228 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



now act in the same way as a pack of Beagles or Fox- 

 hounds, and surely bring the game around. But should 

 the rabbit go to earth, your hunt, for an hour, or may be 

 for all day, is over; for the dogs will now follow their 

 instinct, and commence to dig fpr their game. 



If the ground is not frozen, or if no rocks interfere, 

 they will always succeed in pulling out the rabbit, no mat- 

 ter how long it takes them to do it. It is impossible to 

 call the dogs away from this work. Often they stay under- 

 ground for an hour at a time before they show themselves 

 at the entrance. The smallest dog goes to dig first, a larger 

 one is near to clear the loose earth out of the hole; and you 

 can not see a more interesting sight than such a one. The 

 earth flies in all directions, and in a very short time the 

 dogs have dug their way in so far that you can hardly hear 

 them bark. Small roots which come in their way will be 

 gnawed in two; soon you will notice a dog back out, hold- 

 ing the rabbit, and every dog that is near will want his 

 reward by helping to kill it, and if the hunter is not at 

 hand to stop this performance, the rabbit will be torn to 

 pieces in less than ten seconds. 



This is the great disadvantage in hunting rabbits with a 

 pack of Dachshunds. If you see them at work in this 

 way for the first time, it will certainly interest you greatly; 

 but when accustomed to it, you will pronounce it a bad 

 interruption of your sport. For this reason I say, when 

 you want to hunt rabbits with a pack of dogs, use the 

 Beagle, for he does not possess the desire for digging, as 

 does the Dachshund. 



When at work underground, should you have an oppor- 

 tunity of preventing one or two dogs from entering, you 

 may chain them and take them miles away, but the minute 

 they are at liberty they will run back and finish their 

 work. You may wish to call them back, but will not suc- 

 ceed, and you will find that your control over your dogs 

 ends right here. 



Three of my dogs once worked two days and a night at 

 the same hole before they returned home. There is one 



