The American Beagler Forum

just thought i would ask everyones opinion on what they consider in a hound or line of hounds that shows great brainpower. i'm not talking barney the pet that does tricks or gets the newspaper. how do you base your judgement? as of right now i'm leaning toward the check work area?

Actually, i have thought this over to some extent too.

The hounds that can escape from the kennel seem to be smarter imo.
Climbers, diggers, contorsionists.
The dumb ones will just sit there.

These smart hounds are also easy to break from off game.

Lastly, you rarely lose a smart hound in the woods. They circle back around and look you up if they get lost.

good post,
LPB

i look at ever thing. from kennel manners to running rabbits. but i am not to hard on young hounds. i think of hounds under 2 as a teenager. they will push all your buttons.

excessive kennel barking shows me a lack of brains.

also a dog that engulfs it's food so fast is chokes itself I think is lack of brains.

male dogs that ride females when they are not in heat is also a lack of brains.

Dogs with brains will circle their own rabbit with fast checks at the speed that the scent warrants and communicate with and obey their master. That is my personal yardstick for measuring my hounds brains. Maybe I got lucky or maybe Branko got it right but my foundation stock have ultimate brains.
Oh, and I got to go buy some concrete blocks - my female dug out of the kennel twice in three days. She is in heat and I haven't been running her and she is all pissy about that. Yes, my kids got her kenneled up before some mutt came around.

A dog that doesn't just doddle around sniffing to find a rabbit. One that looks over the terrain and runs to search the most obvious place to find a rabbit. One that isn't as likely to change the rabbit it is running. One that locates a rabbit in a bush and goes around to the far side to chase it right at your feet. One that hits a stony railroad track or river where the scent shuts down and figures out to check the other side. A dog that jumps a rabbit, or crosses another hot track, while circling its rabbit and runs back to that track as soon as you shoot the rabbit. A dog that trains easily.

The ability to adapt...

to anything - change of conditions, difference in how game runs, change of kennels and kennel mates, packmates, new handlers, change of scenery - all of it. Adaptability shows me intelligence.

Usually the ones that give me the most trouble are the smartest, lol.
Some hounds will get stuck on a check and come back to me like they're trying to get ME to find the bunny. The ones that do that regularly are what I consider dumb as a stump My brainy hounds are the ones that seem to be thinking on a check. They're using a combination of brains and nose together and just don't quit.
Also, the intelligent ones, I've noticed are hunting WITH me. They take direction, and as someone mentioned, they're easy to break off game & just know what you expect of them. They always check for me while the dumb ones just run off to hunt for themselves ... and probably go off to track another dog.
Again, as someone mentioned, my foundation dogs are Branko bred and show/produce extreme intelligence. My second smartest is a great grandpup of Emmons Blue Streaker.

wow. those are all good. i like your post Bev,very true! i also think that some of a smart hounds traits can be seen quickly< within minutes> while other traits seem to show therselves over time with some degree of consistency.

Bev wrote:The ability to adapt...

to anything - change of conditions, difference in how game runs, change of kennels and kennel mates, packmates, new handlers, change of scenery - all of it. Adaptability shows me intelligence.

Yeah, I like that answer Bev.
Also a Beagle that knows how to "boogle" you. You know, one that can be one step ahead of you, for good or bad?
The one's that are telepathic

THE SMART ONES KNOW:
Which way the rabbit went on the track
How to slow down on a bad day
How to listen to their boss; come, sit, call tally-ho or rabbit and point and they go to that spot.
The differences between a rabbit track and trash
What a tone on a shock collar means
Where mr. rabbit lives most of his life (in the brush)
What "no" means
How to ignore a stupid dog after a lie or two
When to say to their partners: I found it or I found one and when to keep quiet
How to escape after we say "it's dog proof now"
How to beg the most when it's time to go hunting
How to forgive their owner when he/she makes a bad mistake
For some reason, most of these things remind me of what God has told his children here on earth to do!

The smartest ones learn to Swing and Skirt around cover on a running track, so be careful how much brains you wish for.
You may end up with the Roughest running dog in the Country.

One of my dogs lives in the house and is pretty much house broke. One day my wife Lisa was in going to the bathroom and Rose pushed the door open, walked in and peed on the floor. Lisa was not impressed.

About a week later Lisa was cleaning the bathroom and put a sign on the door that said "bathroom is cleaning, go downstairs". Later, Lisa started giving me h**l because Rose made a mess downstairs. I said "Rose just did what you wrote on your sign, be careful what you write!" Lisa could not stop laughing long enough to finish giving me heck after that.

In all seriousness, it seems like those extra smart dogs just know somehow which way the rabbit is going to turn. They make it look easy when most dogs have to work hard to run a rabbit.

They also pick up some habits that would not go well in a field trial. I have seen Rose running along beside the pack, letting them do the work on the straight aways. When the rabbit makes a corner and the other dogs go over the end, Rose cuts in behind them and takes the track away. That is brains.

Bev,,, You just described The U.S.M.C!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crew Chief

PS Oh Yea,, the check in thing is REAL important to us!!! We're way to old to be running around the woods lookin for ours!!!!!!!!!

I think alot of what some folks consider smarts is a dog is just doing whats in its genetic make-up to do and maybe brains doesnt enter the equation as much as they might think. To me brains is mostly the problem solving a hound does while running or trying to run, the quicker they can problem solve perhaps indicates more smarts. To a lesser extent trainability shows a degree of brains and those hounds that just seem to know what is expected of them always seem kinda smart.