When last we left Digby, the intrepid 7 month old Dachshund who thinks he is a bird dog, he was retrieving a shot bobwhite quail at the game club. ( See last photo in this blog entry: http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5542804987486451793 ) Hmm. Not bad.
But yesterday’s performance was in the realm of surreal. At the end of my hunt with Pride the English Pointer our game club manager caught up with me in the field and said “Meet me over near the west gate. I put a chukar out for Digby.” I was to be the gun. Now, I have shot over Springers and Lab’s many times, but a flushing Dachshund?? Never.
Sure enough, when I got there Andy and Digby were marching through the high desert brush. As we neared the end of the cover, as the grassy area began, I watched Digby intently. He was hunting! Suddenly the little pointed nose swung around and he dove into a bush. He had smelled that chukar. The bird beat a hasty retreat and I made certain that I hit it. Down it came and a furiously running Dachshund was right after it.
Digby grabbed the bird, rolled it over several times to find a handle and then started back to Andy, head high, with bird wings dragging on the ground. Gee whiz, his legs are only about three inches long! I had no camera yesterday but here’s what the retrieve looked like from an earlier episode with a chukar that was just thrown for a retrieve last week:

Oh, Pride and I had a nice time. Great workout on a beautiful day. However, she doesn’t think much of Digby. I think she’s jealous. Digby gets to ride in Andy’s coat when he’s on the club quad 4-wheeler. She doesn’t.
Tune in next week. Maybe he’ll retrieve a pheasant????
Digby Rocks! You should write a book about him and call it "The Great Digby's" or give him is own t-shirt….."Dachshund's Love Birds Too!"or "I (heart) Bird-Dachshunds"! Well, okay, maybe that's a little much. But he sure is cute!!
Digby rocks!
Let's confiscate or "barrow" Digby and try him out in the North Park on sage chickens!
That is great! Digby is so awesome. He has a nice looking tail…. maybe he'll learn to point? Heaven knows, if you can produce a pointing Lab, why not a pointing Dachsund?Keep us posted.Andrew
One of my students brings her dachshund Joni to school and that pup has a terrific hunting instinct, so I was so glad to see this post! Very cool! And great news for apartment-dwelling hunters who don't think they have room for a hunting dog…