American Working Terrier Association
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The American Working Terrier Association (AWTA) was founded in 1971 by Patricia Adams Lent to encourage and promote the breeding, hunting, and ownership of terriers of correct size, conformation, and character to perform as working terriers. From modest beginnings, the organization has grown to include about two hundred members and sanctions den trials across the country and throughout the year.
The American Working Terrier Association has no headquarters or paid staff, and it produces a newsletter four times a year. Its web site [1] contains the AWTA rules and a calendar of AWTA den trials.
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[edit] History
Patricia Adams Lent created the American Working Terrier Association 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 lose their prey-drive and devolve to mere companion animals.
AWTA is an important organization in the history of American working terriers, not only because it was the first American "club" devoted to the sport, but also because Ms. Lent invented go-to-ground earthdog trials and the basic set of rules governing them.
Since 1971, earthdog 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 UK 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 UK, 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.
[edit] AWTA's Basic Earthdog format
From the beginning, AWTA’s goal was to be inclusive. Scottish Terriers were encouraged to join AWTA, as were owners of West Highland Whites, Cairns, Norfolks, Norwiches, Border Terriers, Fox Terriers, Lakelands, Welsh Terriers and Bedlingtons, as well as dachshunds. 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 30 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 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 60-seconds at most, many 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 might 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 60 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 the terrier's 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." Additionally, the AKC Earthdog tests are presented as "work", instead of a game for dog and owner.
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, and that the description of the work meets the approval of the club Trustees. AWTA also issues a Hunting Certificate to a dog that hunts above ground quarry regularly over a period of a year.
