I have always had a great admiration for the short-coated, hard, Scotch terrier, and believe that they are admirably adapted for this chase, but I have had no experience of them. They seem cut out for it, being hardy, the right size, sharp-tongued, and amongst the most intelligent of the canine race. I knew of one who went to Craig Cluny in the edge of the Ballochbuie forest, and spent some hours in a vain attempt to dislodge a badger. He returned three miles to the inn at Braemar and found another terrier like himself; they trotted back together, and by their united efforts drew and killed an old badger! There is a spot near this place in the forest called Stra-na-brach—or the badger's crag—but the badger knows the place no more. The keeper has done his work with the trap throughout Aberdeenshire.
Dandie Dinmont no doubt bred his dogs from these terriers, but I have no belief that the present race is fitted for badger-hunting. Those one sees on a show bench are too large to get to ground quickly and easily, and I doubt if there is one of the race, as at present known, that has ever exchanged civilities with the badger in his natural earth. Dandie Dinmont bred his terriers for badgers, but I am sure his never were the size they are now; and although Sir Walter Scott has surrounded Dandie with a halo of interest, and made him immortal by his eulogies, his fiendish cruelties have always made me hate his name, and prejudiced me against a breed that was developed under a hideous system. It makes my blood boil to read of his terriers trained to face the badger by taking alive young and old badgers, and sawing off the under jaws, and employing other indescribably cruel methods.
The dachshund and the small basset, when properly selected, are splendidly adapted for badger-hunting. In Germany the former, and in France the latter, are generally bred for this purpose. Full-voiced and throwing a tongue like a hound, deep-chested, short-legged, and strong-bodied, they are perhaps the best one can have, but I do not think that they possess the endurance and quickness of an English terrier.
There was a breed of wire-haired black-and-tan English terriers, but I imagine them to be nearly, if not altogether, extinct, that from all accounts must have been really good terriers in the true meaning of the term.
In working dogs, be careful only to put in one at a time: you thus economize your forces, and avoid the risk of their fighting in the earth. More than this, if you let two dogs or a dog and a bitch in together, you subject them to danger and the probability of severe punishment. The dog in front is charged by the badger, the dog behind cares for nothing but that he may get to close quarters, and it is a case of those behind cry forward and those in front cry back. In such a position your terrier may have his legs and head broken, and be killed outright. Again, a good terrier works better and more steadily than with a companion, as the competition leads to jealousy. Put in your dog at the lowest or bottom hole of the set, driving the badger up-hill (or "to hill," as it is technically called) if you can. It is a much easier task to get a badger out in this manner, as the further up-hill the fewer are the passages, and generally speaking the nearer they lie to the surface. Furthermore, take care that you have a collar and chain for each dog, and that every terrier not on duty is securely fastened at a distance from the earth, and out of reach of any other dog.
The following are the requisite implements for badger digging; they should be good and handy tools:—
1. and 2. Spades. These should be handy, and worn to that condition when the edge is sharp, and the tool works easily, without having lost its strength. They should vary but little from the ordinary garden or rabbiting spade, except that where there is a depth of clay, and when in a deep trench, it may be easier or a relief to use a drainer's long narrow one.
Fig. 7.