Human games for dogs

This weekend we have gone to the dogs....again! We are "earthdogging" on Widbey Island. The Dauchsound club is hosting the event at a wonderful place called Hathor Farm. Earthdog is a sport that allows dogs bred to "go to ground" an outlet for this natural instinct. The object is to show up at a remote location at a ridiculous early hour to register for a chance to "play". Then we wait around for our turn to allow our dog a chance to run down a man made fully lined tunnel to the end where lies a set of caged (usually sleeping)rats. They get to bark at them for a while and then we decide they are finished with the game and it is time to leave the sleeping rats. Initially young dogs are pretty hesitant to participate. After all, the tunnel is 9 inches square...first red flag for the dog. "That is a really big hole, there must at least be an elephant down there, I am pretty small to go into that dark hole to see if there is....". As they mature, and learn to trust us, they figure out we would not ask them to go down there if there was anything truly bad in there, so down they go. "Oh look, a cage of sleeping critters!" "I will respectfully lie here and wait for them to wake up and see if they want to play." They hang out a bit, get bored and come back out the way they went in. "Mom, there are some cute little critters asleep, don't worry, I didn't bother them." So, since we have paid for our turn, we encourage them to go back down the tunnel and will them to bark at the critters in the cage. (NOT smart dog manners!) Why would you waste energy barking and moving. If you want to catch the critter, you would wait for them to move so you can read body language and pounce on them......Okay. How do we (the handler)figure out a way to relay our wishes for them to bark and dig at the sleeping critters,this isn't really hunting, it is a silly human game. (Note the picture)Now each time we take a turn to go into "the hunt", it is costing money. With the progression of skill level, the cost increases. The dogs love it all, as silly as it sounds, they get very excited when we reach the site. Even Kula who doesn't play this silly game. (It is beneath her, being for peasant dogs.)I think they just love hanging out with their humans, they do the same thing when I get to the farm where I have herding lessons. Anyway, it gets us all out doing stuff together and lets our dogs play games relating (in a very human way) to their heritage!