Naturally Straight Rabbit Dogs

[beagleed]

Does any one know of any houndsmen who have been able to consistently produce hounds that naturally will not run off game?

[kenjames]

Hey Ed. How are things going down your way? You still running those all day dogs on the ditch banks of La. Good question about natural broke for off game. I am watching the responses. Hope you all are well. I thought about calling you a couple weeks ago, Guess you have the same #. Ken/preacherman.

[R. Dana Robinson]

I don't know if you could consider them "naturally straight" but I've owned several that never ran any off game. I can recall several dogs that ran off game one time and I was able to shock and stop them that first time and they never offered to run off game again.
I'm a firm believer of when you start a pup you get them on rabbits,rabbits and more rabbits before they ever encounter anything else,whether you do this in a fenced enclosure or on the outside and totally control the situation.Get them rabbit minded and keep them rabbit minded and ABSOLUTELY stop them the FIRST time they ever offer on an off track and you will be way ahead on having a "straight" hound.Let them get away with trashing a couple of times and your breaking job will get considerably harder.
I make a point of NEVER running a young dog with anyone else's hounds that I don't know can be trusted. As always JMHO.

[beagleed]

Ken, thanks for joining the conversation. Great to hear from you. Yes I'm still chasing swampers although haven't run since April due to too many alligators on my running grounds and the heat wave made it just too hot and too dry to risk the dogs getting heat stroke. The swamps here are bone dry. I still have the same phone number. Give me a call.

[beagleed]

Dana,

Thanks for the feedback. My experiences have been similar.

[Budd]

I don't know if you could consider them "naturally straight" but I've owned several that never ran any off game. I can recall several dogs that ran off game one time and I was able to shock and stop them that first time and they never offered to run off game again.
I'm a firm believer of when you start a pup you get them on rabbits,rabbits and more rabbits before they ever encounter anything else,whether you do this in a fenced enclosure or on the outside and totally control the situation.Get them rabbit minded and keep them rabbit minded and ABSOLUTELY stop them the FIRST time they ever offer on an off track and you will be way ahead on having a "straight" hound.Let them get away with trashing a couple of times and your breaking job will get considerably harder.
I make a point of NEVER running a young dog with anyone else's hounds that I don't know can be trusted. As always JMHO.

Well said. I believe the same. I ALWAYS ran a pack of hounds, when youngster would start a track and older dogs never joined in he got a correction. I did have a cat dog from Nelson Cole that I can say honestly NEVER trashed, he would come out if another dog struck deer, he done it once when running bear and the other dogs came up treed. They had a coon!!

[R. Dana Robinson]

Budd
Got to tell you this story. Back in the '70's I had a nice young Vaughn bred female Bluetick coon hound. She started early,went to locating and treeing making it look easy. Treed a bunch of coons with her her first year.
As a young hound she had a peculiar habit.She'd be out in front of us hunting and all of a sudden she'd open up and run hard 50 yards or so then shut up and come back to me and then go off hunting again and find a coon. She did this more than a few times. I couldn't figure out what the heck she was doing.
Older fellow that I hunted with in fact he raised the pup, said "she's bogger barking the trash and just blowing at them to get them gone and then she goes back to hunting a coon.She'll quit it as she gets older" and she did. I had a hard time accepting that but ended up seeing her do it on deer and a red fox.
She NEVER ran an off-game track in her life and was straight in any company.
I guess she just didn't like those deer,fox,etc. messing with her hunting. LOL

[Swampman]

I haven't had to shock a hound off trash since 2001 of my own breeding, Hammer was 7 months old and he took a deer back then but never did again.
I've had deer get up right in front of the hounds over the years and all they did was pick up their head, look, then go right back to hunting.

I do NOT run my young hounds with any hounds other than my own seasoned hounds until they are 2 years old. I also agree with Dana on getting young hounds on rabbits and more rabbits at an early age.

I entered Mandy in a LPH trial a few years back, the pack took deer twice during the trial and both times Mandy didn't go with them, she checked in and started hunting again. The judge said to me "you must have fried her a few times", I replied, she's never been shocked in her life for trash, neither was her mother Bonnie nor any off her offspring that I've kept.

No offense meant towards anyone, I'm a firm believer that trash runners produce trash runners. Also, if you run a young hound with trash runners, they will learn to do the same.

[LR Patch]

I agree 1000% what was said about keeping young dogs in rabbits. Those started in a pen I feel have a advantage in that respect. I’ve never had to shock anything I’ve raised from trash. Most were started in the pen . I also agree not to run young hounds with those that are unknown until about 1-1/2 to 2 yrs. Old

[kenjames]

I love to hear about these trash free hounds, especially the yellow ones. When all those hopes and plans comes together it is a thing of beauty. It makes life so much more enjoyable.

[Beagle Huntsman]

I start all my young hounds in my pack and only with my own hounds. I start taking them at 8-9 months when they are big enough and mature enough to keep up. The puppies learn a lot from the old hounds on what or what not to run, and if I hear a puppy opening and the old hounds aren’t going, I bring it back immediately with the collar, IF my voice warning doesn’t stop them first (often does). Usually the tone button is all I need.

I hunt in hilly, wild country - never in pens - so I keep all the hounds searching close to me - usually within 50 yards or less - so if trouble starts, I know immediately and can stop them. With 16-18 hounds out, the last thing you want is for the whole pack to get away from you!

Mine are easy to break, which I think comes from intelligence and biddability. My old hounds, past age 3 or 4 don’t wear collars and I generally trust them anywhere. However, it does help to have rabbits, as all hounds can get bored with nothing to run. My 19 hound pack ran a big raccoon for a short distance this weekend, but I think they were bored on a day when we had trouble finding a rabbit, plus they hadn’t been out for a week or so. I was able to stop them with my voice. Most of the old hounds were not opening, but I didn’t wait around to see who was or was not.

Trash running, or being likely to do so, is hereditary. The foxhound guys who run outside will tell you they won’t use field trial bloodlines because the trial hounds run most only in pens and there is no need to breed out trashiness.

I have always maintained I could breed naturally trash-free beagles, but it would take a dedication to that trait, perhaps at the expense of others. I have been satisfied to settle for hounds EASY to break. I cannot remember any I have had that still tried to run trash, particularly deer, after being stopped 2 or 3 times. I would not keep something so hardheaded it never got the message, but I have seen others do that. You get in life what you will tolerate.