Spanning a small-to-average groundhog. Notice how long a groundhog body can get when stretched under its own weight. These things are built like sacks of water.
This groundhog spans to the spot on my thumbs where I want a dog to span to. If my thumbs do not overlap all or most of the first joint, the dog is too big to easily get into most earths in the Eastern U.S.
I look for dogs with chests of 14 inches or less, and recommend that people who are serious about hunting their dogs do not compromise on this all-important point.
Remember that as a dog gets older, it's chest will generally spring out a bit and sometimes it gets less flexible too. A dog that is marginal for size at one year of age is only going to get bigger in the chest as time goes on. You want a dog that can hunt well past age six or seven, right? Then get a smaller dog.
But aren't fox bigger? Nope -- not really. It says quite a lot that the largest red fox taxidermy mannequin in the world has a 14" chest, while some are sold with chests as small as 11 inches.
A fox is not built like a dog; it is built like a cat and underneath all that fur, it has the body shape of a small whippet.
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