Making a Short Go to Ground Tunnel

The new dog comes Monday, so I put together a new short go-to-ground tunnel (aka "earth dog" setup) to get him trained up for the field.

The new dog has already been out once or twice, and worked a possum, but a little go-to-ground work with me will do him no harm, and will do doubt boost his confidence around me and the other dogs.

Jocelyn Lucas was training dogs in stone artificial earths with slate-topped roofs back in the 20s, but the concept has been much improved by the Americans, and further refined by the Swedes, Germans, Finns, Serbs, Danes, and Spaniards.

Most "competition" go to ground setups are far more elaborate that is needed to build confidence in a green dog and get him ready for the field.

That said, many people enter their dogs wrong with go to ground set ups, and as a consequence they spend a long time, later on, correcting faults that them themselves accidentally trained into the dog. More on that later....

For now behold a single sheet of 3/4" plywood (top) turned into a short tunnel go to ground pipe with reversible corner (bottom).

I will put a hinged top in the middle section, later on, so that I can fill the pipe with dirt, sticks, leaves and sand for the dog to dig through. For now, however, easy does it.

I will be making a new critter box out of the spare bits from the 4 x 8 sheet of plywood. A project for another day... along with wooden bars for one of the ends.

• For more on go to ground training tunnels, see:
  ** Simple Tunnel Construction
  ** Terrier Go-to-Ground 101
  ** Tips for Tunnel Training Terriers
  ** American Working Terriers
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