The American Beagler Forum

Just curious as to how the rest of you start pups when the baby rabbit population is very high and you don't have a training pen. Say a litter of pups is about 6mo old right smack dab in the middle of summer and there's baby rabbits everywhere. You don't really want to wait until the pups are 9 or 10mo old to start but you're concerned with the pups learning bad habits. Habits like once the pup loses the rabbit all he/she has to do is reach out a little further and they're sure to jump another one.

IMO, it doesn't matter. By the time the dog is three years old it has reached the potential that mother nature gave it, given ample opportunity to develop. I love starting my pups in the Spring and early summer because there is an abundant supply of rabbits and the scenting conditions are good. Nothing hurts starting pups like having no rabbits.

I agree with roygu. Just remember that there are LOTS of lines that go in tiny circles caused by these little rabbits before you loose your temper with the young hounds that tend to look at time like idiots on the lines. Good Hunting.

I'm with on that one dg tx . I've seen some veteran dogs look like idiots on those young ones running everywhere but I think it is a good way to get pups going.