New Teckels – New Season
New Teckels – New Season
My Teckel bitch “Cider Vom Nonnenkloster” celebrated her first birthday in September. It seemed like her third or fourth as not only does it feel like she has been here a long time, but she has matured very quickly. Cider has been a different experience for me in terms of Teckels. She was around 18 weeks when she arrived as she wasn’t allowed to travel from Germany until 12 weeks but even then she seemed older than she was. She was and has been a delightful little pup to own, she is bright, inquisitive and full of confidence. Cider and my trip to Germany to collect her was an unforgettable experience for me. My friend Julia Szer selected Cider from the litter, her dog “Milo” is Ciders sire as well as being a superb working dog that has acquired endless championships and titles across Europe, I knew with the foundations behind Cider and Julias choice I had a great pup from the beginning and this is proving true daily.
I work Teckels to their full ability & find that each one will its talent & strength as it grows. Cider from the beginning showed phenomenal prey drive and also great concentration while blood tracking. There can be a tendency in our part of the world for a young puppy to be left sitting in the kennel until that “Big Day” when it is a year old and is taken into the wide world to learn what its life will be about, Not Teckels, not in Germany.
Cider – Around 12 weeks old
It is early October as I write, the hunting season has opened and the long days of summer have passed. Cider arrived with me in Mid January this year so of course there would be no hunting for her as the season drew to an end and she was far too young. We spent the dark evenings training, which was easy as Julia Szer is an exceptional dog trainer and have both Cider and I a good grounding! I found Ciders concentration and attention not only in Blood tracking but also on the place board and right now I only have to say “Place” for her attitude to change. “Teckels cannot be trained” was what I always heard and what I always believed, however after my trip to Germany in January, Julia took all those ideas and threw them straight out the window! Teckels can be trained, they can be trained really well and they like to be trained. My bitch Poppy was seven months when Cider arrived, never had a days training and with what I was taught in Germany, she was retrieving a few days.
Place Boards, Blood tracking and training aside, what about Hunting? Early September was too warm, we had a few very early mornings but it was unpleasant & the only work the dogs received was retrieving Ducks from the water, but even then they were minimal and Cider got only a few opportunities for a retrieve while Poppy had a few more.
Poppy -Duck Retrieve
As early October arrived I placed a locator collar on Cider, took a spade, shovel, bat and a shot gun and we headed to check a few local holes in the hope that we might flush a fox to the gun. Some Teckels go to ground, some don’t, Cider is very keen on investigating small dark tunnels! From she was only months old I had be constantly careful as she would slip down the first burrow she found and several times I lost her only to find her again several minutes later emerging from a kicked out rabbit warren. One evening in midsummer I was checking traps on a pest control job on some government property and had Cider with me when she vanished. I assumed she was hunting rabbits as it is a large wood and there are a lot of rabbits in it. However after 20 minutes of searching I couldn’t find her and as I walked back to the car for a torch, she appeared through some nettles, looked at me and ran back the way she came and dropped into a large hole! I sat outside for ten or fifteen minutes and I could hear her baying below! She sounded like a little mastiff and I could only smile as much as I was panicking! It was getting dark and she had no collar and I had no tools. I rang my mate who lived nearby just in case I needed him but just as he arrived she appeared at the hole and I grabbed her as she attempted to wiggle out of my arms and get back in!
As October arrived here it was cooler and more pleasant for hunting so one morning Cider, Oscar my other Teckel and my Lurcher Reggie set off to hunt some small covers and after three or four areas we had no success, it was still slightly warm and the dogs were fed up and thirsty so we called it a day. The next Saturday was again a little more cooler and this time I took Oscar, Cider, Poppy and my older Lurcher bitch Fudge. The Teckels hunted very well and flushed three foxes in total, we didn’t shoot any but it didnt matter, it was great hearing the lovely sound of them baying through the wood as it echoed loudly, safe in the knowledge that the hunting instinct runs deep in the little is more than enough for me.