Blood Tracking With Weiner Dogs

Moose and Teckel pic ripped from Born-to-track News & Views


What's the difference between a dachshund and a teckel? Mostly the owner in my opinion.

A dachshund owner probably bought the dog because it was cute and along the way he or she discovered that their dogs (a long time ago, and in a land far away) was once used for hunting badgers. Badgers? Oh my! How romantic!

A teckel owner, on other hand, actually has pictures of their dog in the field working groundhog, fox or badger, or blood tracking shot deer, elk or moose. A few shovels and a worn pair of boots and a locator collar are probably in the garage. There isn't a single pair of Manolo Blahnik's in the house.

There are, of course, some differences in the breeding of the dogs. American and British dachshunds tend to be wrecked genetic mutants with turned out feet and chests like pickle barrels. Most are far too big to go down any den hole, and some have bad temperaments and health problems to boot.

Teckels, on the other hand, are bred to the German system which emphasizes strict standards in terms of chest size, and where random breedings are sharply discouraged and standards of kennel upkeep and the quality of dogs is maintained by a "breed warden."

All of this is a small wind up to the fact that there is a nice article by Les Davenport in Deer and Deer Hunting magazine on the use of teckels for blood tracking shot deer, elk and moose.

Entitled "The Little King of Deer Recoveries," the article is well-written and gives a nice introduction to the use of teckels (working dachshunds) for blood tracking shot deer.

Another article on the same topic can be found here.

And for those who are looking to include a new blog on their blog roll, let me recommend Born-to-track News & Views -- a very nice addition to the blog-o-sphere!
.