238 BRITISH DOGS 



in this country ; but in connection with that form of sport known as 

 hedge-popping, Dachshunds would serve wonderfully well if properly 

 trained to the work, and would probably furnish better sport than 

 many of the Terriers and Spaniels usually brought into this style of 

 work, frequently to their detriment for that of a more legitimate 

 description. 



Naturally chief interest in the Dachshund and its work must 

 centre upon what dogs of the breed can do in connection with the 

 badger. To rightly appreciate the working of any dog on badgers, 

 it must be borne in mind that it must be specially entered for 

 tackling or driving out these vermin. None of our British breeds 

 is in itself specially constituted for this work ; but individual 

 members, possessing the natural ability and disposition, figure 

 prominently for the purpose. In just the same way, many 

 Dachshunds are specially entered and worked upon badgers. These 

 animals are very plentiful in many districts of Germany, but are 

 wonderfully so upon some of the Hungarian slopes of the Carpathian 

 Mountains. Properly trained Dachshunds are employed to hunt 

 them to their lairs, as well as to go to earth, and either hold them in 

 their burrows or drive them from them, when they are taken alive 

 or shot, as the case may be. 



Without going into details of the badger's merits or failings as an 

 object of sport, or enlarging upon the details of the subject, it must, 

 however, be pointed out that the habits of the brock are mainly 

 nocturnal ; consequently the services of Dachshunds in this respect 

 must be attuned to the nature of the work required. The badger, 

 seemingly a clumsy animal, can, however, go at a comparatively 

 speaking great rate; it follows, therefore, that any dog capable of 

 dealing with it in the open must not only possess a certain turn of 

 speed, but be able to cope with the varmint if it comes up with it, 

 or if the latter should turn upon its pursuer. These conditions the 

 Dachshund is freely capable of fulfilling, and to far better advantage 

 than the more speedy Terriers, whilst being at the same time better 

 provided for tackling them, if it come to such necessity. 



In those particular parts of the Carpathians to which reference 

 has been made, the lower fringe of forest-land abuts right on to the 

 higher slopes of cultivated land, where maize is largely grown. The 

 badgers, which are remarkably numerous in these woods, are also 

 bad enemies of the growing maize-crop, and will commit very serious 

 depredations amongst it just before the time of harvest. The 

 badgers will find their way down from their haunts at dusk, and, getting 

 amongst the maize, pursue quite a devastating course. The 

 expanses of growing corn are at times very considerable, and to deal 

 successfully with the vermin for such they are many Dachshunds 

 are employed. The routine is to put the dogs in upon them, and the 

 men with the guns proprietors, foresters, or watchers, as the case 



