The American Beagler Forum

I am new to the trials but I raised my dog from a pup, I didn't make the breeding. He won his first LP hunt I ever put him in and it sure felt great but like I said I am new to this! Either way it should make you feel good. I don't have money to spend on a dog that's ready anyhow lol!!!

I've done both and prefer breeding my own, but you gotta start somewhere. When I made the jump from grade to AKC I bought the best blood I could buy. Now I'm running and gunning second and third generation pups.

Winning is winning as long as it is done without cheating who cares. Look at free agents you think they care if they win a championship on the first team that picked them. And he who says never seen a good one sold maybe you need to take a little more money out of the old pocket book. Half is the breeding and the other half is how much time do you have to put into the hound. None of them make it on a chaingang. And you as a owner must to be able to know a good one from a bad one. Puppy or a finshed dog it still comes down to you running him right. I have bought a many dog back from my line that people could not win with and with the right amount of running and recogintion of what he or she needed. I put them on the map. even won the world with one i bought back.

HatterasBob wrote:I've done both and prefer breeding my own, but you gotta start somewhere. When I made the jump from grade to AKC I bought the best blood I could buy. Now I'm running and gunning second and third generation pups.

That's the boat I am in I had to start somewhere but our plan is to breed and raise our own and develope something that I can pass on to my little girls!!

I think There has been way more people win the World Hunt with a hound they bought than with one they bred and trained. It takes a person with the knowledge to know what a hound can be when he goes out and buys one. I would think there would plenty of pride either way. Every one has to buy hounds to start with unless they were fortunate enough to be born into a family that was already running a line of hounds. I wonder where Branko would be today if everyone raised their own. I personally have as much respect for the hound and owner either way. I know a lot of people that doesn't have the room to breed and a lot don't like messing with puppies.

Flip side is it is easier to 'cull" if it starts backtracking or other stuff you can't live with if you didn't raise it.

I've seen many men say that is my hunting dog when it was a pup and no matter how sorry it turned out it was their dog and they kept it til it was an old dog and it just got sorrier and sorrier as it aged and no one would hunt with him because of it.

I've seen many men say that is my hunting dog when it was a pup and no matter how sorry it turned out it was their dog and they kept it til it was an old dog and it just got sorrier and sorrier as it aged and no one would hunt with him because of it.[/quote]
heck thats every dog iv ever owned.....everyone has something better right....

I've had four champions since I've been trialing. Three were bought and I raised one from a pup. The pup that made champion made me feel the most fulfilled because of the time and effort put into her. I've been in it since 1992, but only do a few a year, so it does take me a while to get a dog to finish. Finished to me is when they make champion because I don't trial enough to try to finish them into Grand. I really liked the three that I bought, but I will raise them from pups from now on. That's me and if someone wants to buy dogs and trial that fine also.

I wish I could tell you which I prefer. With 3 young, active children I doubt that will be anytime soon.

I have to agree with bobby. There are very few people that can drive to somebobys house and turn a dog loose by itself and be able to tell if it has that"something special". So i guess whether you buy it or raise it,its pretty special when you get to the winners circle.

I have found that some dogs do better with new owners than with the ones that raised and trained them. So I think it depends on the situation, I have bought hounds that I was able to bring the cream to the top and others have done better with hounds that I sold them.

We did buy an old hound and really enjoyed trialing and winning with him. He was never trialed before and out of shape when we bought him. At the ripe age of 8 1/2 we decided to put him in a trial and he sure suprized us. We had an absolute blast running him and are now getting some pups off him.. He was winning and placing in every format we ran in him in. He has a very old blood line and ran awesome.. Dont know if it will be as fun with his pups but it was very special finding a diamond in the ruff...Zac is one I will always remember..