[Cajundaddy]

My rottie was trenching the yard for them daily so as a survival technique, I trained her to hunt them with me like a game. I would run a hose and force all of the recently dug mound back into the hole to raise the water level as high as possible. This would force the gopher to dig a breather hole at the surface. Rottie girl would point when the gopher surfaced, I would hose the gopher in the face and out they would come. "Get Him!"... two quick death bites and it was done. Afterwards I told her what a good dog she was and always gave her a treat.

Several afternoons per week in the summer I would come home from work and she would be pointing at a fresh mound. She knew not to trench for them but was always excited for me to get the hose and start the gopher hunt. Over 10 years on that mini-ranch she must have gotten over 200 of them, along with several rabbits, squirrels, and maybe a curious cat or two that wandered over to get in on the gopher action. She was an over-achiever.