable during the last few years.

Beaver trapping opens Dec. 26 and will continue until sunset March 31. Beaver trappers no longer are required to have their harvested beavers tagged by a Game Commission representative.

Beavers were reintroduced into Pennsylvania in 1917 and, in the last 20 years, they have expanded their range greatly and have substantial populations in our area. In 2003, trappers took 6,757 beavers, up from 4,538 the year before, but down from 2001 when trappers collected 10,934. Variances are greatly influenced by weather conditions, such as ice and heavy snow.

In order for a person to run a trap line in Pennsylvania, he or she must possess a furtaker or combination license. Traps must have an identification tag with owner information and the owner must check each trap every 36 hours.

FrankenFido

William Saletan, one of Slate's national correspondents, wrote the piece below, which I hope folks will circulate widely as it may get people to thinking about where closed dog registries lead -- concentrated genetic defects without hope of outcross.

I suppose the breed clubs will have their own spin on this: "show ring breeders help cure cancer." And of course, it will be true, though not the whole story by any measure. . . .

By William Saletan, Slate Magagine, Dec. 14, 2005


Dogs: Made to order

Have you heard the latest news? We've decoded the DNA of dogs. Here's how the media-approved version of the story goes: We're showing our love for "man's best friend" by discovering and treating the genetic causes of his ailments. In return, we'll learn to treat the same ailments in ourselves.

It's a heartwarming story, but it's a fraud. The reason we targeted the dog genome for decoding is that it's useful for genetic research. The reason it's useful for genetic research is that dogs are neatly divided into breeds, each of which is plagued by specific diseases. And the reason dogs are divided into diseased breeds is that we made them that way. Dogs are the world's longest self-serving, ecologically reckless genetic experiment, perpetrated by the world's first genetically engineering species: us.

Dogs were just a loose category of wolves until around 15,000 years ago, when our ancestors tamed and began to manage them. We fed them, bred them, and spread them from continent to continent. While other wolf descendants died out, dogs grew into a new species. We invented the dog.

We didn't pick just any wolves for this project. We picked the ones that could help us and get along with us. Dogs are dumber than monkeys and other mammals in many ways, but they excel at one thing: interpreting human behavior. Three years ago, scientists tested this talent in wolves, adult dogs, puppies raised in households, and puppies raised in kennels. The wolves couldn't read humans well, but the puppies could — even the puppies raised in kennels. Through selection, we've hardwired human compatibility into dogs. We've made a species in our image.

But that wasn't enough. We had specific needs. We bred hunting dogs, herding dogs, sled dogs, and guard dogs. (We also tried a few unauthorized uses.) We turned reproductive separation and inbreeding into a science, multiplying and dividing the species into more than 400 breeds. The American Kennel Club sorts them into the Sporting Group, Working Group, Herding Group, Hound Group (whose ancestors were "used for hunting"), Terrier Group (whose ancestors "were bred to hunt and kill vermin"), and Toy Group. "The diminutive size and winsome expressions of Toy dogs illustrate the main function of this Group: to embody sheer delight," says the club's Web site. Every dog has his duty.

Each need, each breed, called for special traits. We bred collies for vigilance, Rottweilers for aggression, retrievers for obedience. In a span of decades, we bred ferocity into Dobermans and then, with equal deliberateness, bred it out. We treated dogs like guns. We designed and bought them for protection, then complained when they hurt us. When cities banned pit bulls, we bought Rottweilers. It was as easy as replacing an illegal assault weapon with a legal one.

Not all our designs were utilitarian. We made some breeds just for fun. Some, like the Pharaoh Hound, were thought to be ancient because they looked like dogs drawn on Egyptian tombs. But last year, when we checked their DNA, we found no evidence they were older than modern breeds. Apparently, breeders crafted them by mating dogs that looked like the drawings. Life imitated art.

In the course of engineering dogs to look, feel, and act as we wanted, we ruined millions of them. We gave them legs so short they couldn't run, noses so flat they couldn't breathe, tempers so hostile they couldn't function in society. Even our best intentions backfired. Nature invented sexual reproduction to diversify gene pools and dilute bad variants. By forcing dogs into incest (which we ban among humans, in part for biological reasons), we defied nature. We concentrated each bad gene in a breed, magnifying its damage: epilepsy for springer spaniels, diabetes for Samoyeds, bone cancer for Rottweilers. That's why the dog genome is so nifty: We can find disease genes just by comparing one breed's DNA to another's.

Well, too bad for the dogs. But three cheers for us and our experiment. "The dog genome is a wonderful playground for geneticists," exults the New York Times. "A treasure trove," says the San Francisco Chronicle. "A convenient laboratory," agrees Reuters.

Man's best friend, indeed.

A Wrench that Doesn't Fit

Histories are always an interesting thing, as are breed standards and the all-breed dog books.

I have found that all of these things seem to copy each other, with one bit of idiocy begatting another, so that now about half of the all-breed books say a border terrier is 10 inches tall. I suppose we will soon discover that John Russell bought a dog named "Milkman" from a man named Trump, and that a Border Terrier was named after the "South of the Border" franchise!

In that vein, I was on the web site of the breeders association for AKC "Parson" Russell Terrier, and found an interesting history that made me laugh. There are several things poorly phrased in this history, but I will not quibble with the small parts, but focus on the main.

The PRTAA breed history begins, "The Parson Russell Terrier was first bred in the south of England in the mid-1800's to hunt European red fox ..."

Good up to there, I suppose, though the dog predates John Russell (he had no problem finding a white foxing terrier to mate to Trump!) and was not called a "Russell" terrier (of any type) until after the Reverend was stone dead. In the mid 1800s they were fox terriers or foxing terriers until the Kennel Club ruined the breed and disgraced the name.

I suppose that one should also note that there is not such thing as a "European" red fox; there is only a red fox, and it is the same animal all over the world, from Israel to England, and from Canada to California. The fact that the American red fox is the same as the "European " variety -- and is in fact an import from the U.K. -- will no doubt come as a surprise to the theorists in the Kennel Club.

The history goes on to note that "Rev. Russell was a founding member of England's Kennel Club in 1873, and in 1874 he judged fox terriers for The Kennel Club."

Well yes, this is true, but there is a bit more isn't there? Russell was 78 years old when the Kennel Club was created -- an old man broken by poverty who had been forced to sell off his pack of hounds because he could no longer afford to keep them. He judged one of the very first Kennel Club shows, but his remarks at that show are notable. As he somewhat humorously described his own terriers after going to the show and seeing the Transvestite dogs being paraded around the ring: "True terriers [my dogs] were, but differing from the present show dogs as the wild eglantine differs from a garden rose."

Russell never did register his own terriers with the Kennel Club, noting that the things selected for at shows (color of the nose, placement of the ear, etc.) were of no use to a working terrier in the field. As far as I can tell, he judged only one show, found it an amusing disgrace, and never repeated the mistake!

The PRTAA history goes on: "The first breed Standard was drafted in 1904 by Arthur Heinemann, who founded the Parson Jack Russell Terrier Club in 1914."

In fact what Heinemann founded was the Devon and Somerset Badger Digging Club, and he founded it in 1902, the same year he bought the Cheriton Otterhounds. Heinemann never met Russell (he was only 12 when Russell died) and his dogs were not descended from Russell's dogs (Russell had only only four very old terriers at the end).

The PRTAA web site goes on: "The JRTAA standard was based upon the Heinemann standard and was written to represent the Parson Russell Terrier as a working terrier to red fox and red fox alone."

Really? A digging club called the "Devon and Somerset Badger Club" wrote a breed standard for an animal they were not working??? What an odd thing.

In fact it is pure bunk invented by people who do not dig and who have have conveniently cut down the history to fit their nonworking dogs.

In the world of show dogs, fantasy feeds more than substance, and more dirt is thrown with a computer keyboard than with a shovel in the field.

The world of the working terrier allows for different sized dogs for different earths, situations and quarries. Different wrenches for different nuts, so to speak.

A badger sette and a fox pipe are not the same size, nor are the animals that dig them. A fox may put up in a badger earth, in which case a larger dog can be used, or it may put up in a drain, in which case a larger dog can be used, but a European badger earth and a natural fox den are not the same size. If you are hunting fox you need a dog capable of following an animal with a 14" chest -- it's that simple.

The true history of the AKC breed standard seems to be that they have a breed standard written by a badger digging club that they are now presenting as a breed standard for working red fox in a natural earth.

No wonder there are so few Kennel Club dogs found in the field! It's a bit like an American mechanic showing up at a Volvo factory and wondering why none of his wrenches fit!
.

New Land on a Snowy Day

I went out yesterday and found 1,800 new acres very near where I hunt now. I haven't been over but a small bit of it, and it's under an inch or two of snow, but it looks like it will be very nearly ideal.

Fox tracks all over my regular farms, but nothing to ground that the dog and I could find (42 degrees is a bit warm to find fox to ground).

On the new ground I found more fox tracks and also turkey tracks.





I just had one dog with me, and she found the possum below. A small muddy day, but no day out with the dogs is wasted time.

FREE Postage, International and Domestic

For those looking to order American Working Terriers, I have just discovered that you can get FREE shipping, both domestic and international, by simply selecting "Supersaver Shipping" from the postage method box. Who knew? It ships a little slower, but it's free (proof that time is money).

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Canine Genetics Made Easy?

First we had artificial insemination, then we had artificial insemination with frozen sperm ("pupcicles"), and then we had dogs being cloned ("Clone, clone on the range, where the dogs and the puppies all play ..."

Now scientists have mapped almost the entire canine genome. The article below, from The Boston Globe, gives the details:

Team of Scientists Maps Out 99% of Dog Genome

Scientists have finished a sophisticated map of a dog's genes, providing new insights into the deep links between humans and one of their most treasured animals, as well as creating a unique tool for studying a range of diseases, from cancer to blindness, that affect people and their dogs.

The team of scientists, led by the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, determined virtually the entire genetic code, or genome, of the dog, making the achievement the canine equivalent of the completion two years ago of the Human Genome Project, the scientists said yesterday. Rough drafts of the dog genome have been released over the past several years, but the new work represents the first highly accurate version and also includes, for the first time, a detailed library of common genetic variations seen in dogs -- making possible a new generation of fast, accurate genetic studies of diseases and other traits.

Biologists have taken up the genetics of many animals, but the dog is uniquely interesting and useful, the scientists said, because of its history. The modern dog, including several hundred breeds, is the product of thousands of years of careful breeding, aimed at drawing out specific behaviors, such as the obsessive herding of the Border collie, or appearances, such as the hairless Chinese crested. By applying the modern tools of genetics to these breeds, it is now easy to find the small genetic variations responsible for the differences, with applications from dog breeding to human psychiatry. The genetic map of the dog announced yesterday should also accelerate the search for the genetic causes of diseases that plague certain breeds, perhaps leading to cures for dog and man alike.

''It is a historic day in the relationship between man and dog," said Eric S. Lander at a press conference yesterday, as a pug and an Akita tussled in the back of the room at the Bayside Exposition Center, where a dog show was being set up. Lander is the director of the Broad Institute and the owner of two golden retrievers.

Scientists said that the dog also stands as a testament to the power of evolution -- and its importance -- at a time when some are challenging its teaching in public schools. Looking for the genetic causes of human diseases in dogs makes sense only if humans and dogs are close evolutionary relatives that share a common ancestor -- a fact that is strongly supported by the genetic map Lander and his colleagues found.

''Biomedical research today depends on evolution," said Lander. ''It is hard to say that it is 'just a theory.' "

The research, which is reported today in the journal Nature, was led by Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, co-director of genome sequencing and analysis at the Broad Institute. Using a blood sample from a boxer named Tasha, the team determined about 99 percent of the sequence of DNA that makes up the dog genome.

The team, which included researchers across the United States as well as in France and the United Kingdom, also compiled a list of 2.5 million places in this sequence where there are common differences among dogs. This was done, according to the Nature paper, by comparing Tasha's DNA with DNA from a poodle and a number of other breeds -- enough, the scientists said, to record many of the most common variations in dogs.

Having this list of common differences will make it far easier for researchers to do genetic studies involving large numbers of dogs, because they can focus on the places in the genome where dogs are likely to have differences that might explain why one dog gets bone cancer and another does not. For example, scientists who are interested in why some greyhounds get bone cancer, and others do not, can look at these places to see if there is a pattern, without having to determine the entire genetic code of each dog -- about 2.4 billion molecules long. ''This is really the big thing," said Gregory M. Acland, a senior research associate at the Institute for Animal Health at Cornell University.

Many ailments -- including cancer, epilepsy, and heart disease -- are thought to be similar in dogs and humans, but it will be easier to identify the genes involved using dogs, said Acland, who studies genetic diseases that affect vision. In contrast to humans, dog breeds are highly in-bred, making two dogs in the same breed more similar genetically than two humans. Thus, for example, scientists could compare Dalmatians that are deaf with those that are not deaf, and there would be fewer random genetic differences between the dogs clouding the picture than if the same study were done in humans.

The work described yesterday, and follow-up work planned to study specific diseases, were made possible by the efforts of the American Kennel Club and dog owners who agreed to send in blood samples from their pets. (Owners of pure-breed dogs who are interested in participating can find more information at www.dogdna.org.) The research was funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.

Dogs themselves are a human creation, thought to have begun when people domesticated the wolf in East Asia. The new analysis suggests that this happened about 30,000 years ago, said Lindblad-Toh.

The researchers also compared the DNA of dogs with completed genomes for humans and mice, and what they found challenges one idea about what makes humans special. When the human genome was first compared with that of the mouse, several years ago, scientists found evidence that the genes that are active in the cells of the brain seem to have evolved more quickly in humans than in mice, hinting that this might explain the intellect of humans. The new analysis casts doubt on this theory, because it shows that the brain-related genes in dogs have been evolving just as fast as those of humans, according to Tarjei S. Mikkelsen, a scientist at the Broad. The dog has about 19,300 genes, slightly fewer than humans, who have about 20,000 genes, according to Lindblad-Toh.

The researchers also identified a portion of the genome, about 5 percent, that is shared by dogs, humans, and mice -- meaning this portion is apparently essential to mammals. Yet less than half of that is devoted to genes. What the rest of the genetic material does is a mystery, but it is thought that some of this material may regulate when the genes turn off and on in particular cells. Still, the fact that the function of this crucial part of the genome is unknown underlines how much there is to learn.

For those who have been involved in dog genetics for years, there is hope that the new work will put the dog on the same footing as other favorite research organisms, such as the fruit fly and the mouse. In a way, it is a logical next step for the dog, which has done so much for humans -- guardian, hunter, companion. Yet there is also irony in discovering the scientific potential of dogs, noted Mark W. Neff, a scientist at the Center for Veterinary Genetics at the University of California, Davis. ''We are so close to our pet dogs, that we stop thinking of them as this incredible, unique species," Neff said.

The Death of the Fox Inn

The Death of Fox Inn is now a private residence.

In 1768, Washington was appointed as a delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and managed to fill his need for fox hunting at the Gloucester Hunting Club across the River from Philadelphia in New Jersey near present-day Haddonfield. It was largely because of the social and political connections made while fox hunting that Washington's social prominence rose, and in 1775 Washington was Congress's unanimous choice as commander of the new Continental Army that was to lead the American forces in their fight against the British.

In 1774, one year before Washington was tapped to lead the fledgling Continental Army, William Eldridge began a tavern at 217 Kings Highway (aka County Road 551), in Mount Royal, New Jersey. The tavern was known as Eldridge's Tavern or "The Death of the Fox Inn".

The name is derived from the fact that the hunters of the Gloucester Fox Hunting Club (1766 to 1818) often gathered at the inn after the chase.

Fox hunting shaped several key components of the Revolutionary War. A fox terrier owned by British General Howe was found during the middle of a battle, and was later returned to him by General Washington. Some historians believe this later led Howe to resign when told he must show the American forces no mercy.

After the revolution, it was the members of the Gloucester Fox Hunting Club, meeting at "The Death of the Fox Inn" that engineered Washington's selection as the first President of the United States.

Great nations from tiny fox hunting clubs are borne.

Mad Scientists Lose Funding for Fox Extinction

Back in August of 2004, I posted a piece ("The End of the Game") on something called viral immunocontraception. The basic thrust of this Australian mad-scientist scheme was to create a virus to sterilize entire populations of animals: fox, rabbits, people, mice, rats, carp, etc.

The chance for such a thing to run out of control and end "Life on Earth as We Know It"seems pretty obvious ... but apparently not to a small cadre of Australian scientists warmly embraced by Animal Right lunatics willing to risk killing off everything on Earth in order to prevent hunters from firing a shot.

The good news is that the the main groups of scientists working in this arena have lost their funding after 10 years of no subsantive progress in the field.

A news story, from the Australian media, is appended below:

Fox Free to Breed Like Rabbits

Australian scientists have abandoned attempts to develop a contraceptive vaccine for rabbits and foxes, saying the approach has failed to produce results after 10 years.

Dr Tony Peacock, chief executive officer of the Invasive Animals CRC, formerly the Pest Animal Control CRC, says resistance to genetic modification from the grazing industry has also influenced the decision to scale back the contraception work.

Hopes had been high for the success of a contraceptive vaccine delivered via the myxoma virus for rabbits and via non-toxic bait for foxes.

But Peacock says the rebadged CRC is changing tack on controlling the European rabbit and the European red fox, among Australia's worst pests.

"There are major changes in those two programs because the immunocontracepive work we've been doing for a decade in those species we can't take any further at the moment," he says.

"We couldn't make it work well enough to justify the millions and millions of dollars we'd have to spend to keep going [and] the grazing industries are very nervous about proceeding with the GM approach, and our work is genetic modification."

While the rabbit project will be scaled back from a "full-on development", he says basic research into the rabbit reproductive system will continue at the CRC.

The CRC also intends to press ahead with efforts to develop a contraceptive approach to mouse control, which has proved more effective and is better accepted by the grains industry, Peacock says.

Some smaller groups will continue to study contraceptive methods of pest control, he says.

New focus

Peacock says the focus will move back to the rabbit calicivirus, introduced in 1995, and new, improved fox baiting.

"We think the lethal [fox baiting] approach has some advantages and we can deliver it more quickly," he says.

Meanwhile, calicivirus has been effective in some parts of the country but has failed to make a real dent in others, and the CRC wants to see how its effects can become more uniform.

Peacock says feral rabbits and foxes remain an "enormous" problem and admits researchers are still scratching their heads for a solution.

"What we would advocate is, if it's possible to look at a biological control we should pursue it," he says.

"But it's long term research and it's only happened twice in the world, twice in Australia, twice on the rabbit."

Funding row

But all the CRC's new plans could be derailed by a funding row that Peacock says is threatening the organisation's future.

He says one of the CRC's partners, the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, is considering pulling out of an agreement to provide A$10.5 million because of a dispute with the New South Wales government.

If the commission decides to pull out of the CRC it would directly affect the so-called daughterless carp program and potentially affect all other aspects of the CRC.

A spokesperson says commissioners will meet in Queensland next Tuesday to make a decision.

"They agreed to put in A$10 million and now they're reconsidering it to anywhere between ten and zero," Peacock says.

"If we lose a big chunk of money then the committee that recommended the CRC [for funding] needs to reassess it."

Fell and Mooreland Swag

First of all, congratulations to the Midlands Fell and Moorland Terrier Club for putting together a web site! I firmly believe that one of the reasons terrier work has been pushed to the ropes in the U.K. is that not enough has been done to present it in a positive light. This web site is a small move in the right dirction. For example, look at the small collection of press stories about F&M rescues. Excellent!

Rescues are not always cheap, but raising cash and consciousness can be done at the same time with a little swag, and so F&M has a little of that too. For those making a purchase of caps, polo shirts, rugby shirts, fleeces make sure you have included enough to pay for postage to the U.S. -- U.S. prices are noted on some things, and a little bit extra does not hurt.

Hunting Dog Found 70 Feet Underground

Mountain Cur at full cry.

2005-11-17, by Thomas Fraser of The Daily Times, Maryville, Tennessee

Bryan Hepperly's dog is one tough Buck.

The 2-year-old mountain cur --named Buck -- disappeared over two weeks ago while Hepperly was hunting raccoons in Dry Valley. Buck was found stuck 70 feet underground in Panther Cave near Kelley Gap on Monday, not far from the boundary of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The dog was the subject of a technical rescue Tuesday by Great Smokies ranger Rick Brown after campers at Ace Gap heard barking from a hole in the ground.

The dog is ``very skinny'' and exhausted, Hepperly said, but in otherwise good shape. Buck is recuperating at the veterinarian. His prognosis is excellent, despite the fact the dog had nothing to eat for 16 days, ``unless something fell in that hole,'' Hepperly said.

He believes his dog was stuck in the cave all 16 days because there was no signal from his tracking collar, which can be detected reliably for miles -- but not underground. The dog was likely chasing a raccoon, which can run for miles, when he fell into the cave.

``I was really glad to get the news,'' Hepperly said, noting that Buck is one fine coon dog. ``Actually, I was going to put a $1,000 reward out for him,'' he said. He looked high and low for the dog ``every other day for 16 days,'' and had come to the conclusion Buck had been stolen.

Park visitors staying at campsite No. 4 off the Ace Gap Trail first heard the dog Monday and determined the animal was stuck underground some 300 yards from the campsite, according to Park spokeswoman Nancy Gray. With the help of a harnessed worker from the site of a nearby house under construction, they saw Buck about 40 feet underground.

Four rangers responded to the mouth of the cave about 10 a.m. Tuesday, and Brown lowered himself 40 feet down the first shaft of the cave. There he found that Buck had apparently fallen another 30 feet during the night.

He lowered himself into that chamber, fastened a makeshift harness and lifted Buck to safety.

Deben Mark III System

Deben has a new Mark III locator collar system which is set to replace the poorly received Mark II locator system which is being jettisoned after just one year. The old Mark I system is no longer being made.

The new Mark III system is getting good marks from experienced, no-nonsense ferreters. I have not tried the new Mark III system myself -- most of what I know has come from Simon Whitehead's posts about the new collar and box.

Though the new Mark III collar is listed on the Deben web site (see the ferret side of the web site) no picture is offered. As you can see from the picture above, however, the new Mark III system looks much like the Mark II system (LED lights, water-resistant receiver, nylon collar) but the collar buckle of the Mark III is gray.

Simon Whitehead reports that "The Mark III has every thing the Mark II didn’t" and that includes the fact that the new Mark III box will pick up the old Mark I collar signals (but not vice versa, apparently). This is a big deal in my book.

One of the complaints with the Mark II collars was that the collar batteries drained pretty quickly, but that problem seems to be fixed in the Mark III collar. The new collar is reported to have 300 hours of useful battery life. The battery life for the receiver is said to be 30 continuous hours of "on" time, which is quite a lot if you remember that we generally have the box on for not much more than 10 minutes at a hole.

One of the nice things about the new receiver box is that it can track more than one collar underground at a time -- a big use to ferreters, and not a bad thing to have with the dogs. The locating range on the new box is 16 feet -- a bit better than the old Mark I (15 feet), but not as good as the Mark II which claimed 20 feet. While the old Mark I was good at locating to within a foot, the new Mark III is reported to track to within 6 inches.

The new Mark III does away with the dial on the Mark I, and replaces it with LED lights and a very loud clicker which speeds up the closer you are to the dog. With the sound signal and the LED lights combined, finding the dog is said to be pretty intuitive.

So what's the downside? Reportedly locating with the new Mark III rig is a little bit slower than an experienced hand with a Mark I can do. In addition, the new rig is about $180 for a complete collar and box set, as compared to $125 for the previous Mark I incarnation.

In actual use, the new Mark III system operates much like the old Mark I, with slow passes over the top of the ground used to narrow down the location of the dog based on the signals from the LED lights, and the clicking coming from the box.

The new Mark III box receiver is more-or-less waterproof, unlike the old Mark I box, and the new system also produces a louder and more irritating sound. Louder is better as far as I am concerned -- the old Mark I rig was often hard to hear on windy days.

The bottom line is that, with just a few weeks testing to satisfy the skeptics, the new Deben Mark III rig seems to be an improvement over both of its predecessors, and the transmitter remains small enough to use in a tight earth.

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Update: The Mark III system is the kit being used by ferreters, but has proven too flimsy for terrier work. The Deben LRT or the Bellman and Flint collar and box sets are now the only thing recommended. For U.S. work, where pipe size is very tight, I like the Deben LRT, but different strokes for different folks.
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NEW American Working Terrier Book

This is the book on American working terriers you always always wished someone would write: Practical, common sense, terrier work for the beginner, laid out in a clear no-nonsense style with chapters on the history of working terriers in Europe and America, along with sections on introducing young dogs to work, tools, technique, American terrier quarry, hazards, and veterinary care for working dogs.

The sections on veterinary care and tools alone will save most people more money than the cost of this book, while the tips on digging, locator collars, skunk toxic shock, and handling quarry at the end of a dig, may save you more than money.

This book is about American working terriers, but if you show, breed or judge any type of terrier, you will find this book an eye-opener. Chapter One, for example, explains why (and how) the development of dog shows resulted in the elevation of linked structural characteristics that have resulted in breed after terrier breed disappearing from the working field, while Chapter Four explains what is really required in a good working terrier.

This book is quite unlike any other terrier book on your shelf, if for no other reason than this one actually talks about American wildlife and gives useful and practical information about hunting, health care, equipment and techniques. It also contains two chapters which cover the sweep of European and American terrier history from Thomas Malthus to Tony Blair, and from George Washington to PETA.

This book will be for sale on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, etc., sometime in the next two months.

A Very Happy Turkey Day

The wild turkey is America's largest ground-nesting bird. It generally requires a lot of forest -- 2,000 acres or more -- to mantain the food it needs to thrive. The reason for this is that in the dead of winter wild turkey depend on acorns and other mast nuts and seed for survival. This food is only produced in abundace by mature hardwood trees -- oak, beech, dogwood, cherry and gum.

A century ago, virtually all the stands of such trees had been logged out in the Eastern U.S. As the trees vanished, so did the wild turkeys.

The turkey was further pushed towards oblivion by rapid improvements in gun accuracy, and weak game laws that had yet to to catch up to the changing dynamics of landscape and technology.

By 1910, there were fewer than 30,000 wild turkeys left in America. Then, as incredible as it now seems, and amazing turnaround occured.

In 1900, the Lacey Act ended commercial hunting of wild animals. Probably no law has done more to improve the status of American wildlife, as commerical hunters bled the land white, shooting everything that moved. Wild game merchants sold pigeons for a penny apiece, and ducks for only a little more. Hunters using cannons loaded with shrappnel would shoot 400 ducks in a day in Eastern Shore marshes, while market deer hunters would set up bait stations near roads and shoot 20 deer in a night. The Lacey Act ended market hunting, which set the stage for the restoration of the game species necessary for recreational and sport hunting.

In 1911 the Weeks Act authorized the U.S. government to buy millions of acres of eastern mountain land that had been chopped clean of forest in order to obtain wood for railroads, paper, firewood and timber. This was one of the very first "big governmental bailouts" of industry. Unlike most of the others that followed, however, this bail out left America with a permanent and positive legacy: most of the National Forests in the Eastern United States.

With the Depression and migration to cities, more and more marginal farmland began to revert to woody plots. Spontaneous regeneration and Civilian Conservation Corps tree-planting worked together, and hardwood forests began to reclaim the land.

The 1937 Wildlife Restoration Act (aka, the Pittman-Robertson Act) initiated a new tax on rifles, shotguns and ammunition with the revenue raised going to fund wildlife conservation.

Pittman-Robertson Act funds enabled wild turkey eggs to be gathered, and poults were hatched and released into the wild. Unfortunately, pen-raised birds were quickly decimated by predation and starvation. Some thought the extinction of wild turkeys was only a matter of time. Restocking turkeys was not going to be as easy as restocking streams with trout.

New tactics were tried. A few wild turkeys were caught in wooden box traps intended for deer. They were moved to suitable habitat, but they too quickly perished. The reintroduction of wild turkeys was beginning to look hopeless.

After World War II, game managers began to experiment again. This time, cannon nets -- large nets propelled by black powder rocket charges -- were used. These net enveloped an entire turkey flock at once.

Moving an entire flock of wild turkeys seemed to work. The first few flocks that were relocated began to thrive, in part because regrown forest provided more food stock for the birds to live on. The millions of acres of mountain land purchased in 1911, thanks to the Weeks Act, had become stands of maturing hardwoods in the National Forest system.

Systematic restocking of wild turkey continued through the 50s and 60s, and by 1973, when the National Wild Turkey Federation was formed, the population of wild birds in the U.S. had climbed to 1.3 million.

With the creation of the National Wild Turkey Federation more sportsmen and private land owners were recruited for habitat protection and wild turkey reintroduction.

Today, the range of the American wild turkey is more extensive than it was in pre-Columbian times, and the total wild turkey population has climbed to 5.5 million birds.

Wild turkey hunting is now a billion-dollar-a-year industry, with 2.6 million hunters harvesting about 700,000 birds a year.

Today wild turkey still depend on oaks for food in the dead of winter, but they also glean corn and soy from mechanized fields where so much is left on the ground. Provided there are a woods and water nearby, and hunting is regulated, the wild turkey will continue to thrive despite all odds.

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The AKC Embraces the Jack Russell

Conformation for people as well as dogs!

Sometime in the late 1990s, following the appearance of Jack Russell Terriers in a host of TV and Hollywood productions ranging from “Wishbone” and “Frasier” to “My Dog Skip” and “The Mask,” the American Kennel Club decided to add the Jack Russell Terrier to its roles.

As they previously had done with the Border Collie, the AKC ignored the strong and vocal opposition of the large existing breed club, and quietly assembled a covey of show-ring breeders to serve as the nucleus of a new AKC-friendly breed club.

The “Jack Russell Terrier Breeders Association” (later called the Jack Russell Terrier Association of America, and now called the “Parson Russell Terrier Association of America”) petitioned for the admission of the Jack Russell Terrier into the Kennel Club and, despite the objections of the JRTCA, the breed was admitted in January of 2001.

The admission of the Jack Russell Terrier into the American Kennel Club was a contentious affair, with the JRTCA standing firm on its long-held rule that no dog could be dual-registered.

What this meant is that breeders had to chose whether to remain in the JRTCA or to “get in early” with the AKC in order to get their dogs registered before the breed registry closed.

Some of the breeders that chose the AKC did so because they thought they could then sell their puppies for more money, others were eager to be “big fish in a small pond” at the beginning of a new AKC-registered breed. Still others were anxious to attend more dog shows and performance events, arguing that individual dogs were the same no matter under whose auspices they were registered.

On this last point, those pushing for dual registration were correct as narrowly defined, but wrong in every way that mattered.

While it is true that individual dogs were not changed by admission to the Kennel Club, the AKC goal -- right from the beginning -- was to get rid of the wide sweep of variation that existed in the working world of Jack Russell Terriers.

Towards that end, the American Kennel Club breed standard stipulated that an AKC Jack Russell terrier could not be under 12 inches in height or over 15 inches in height, and that the “ideal” dog was 14 inches tall and the ideal bitch was 13 inches tall. Ironically, this breed description effectively eliminated about 40 percent of all the American Jack Russell terriers that had worked red fox up to that time!

More importantly, this narrow standard eliminated the small dogs necessary to “size down” a breed — something absolutely necessary in order to keep working terriers small enough to work.

Of course the American Kennel Club has never been interested in working terriers, and the breed club they created has shown no interest in work either.

Under pressure from the working Jack Russell Terrier community in England and the U.S., the British and American Kennel Clubs eventually decided to jettison the “Jack Russell Terrier” name to more easily identify the non-working show dog they favored.

Now called the “Parson Russell Terrier,” the AKC dog is quickly getting too big in the chest to work — not that many of the dogs are actually taken out into the field to try.

After just three years in the Kennel Club, the “Parson Russell Terrier Club” tried to modify the show ring standard so that the AKC dog no longer had to be spanned at all. Though this move was defeated, it was an early and ominous sign that the Parson Russell Terrier is more likely to end up as a show ring dog than the honest hunting dog from which it is derived.

A Brief History of AWTA

For all practical purposes, the story of American terrier work begins in 1971 with Patricia Adams Lent who founded the American Working Terrier Association (AWTA) to promote working terriers and dachshunds. Ms. Lent owned a 120-acre farm in New York State and raised Lakeland Terriers and Cairn Terriers as well as Border Terriers. She worried that “since there is no longer a need for terriers to actively take part in vermin control” that small Kennel Club terriers would loose their prey-drive and devolve to mere companion animals.
The American Working Terrier Association was, and is, a modest organization with about 100 members. It has no headquarters or paid staff, and produces a simple Xeroxed newsletter four times a year. Its web site (as of the end of 2005) has no information about actual hunting or wildlife, and is focused almost entirely on go-to-ground trial notices.

That said, AWTA is an important organization in the history of American working terriers, not only because it was the first “club” devoted to the sport, but also because Ms. Lent invented go-to-ground trials and the basic set of rules governing them.

Since 1971, go-to-ground trials have served as a kind of “on ramp” for actual field work in the U.S. The basic AWTA format has been widely copied, first by the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America (1976) and then by the American Kennel Club (1994).

The origin of the American go-to-ground tunnel can be found in the artificial fox earths first constructed in the U.K. in the 1920s, but which came into their own in the 1950s and 60s with the collapse of rabbit populations and warrens under the onslaught of myxomatosis.

In the U.K., artificial earths are generally constructed of two parallel rows of brick stacked three bricks high and topped by overlapping slates, or out of 9-inch clay or concrete drainage pipe laid end-to-end. The result is a very spacious and dry fox earth. If sited within 200 feet of a water source (it does not have to be large), far from houses, and on the edge of fields and small woods, the chance of a fox taking up residence is excellent.

The first artificial fox earths were constructed in order to guarantee that a fox could be found on hunt day, and to encourage fox to run along known courses away from roadways. That said, they also found favor because they proved easy locations for a terrier to bolt a fox from. Even an overlarge dog could negotiate the straight or gently curving unobstructed nine-inch pipes of an artificial earth.

The go-to-ground tunnels devised by Patricia Adams Lent were constructed of wood instead of stone, brick or clay pipe, but were equally commodious, measuring 9 inches on each side, with a bare dirt floor for drainage and traction.

From the beginning, AWTA’s goal was to be inclusive. Scottish Terriers with enormous chests were encouraged to join AWTA, as were owners of West Highland Whites, Cairns, Norfolks, Norwitches, Border Terriers, Fox Terriers, Lakelands, Welsh Terriers and Bedlingtons. All were welcome. The goal was not to replicate actual hunting, but to give people an opportunity to have a little fun with the dogs, and perhaps give Kennel Club terrier owners some small idea of what a terrier’s “prey drive” was supposed to be about.

In AWTA trials, wooden den “liners” are sunk into a trench in the ground. The tunnels are up to 35 feet long with a series of right-angle turns, false dens and exits. The “quarry” at the end of the tunnel is a pair of “feeder” lab rats safely protected behind wooden bars and wire mesh. The rats are not only not harmed, but after 100 years of breeding for docility, some lab rats have been know to go to sleep in the middle of a trial!

Without a doubt, go-to-ground trials have been a huge hit with American terrier owners. The interior dimensions of the den liners — 81 inches square — allow even over-large terriers enough room to negotiate the turns, and with nothing but a caged rat as “quarry,” the safety of a dog is guaranteed. In addition, since dogs only have to bay or dig at the quarry for 90-seconds, most dogs end up qualifying for at least an entry-level certificate or ribbon — an award for the owner, and a bit of encouragement to join AWTA and perhaps even take a dog out into the field for real hunting.

Though the die-hard hunter may discount large wooden “earths” and caged rats as quarry, the increasing popularity of go-to-ground trials should be seen as a welcome thing, as it has been a door to genuine field work for many people.

Owners of dogs that do well in go-to-ground trials should take pride in their dog’s achievements. Like all sports that emulate real work (lumber jack contests, bird dog trials, sheep dog trials), a go-to-ground trial is both harder and easier than its real-world cousin.

A dog that will exit a 30-foot tunnel backwards in just 90 seconds and on a single command (a requirement for earning an AKC Senior Earthdog certificate) is a dog that has been trained to a fairly high degree of proficiency.

Having said that, it should be stressed that a go-to-ground trial has little relationship to true hunting. In the field, dogs are not rewarded for speed. In fact, if a hunt terrier were to charge down a real earth like it were a go-to-ground tunnel, it would quickly run into quarry capable of inflicting real damage.

In addition, in a real hunting situation a dog must do a great deal more than “work” the quarry for 90 seconds. A good working dog will stick to the task for as long as it can hear people moving about overhead – whether that is 15 minutes or three hours.

The real division street between go-to-ground and earthwork, however, is size. And the real problem with a go-to-ground trial is not that it teaches a dog to go too fast down a tunnel (dogs understand the difference between fake liners and real earth), but that it suggests to Kennel Club terrier owners that any dog that can go down a cavernous go-to-ground tunnel is a dog “suitable for work.”

To its credit, the American Working Terrier Association recognizes the difference between a go-to-ground tunnel and real earth work, and implicitly underscores this difference in its rules for earning a Working Certificate.

AWTA rules note that a terrier or dachshund can earn a working certificate on groundhog, fox, raccoon, badger, or an “aggressive possum” found in a natural earth, but that “this does not include work in a drain or otherwise man-made earth.”

In short, a drain is not a close proxy for a natural earth, and terriers that are too large to work a natural earth do not meet the requirements of a working terrier.

The American Working Terrier Association issues Certificates of Gameness to dogs qualifying at their artificial den trials. Working Certificates are awarded to dogs that work groundhog, fox, raccoon, possum, or badger in a natural den provided that at least one AWTA member is there as a witness. AWTA also issues a Hunting Certificate to a dog that hunts regularly over a period of a year.

The Dangers of Driving and Tree Stands

When modern firearms season for white-tailed deer opened last Sunday, an estimated 190,000 hunters took to Kentucky's woods, but if past is prologue there will be few accidents.

Last year there were only 11 hunter incidents in Kentucky, and only three were fatal. Of those three, two were deaths attributed to heart attacks and the other was a self-inflicted wound which involved a treestand. So far this deer season, 69 days into the 135-day archery season, and including weekend muzzleloader and youth firearms hunts, there have been seven hunter incidents, two involving treestands, one of which was fatal.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation reports that in 2003 the accidental firearms-related fatality rate (which includes hunting) was just 700, or 0.2 percent per 100,000 persons. That same year 44,800 people died in motor vehicle accidents, or 15.4 percent per 100,000 motor vehicles. Yes, yes, these numbers are phoney and compare apples and eggs, but even if you adjust for the time spent, hunting is far safer than driving.

The moral of this story: be careful in the woods this time of year, try not to mess up anyone else's day of deer hunting, and for God sake never climb a tree stand or drive in a car.

Carrying a Posthole Digger

To carry a posthole digger from the shoulder rings of your pack or from a leash strung across shoulder and back, drill a hole through one of the handles of the posthole digger and thread about 18 inches of parachute cord through the hole. Tie a a into the parachute cord that will just fit over the knob on the other handle.

Now, with the handle’s strapped together, take a longer section of parachute cord and whip a binding around one handle as close to the digging head of the posthole diggers possible. Tie a loop into the free end of the cord, and you will find that this loop is very close to the balance point of your posthole digger.

Using a carabiner, you can clip this loop to the D-ring on the shoulder strap of your pack or, if you prefer, to a doubled leash which is slung across your shoulder and chest.

Virginia Fox Hunting Tours for British

Warrenton Hunt, Date Unknown


By: Associated Press

WARRENTON, Va. -- Virginia tourism officials hope to lure fox hunters from England and Wales, where the activity has been banned.

"It's a high-end niche market. That's why we believe it will be very attractive," said Alisa Bailey, president and chief executive officer of the Virginia Tourism Corporation.

Virginia tourism officials will be traveling to Britain this winter in part to see if package tours built around fox hunting are doable, Bailey said.

"Folks who have fox hunting amenities see this as a great way to increase their revenue stream." Bed and breakfasts and inns also would benefit, she said.

Decades of protests by animal rights' groups effectively ended fox hunting in the United Kingdom last winter. There, mounted hunts with hounds usually ended with the fox's death. In the United States, however, fox hunters emphasize the chase, and try to let the fox go free in the end.

The foxhound is the state dog of Virginia, and the Virginia Piedmont is the heart of the nation's Hunt Country. A mounted hunt there can cover thousands of acres of woodlands or farm fields, all within 30 minutes of Washington Dulles International Airport.

"There are liveries here already, places where people can rent horses to use for hunts," said Leslie VanSant, a fox hunter and executive director of Great Meadow, a 250-acre equestrian center and steeplechase course at The Plains, Va.

"The Brits could come over here and hunt a couple times or more a week, then make a horse-centered package of it by watching the (steeplechase or flat) races."

Virginia isn't as well known in Britain for equestrian sports as Kentucky is, Bailey said, but is "a center for steeplechase activities. We want to expand the opportunity into fox hunting."

"It's not a mass kind of sales job. Those folks can easily be identified. We'll work with specific kinds of tour operators who have that kind of clientele."

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A Comment: This article is from the Associated Press (the photo from my collection), but the Virginia tourism folks show a profound ignorance of the fox hunting sitution in the U.K. Drag hunts are not yet the rage in the U.K. where fox can still be hunted (albeit with a few odd restrictions), while American mounted fox hunting is really just riding horses with a pack of dogs in tow, and while wearing a lot of fancy clothes.

A Brief History of the Patterdale Terrier

It’s amazing how mixed up and convoluted a breed history can become, and even more amazing that it can be confounded so quickly.

Consider, for example, the Patterdale.

First, there is the question of whether it is a breed at all, or simply a black smooth-coated Fell Terrier.

If one wants to argue that a Patterdale is simply a smooth coated black Fell Terrier, that’s fine. We could also say that a Jack Russell is a white Fell Terrier, couldn’t we? In any case, people who know Patterdales know one when they see one. Is there any other meaningful definition of a terrier breed ?

The use of the Patterdale name for a type of terrier goes back to at least the 1930s. Jocelyn Lucas notes that the United Hunt said it preferred to use Lakeland Terriers and “Patterdales from J. Boroman’s strain at the Ullswater Kennels”.

The characteristics of these 1930s Patterdales is not known, but it is worth noting that the Ullswater Kennels were famous for Border Terriers and the Patterdale breed, as we know it today, first sprang up in the 1950s in the breeding program of Cyril Breay who had been a Border Terrier breeder.

While the 1930s Patterdales are reported to have been shaggy black Fells, Breay’s early dogs are described as slape-coated black-ticked dogs with massive heads. Could these “Patterdale Terriers” have been genetic sports descended from a “blue and tan” Border Terrier? We will never know, as Cyril Breay kept no records, though he swore there was no Bull Terrier in his dogs.

Breay was a slight man and did not work his dogs himself, leaving that part of the job to his friend Frank Buck. Buck’s own line of dogs were descended from the Ullswater terriers kept by Joe Bowman (no doubt the “J. Boroman” noted by Lucas), and the dogs of the two men began to devolve to a type as lines were crossed and condensed.

Whatever their origin, the dog that showed up in the field in the 1960s, and continuing today, is a smooth, hard-coated dog of variable size and looks, and with a good track record of honest work. Patterdales have a reputation as being enthusiastic self-starters.

Though still a pure working dog, the future of the Patterdale is precarious. On one side are the show ring pretenders who value looks over utility, while on the other side are young fools crossing Patterdales with Bull Terriers and Pit Bulls, resulting in dogs that are too big and overly hard.

The good news is that there are a handful of breeders trying to keep the dogs right-sized and well-balanced between the ears. Some of these breeders have been breeding good dogs for decades, but it is a tough job and it is not clear that the next generation of terriermen is up to the task. Time will surely tell.

Pups from Proven Worker Available

The two puppies, pictured above, female and male, are out of a nice terrier I have hunted with quite a bit and which does the job well and consistently. The dam of this litter is Mapypole Pip (the dog I have hunted with) and the sire is Little Eden Strut. For more information, contact Beth Kleinfelder >> Littlefieldsjrt@aol.comz but get rid of the z at the very end of the email address as it is there to spoil spammers and spambots. These should grow up to be solid workers if Pip is any indication.

Distemper Cured by Fox Hunters

The development of the distemper vaccine was a three-species affair, involving ferrets, fox hounds, and fox.

A few key dates:

1905: The viral cause of distemper was first described by H. Carre in France.

1923: `The Field Distemper Fund` was set up by The Field magazine, the largest field sports publication in the U.K., after distemper swept through several hunt kennels devastating a large number of young dogs. The money raised was given to the Medical Research Council which initiated a vaccine project at Rhoads Farm, Mill Hill, London, where Patrick Laidlow, a pathologist, and George Dunkin, a vet, began their work

1926: Laidlow and Dunkin published an account of the successful use of a distemper vaccine in ferrets. They announce that the response of ferrets to distemper infection was "comparable" to distemper infection in dogs.

1928: Preparation of dog distemper vaccine was undertaken on a small commercial scale by Wellcome Burroughs. Dogs were inoculated, observed, killed and then autopsied to ascertain how their immune system was responding. During this period it came to light that the canine and ferret versions of distemper were not quite the same, and that a vaccine that worked for ferrets would not necessarily work on dogs, nor would a vaccine that worked on some dogs work on all dogs.

1935: R.C. Green conceived the idea that if distemper was repeatedly passed through ferrets it might become modified or altered to such a degree as to become avirulent for dogs and foxes (i.e. so weak or changed that could not infect dogs and fox with distemper). Green and Carlson took the Laidlow and Dunkin strain of ferret distemper virus, and passed it from ferret populations to ferret populations. By the 39th passage, Green had evidence of attenuated virulency for foxes -- i.e. the strain was so weak that it would not kill fox, but it would provide the fox with immunity. After 50 passages through ferrets, a virus was obtained which caused only "a slight malaise" in dogs.

1939: In 1939, Green claimed that his improved ferret-adapted strain of virus could be used to immunize healthy dogs and fur-farm foxes against distemper. Green's vaccine was not always effective, however (perhaps due to quality control problems in the labs), and some folks argued that there were several strains of distemper. World War II stopped all research into distemper, but after the War ended, improved culturing methods enabled even more attentuated strains of the distemper virus to be created, and by the early 1950s distemper vaccine was available on the market.

Today, the canine distemper vaccine is cheap and easy to get. Most people can no longer remember that whole litters of dogs once perished from this mysterious and fatal disease.

Today, anyone who has a dog anywhere in the world owes a debt to British fox hunters and fox hounds who put up the money to create "The Field Distemper Fund" which ended the scourge of this disease decades before it might otherwise have occured.

John Russell & Trump: The Real Story

A great deal of bunk has been written about the Reverend John Russell, and especially about his first dog, Trump. In fact almost nothing is known about Trump, not even what year she was acquired (the date is variously given as 1815 and 1819).

Russell said he bought Trump from a milkman whom he happened to be passing by while he was still a young man at Exeter College, Oxford. If so, it’s clear that the dog was not bought because it was a keen hunter, but on the basis of looks alone.

In fact, this rather cavalier acquisition of dogs seems to have been a habit with Russell throughout his life. Though it is often said he bred a “pure” line of dogs, there is no evidence to support this assertion. Instead, there is considerable evidence that Russell bought and sold a good number of dogs as his fortunes rose and fell. He acquired and turned over numerous fox hound packs, and it is likely his terriers were acquired and passed on in a similar fashion, for Russell was more of a houndsman than a terrierman. In any case, white foxing terriers were not all that rare. Russell certainly seemed to have no trouble finding another white devon hunt terrier to use as a sire.

One of the more common bits of bunk about Trump was that she was “14 inches tall and weighed 14 pounds.” In fact, this assertion is a wild conjecture first penned by someone who had never met Russell, had never seen any of his dogs, and had only seen a painting of Trump. This painting of Trump, it should be said, was created more than 40 years after the dog had died, and it was painted by someone that had never seen the original animal at all. Russell said the painting was “a good likeness” but in fact he may have been trying to be polite, as the painting was commissioned by Edward VII (then Prince of Wales) who befriended Russell in his old age, and had the painting done as an homage to the old man.

The dog depicted is rather ugly looking, with a squirrel tail and an odd posture. As for height and weight, the painting contains nothing to suggest a sense of scale.

Some people assert their dogs are “descended directly from the Reverend John Russell’s Trump through Arthur Heinemann.”

In fact, Heinemann and Russell never met and when Russell died he had only four aged terriers left.

It should also be noted that Arthur Heinemann and the Reverend John Russell generally hunted different quarry. Heinemann was mainly interested in badger, and Russell was mainly interested in fox. While Russell was a horse man, Heinemann was a terrier-and-spade enthusiast -- a quite different way of doing business.

Heinemann, like Russell before him, moved a lot of dogs through his kennels. Dan Russell, who knew Heinemann very well, says “he sold a hell of a lot [of dogs], they all went to work, many going overseas to all parts of the world.”

Bottom line: Russell was a legend for riding to hounds from the beginning of organized fox hunting straight through to the end of the Victorian era. Mainly a houndsman, he acquired dogs and made them as he could, and his life was such that he was not breeding a "pure strain" of terriers of any kind, but simply selecting small white foxing terriers (already a type) as he found them.

34,000 Deer Impacts in 37th Smallest State

It's hard to be believe that in 1900, thanks to unregulated commercial market hunting, white tail deer were pretty much extinct in the State of Virginia. The scientific name of the white tail, after all, is Odocoileus virginianus. And yet, up to 1960, the State of Virginia was actually importing deer into the state.

Now, thanks to the phenomenal reproductive capacity of wildlife, combined with systematic habitat protection and careful regulation of hunting, we have more deer in the State of Virginia than we know what to do with. In fact, last time I counted, you could get legally take 18 deer without an abatement licence by simply getting all the "special tags" in places like Ocquoquan, Fort AP Hill and other locations where local deer abatement programs require increased intensity for either safety or habitat protection reasons.

Though hunters shoot about 200,000 deer a year in the little state of Virginia, the deer population keeps shooting up, especially in the suburbs and ex-urbs of 5 to 10 acre mini-estates tat seem to sprawl out from our cities forever. Here the deer cannot be hunted because the houses are too close for rifles, shotgun or even bow.

The article, below, is from yesterday's Washington Post, which informs me that there are more than 34,000 deer-auto strikes per year in Virginia. That's a lot of auto damage, and a lot of deer damage too.

Deer Could Pose Record Road Hazard
By Leef Smith, Washington Post, Sunday, October 23, 2005

It's as seasonal as the falling leaves and about as welcome as soaring gas prices, but the arrival of deer-mating season has many motorists girding for what officials predict could be a record year for deer crashes in the Washington suburbs.

Fairfax County police estimate that as many as 5,000 collisions involving deer occurred on county roads last year. The number of deer-related crashes reported in Montgomery County has held steady at about 2,000 for the past several years, but officials say the actual number of incidents is considerably higher.

Although many blame development in suburbia for pushing deer onto the roadways in search of food, biologists say there are more deer crashes in large part because there are more cars.

"Even if you were able to reduce the deer population by half in a given period, it wouldn't make a difference if the traffic load is doubled," said Fairfax wildlife biologist Earl Hodnett. "You come up with the same number of collisions. That's part of what's going on right now."

Officials have been trying for years to curb the deer infestation that at its best infuriates homeowners by reducing their flower beds to bare soil and at its worst renders automobile side panels dented, windshields smashed and -- in some particularly violent crashes -- fatalities.

The problem isn't isolated to the suburbs. Rock Creek Park in the District has its own struggle with a rising number of deer and the problems they create.

"It's an issue that virtually every municipality in the central and eastern United States is facing," said Rob Gibbs, natural resource manger for Montgomery parks and chairman of the county's deer management work group. "It has a lot of people scratching their heads. It just isn't an easy problem to solve."

Cady Codding, 34, of Fairfax said she considers herself about as lucky as someone whose vehicle was struck by a deer can be. The crash occurred early Oct. 5 as the Freddie Mac accountant was on West Ox Road in Fairfax. In an instant, a deer smashed into the front of her Ford Escape, demolishing the fender.

If the deer had been larger and Codding hadn't been in a mini-sport-utility vehicle, she said she could have been the one who was badly hurt, as was the deer lying dead on the side of the road.

"It was awful. I didn't know what to do," recalled Codding, who thought first to call her father on her cell phone. "You'd think you'd hit deer driving out to the country somewhere, not off West Ox."

In fact, it happens all the time. According to a study commissioned by the Virginia Department of Transportation, an estimated 34,000 deer-vehicle collisions occur in Virginia each year. Experts say most of the crashes occur during dusk and dawn hours, mainly during the fall rutting season -- from mid-October to January -- and then again in the spring. One of the biggest mistakes drivers make, experts say, is assuming they're in the clear after they pass a deer on the side of the road. More, they say, are likely to be in close proximity.

Mike McCombs calls his encounter last year with a deer his "unidentified flying object story," recalling how the animal crashed into the passenger side of his GM van as he traveled down Leigh Mill Road in Great Falls.

"There's hardly anyone who hasn't missed or hit a deer in Great Falls," said McCombs, 64, who sees deer on the road regularly. "You can never tell when one is going to jump out at you on the stretches."

Planners continue to test new technologies, including car-mounted whistles, roadside blinkers and reflective prisms, all to discourage deer from leaping into roads. So far, officials say, none has proven to be a solid fix. And one reflector that was tried in Fairfax was shown to increase the number of deer-related crashes.

"The problem won't go away with what we have to choose from today," said Hodnett, the Fairfax wildlife biologist. "We can reduce it. We can make people more aware of it, but it will take some new technology that I don't believe is out there yet to solve it -- if that technology ever does come along."

Technological gizmos aside, research has shown that a few solutions -- particularly costly ones -- can lessen the problem. One involves the use of fencing to channel deer to well-lighted underpasses through which the animals can travel safely beneath busy roads. The solution, however, is better suited to new roads. Although retrofitting roads is possible in some cases, the costs are high.

Controlled hunting in some of the area's larger parks is effective, officials say, but the scope is limited and can't address the greater deer population.

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments formed a task force to take a regional look at the problem and possible solutions. The group's report could be released by the end of the year.

As for existing roads, some of the most troubled are in Great Falls, where dead deer litter the roadways during rutting season. Hodnett said techniques used in other parts of the country could be tried locally.

For example, he said, flashing lights could be erected during danger seasons (more effective, officials say, than the static deer-crossing signs that motorists tend to tune out). Another possibility, he said, is the use of the same flashing lights that would be turned on by sensors when animals approach.

Lisa Rymsza said it will take $2,200 to repair the damage a deer did to her Lincoln Navigator on Tuesday, as she took her son to the bus stop on Springvale Road near her home in Great Falls.

"He made a body imprint on the door," Rymsza, 38, said of the deer. "I try to be careful, watching for them. But it just literally jumped right out at the car."

Clyde Smith, 66, is a special projects director with the National Underwater and Marine Agency. His view of the deer that roam his eight-acre Great Falls property and the roads around it is considerably more understanding than those of many of his neighbors.

"If people will drive the speed limit, they're not going to have a problem," Smith said. "People move to Great Falls, and they chop down a lot trees and put up fences and plant flowers and [complain] about the deer. It makes no sense to me. I see the deer out front every morning, and I think it's wonderful to be this close to nature. The deer were here before we were."

From Hurricanes Shelter to Deer Stand

Scores of thousands of trailers are being putchased by the U.S. Government to house victims of Hurricane Katrina.

What will be done with them in 18 months when they are no longer needed? Some will be shipped overseas, some will find use in the secondary market, some will be scrapped, and I am betting a few will end up like the one below -- the world's most luxurious deer stand.

America, what a country!

UK Court Upholds Fox Hunting "Ban"

The U.K.'s highest court upheld a ban on fox-hunting with dogs, ending one of two legal challenges to the law.

Supporters of the sport had challenged the ban, which took effect in England and Wales in February, claiming that it was unlawfully adopted by Parliament. Britain's Law Lords today dismissed their case in a judgment released in London.

Meanwhile, all the mounted hunts continue to pursue fox, which are shot and worked with terriers in complete accordance with the law. There has not been one sucessful prosecution under the "ban."

Possum on Cold Windy Day

Has summer faded away this fast? It seemed that way on Sunday. The ground was still pretty wet from last weekend when it dumped about 10 inches of rain over two days, and there were a few more sprinkles during the week to keep the ground pretty wet. What really sucked the life out of me on Sunday, however, was the wind. It was really blowing, and it did not help matters that I forgot a hat for my bald head.

It was short day, as I had to get back home by 3 pm to see my daughter back off to college, but Sailor managed to score this possum which was in a very shallow dig under thick roots.

Mountain scored something else, but for the life of me I could not find her and she went missing for at least an hour. She was not far off, but about six fences and as many hedges run together in this spot, and Sailor found just as Mountain went missing.

I left Sailor at work in the ground for a bit and blundered around looking for Mountain, but only managed to raise a feral cat and a four-point buck who had to decide whether to run me over or hop a high wire fence to get away. Lucky for me the deer chose the fence. It got hung for a second, but rattled free and I went back to dig out Sailor, the one dog whose location I knew.

After tailing out the possum and a quick picture, Mountain had still not appeared despite my repeated calling. I finally went back to the car, drove it up the fresh cut corn field (praying I did not get stuck in the soft earth) and the blew the horn. Fifteen minutes later she was out and running back up the field, looking a bit dirtier for the experience, but otherwise unharmed and quite pleased with herself. Foolish dog hunts too damn wide.

In any case, back to the possum. This is an adult male of about average size for an adult. The picture below shows a fairly impressive set of canines, which is as good an excuse as any to mention that America's only marsupial also has the most teeth of any North American animal -- 50.

Depite the teeth, possums are the easiest of American terrier quarry, and I do not count them for much, as they are pretty slow and quite stupid. Though they will hiss and bluff, they cannot do much damage to a dog, and so are a good animal to start a young dog off with. I generally let possums go if I can, but this one was living next to a farm with horses, and possums can give a brain worm to horses so it is best if they are removed from the area.

Running Out of Gas

A little girl asked her mother, "Mom, may I take the dog for a walk around the block?" Mom replies, "No, because she is on heat."

"What's that mean?" asked the child.

"Go ask your father. I think he's in the garage."

The little girl goes to the garage and says, "Dad, may I take Belle for a walk around the block? I asked Mom, but she said the dog was on heat, and to come to you".

Dad said, "Bring Belle over here." He took a rag, soaked it with petrol, and scrubbed the dog's backside with it and said, "Okay, that should take care of that problem, You can go now, but keep Belle on the leash and only go one time around the block."

The little girl left, and returned a few minutes later with no dog on the leash. Surprised, Dad asked, "Where's Belle?"

The little girl said, "She ran out of petrol about halfway around the block, so another dog is pushing her home".

The Hazards of Being an American Dog

American terrier work is its own bird. Our quarry is is a bit different (raccoons, groundhogs, and possums being indigenous to our shores), our tools and techniques are a bit different (our digging bars are longer than those in the U.K., we use snare and coontongs to avoid rabies), and even our settes are a bit different (we have no earthen settes as large or as cavernous as the badger settes of the U.K.).

American terrier work has its owns hazards, of course. For one thing, we have skunks (got into one on Sunday while out digging with Scott K. and Larry M.) whose lethal spray can kill a dog in minutes.

We also have rabies.

In the deep South we also have alligators, and throughout the West and parts of the South and Southwest we have rattlesnakes and porcupines.

And of course, coyotes are everywhere now, while mountain lions and bears are increasingly common in huge swaths of this country.

Though most dogs live their entire lives without encountering any of these "field hazards," if you are out and about enough, you may yet run into one. There is nothing to be done but to be prepared, have a working knowlege of what to do in case of a medical emergency, and carry a credit card without a limit.





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Hunting Dogs As Economic Engines

From The Congressional Sportsman's Foundation:

"A hunter’s best friend is his dog and they show it - - they spend $605 million on their hunting dogs, well more than the $513 million skiers spend on ski equipment."

The High Cost of Animal Rights Rhetoric

The lunatic fringe of the Animal Rights movement has a wide array of schemes to dodge the need for game management, especially the management of deer. One of the more common proposals is to "relocate deer" which sounds easy enough until you discover how very expensive it is.

In the 1980s, an overpopulation of deer led to a relocation effort from Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay area. Deer were captured and relocated at a cost of $431 per deer. Most deer died due to stress of relocation, bringing the final cost to $2,876 for each deer that survived one year. Set aside this last little bit of inconvenient reality.

If state and local governments were to "relocate" the 3,000,000 deer that are shot annually in the U.S. by hunters, where would these deer be relocated to? As far as I know the only people that want 3,000,000 deer are people with cooking pots in the developing world ... and American hunters.

Now let's look at the costs. The cost of relcoating 3,000,000 deer at a price of $400 per unit (we will assume some economies of scale), is $1,200,000,000 per year. Of course, this is not the real cost of relocating deer -- we also have all that lost revenue from hunting licenses, and the loss of entire industries based on hunting equipment, taxidermy, guiding, hunting publications, meat processing, as well as the travel costs associated with hunting.

Tits in the Trees

What do tits in the mail have to do with tits in the tree? Sadly, more than you would imagine.

The tits in the mail are all those Victoria's Secret catalogues that seem to arrive with every post. Believe it or not, the Victoria's Secret company print and mails, on average, over one million catalogues A DAY promoting push-up bras, thong underwear, and tiny nighties. Nothing wrong with the product (in the right hands, of course), but where is all that catalogue paper coming from?

It turns out that about 25 per cent of the paper in a Victoria's Secret catalogue comes from ancient trees felled in Canada's virgin boreal forest, which are the primary nesting habitat for a wide variety of songbirds, including the Azure Tit, show in the picture above.

As the forests are destroyed, the bird populations that nest in these forests are falling fast. See >> http://www.borealbirds.org for more information.

To send a paper free e-mail to Victoria's Secret urging them to switch to recycled paper (and how about de-duping their mailing lists while they are at it??) >> click here