What blood line influenced the midwest the most?

[J Lawhorn]

Just trying to get your guys opinions on which bloodline has influenced the AKC Midwest the most in the last 5 or 10 years.Also looking into the future.It can be individual dogs too.(sire
and dams)

[Lone Pine Beagles]

Most of the "faster" trials have dogs with Branko in them.
Large Pack, Little Pack, Midwest, UKC, PKC, etc.
Heli-prop offspring seem to have produced well within the Midwest circuit over the last decade.
Both 13" and 15".



LPB

[Greg Wells]

In my opinion, IFC Branko's Heli-Prop (sire of Turbo & Proper Baron), IFC Trakarab Pacesetter (Top Mid-West Sire 3 times), IFC Mark V's Ace In the Hole, FC Brent's Prime Time (Top Mid West Sire 4 times & produced 7 Mid-West AKC FC's & many more near FC's, IFC Branko's Lumberjack, Eyer's Geneo ( Ranger Dan son; produced 7 or 8 Mid-West AKC FC's, FC Turbo Powered By Prop ( Sire to current Sire Of the Year IFC Greenwells Reggie) IFC Taylor's Sock It To Me & Indian Hills( you still see some fine hounds from this line from time to time). You will find these hounds somewhere in the pedigree of the majority of the hounds placing in the Mid-West today.

[TrlBustinBeagle]

FC Brankos Hard Rock has produced many FC's in the Mid-West and it seems his offspring produces dogs that compete well. As for dams it would be hard not to mention Holesack Cool Charlene owned by Gene Benischek

[Greg Wells]

Yeah, I forgot about Rock; he produced 3 nice FC's, Tori & Rockzie (15" females) & a 13" male (forgot his name).

[old blood beagles]

I think that you not only have to look at the blood line but also the person behind that blood line. A lot of good houndsmen have put in alot of time and money in the promotion of their hounds. You need a good seed stock in your kennel to start with but you also need to put in the ground work on that hound. I have seen some very good hounds that when finished was put into a kennel and never heard from again. We need for the owners of these finished hounds to really get out and promote the Midwest with the best hounds there is. I will have to agree with Greg Wells on this one with the names of the hounds that have made an influence on what we consider the best blood but we also need to look at their owners and how the hounds were promoted. Over the past few years we have seen an increase in the back yard breeding of hounds and we have seen alot of hounds on this board that just dont make the cut but are being sold as complete hounds and then resold as complete hounds and then being resold as complete hounds when in fact they should have been culled. We have to make a decision on what we want as a Mid-West style hound by sticking to the rules of the Mid-West. I think that what we need to do is study the hounds of the past, the breedings of the past, and what is on the ground at this time and make a informed decision on what needs to be crossed for the best possible pup and not just look at names on a pedigree.

For example, I breed a Heli-Prop son to a hard-rock daughter. I have one of the pups here at the house and have been working with him for over a year and a half. He is not making the cut so he will go to a home as a pet without papers. If he does not go to a home as a pet then he will be culled after the season ends. It is hard to do with that type of pedigree/looks and could be sold for a few hundred dollars but he is not worth it and I dont want him to do any breeding but someone else might just look at the names in his pedigree and just use him as a named FC pedigree builder.

[Greg Wells]

I agree Duane; for every dog that is worthy of breeding there are a hundred that are not. Breeders that use hounds merely based on a popular pedigree without the hound also being a quality hunting dog will never be able to consistently produce top notch running dogs in my opinion. I also think conformation should be very important to a breeder; If you only keep & breed hounds with sound conformation, very good field qualities with a pedigree of proven performers, you will increase the odds of producing a better specimen of beagle. Just my opinion from limited experience.

[Pine Lakes]

While I don't disagree with what has been said, I have some reservations about "how to breed". For example Eyer's Geneo was mentioned. I ran with Geneo several times while he was owned by a friend of mine. Grade A rabbit dog that in my opinion could never win a Mid-West trial, yet has produced some hounds that have fininshed. I would love to have a kennel full of hounds like FC Sausser's Jack(son of Geneo) but maybe Jack doesn't produce as good as Geneo. Can't know that unless Jack is bred to the same(caliber) females. My point here is "role the dice" with what you think might work and be prepared to cull. Hell I've seen patch hounds absolutely dominate a pack of Branko dogs more than once. That's not a knock on Branko dogs just an example that a beagle of any breed can win in the Mid-West if it posseses the right tools and is given the proper training. Hare Hounds, Cotton Tail Dogs, Patch Hounds, Show Dogs, Medium Fast, Fast, not nearly fast enough for me, rough, and so on have won blue ribbons at some point in time.

[Greg Wells]

I agree, there are good ones in many different bloodlines capable of winning in the Mid-West ; I was just naming the hounds & lines that have produced the MOST placing & winning offspring in the Mid-West trials.

[Pine Lakes]

Greg I wasn't refering to any of your posts directly, sorry if I offended you. After 20+ years of this beagling thing sometimes I wonder if any of us are anymore knowledgable than the 1st day we started. I would agree that Branko's line has had the biggest influence by far. Is it justified or did they just "flood the market"? Noone has bred more and placed more dogs with handlers than the Krpans. They have the facility and time to kennel and run a lot of hounds. The time, effort, and money invested in their hounds should not be overlooked or underappreciated. I hope I am not offending anyone as there is no ill will towards any line of hounds I'm just enjoying this post and its content. My kennels have more Branko blood than anything else, namely Heli-Prop, who in my opinion is the largest stud influence in the Mid-West Association. With that said it has not been my best line of hounds but somehow has outlasted everything else and that is my fault.

[Greg Wells]

No offense taken ; I see your point I think. Money & the ability to produce large numbers is an important part of being a successful breeder of a larger scale, but without knowledge & proper culling , a breeder won't be successful no matter how many puppies are produced. I think a lot of breeders start out with a good enough foundation, but refuse to use or add certain hounds that would improve thier line for some reason. They may see a hound from a line or stud that they don't like & label the entire bloodline as poor quality based on one individual. Others try to take shortcuts to improve areas in thier line such as conformation by breeding to a show champion without any regard to it's field ability or bloodline & vice versa. Another problem is breeders that breed & raise hounds that run good solo, but aren't proven to be able to compete against packmates of equal ability without developing undesirable faults. My theory is to be open to use any hound for breeding provided it has the 3 qualities that are important: pedigree, ability & conformation. If you develop a hound you like, trial it in a format that promotes the type of dog you're trying to produce(my choice is AKC Mid-West) or run it against equal competition to see if it has the patience to work well with a pack & in my opinion conformation should be developed by culling hounds that are bred for hunting purposes with a pedigree of hounds proven in the field.

[Pine Lakes]

I agree with everything you stated and couldn't have said it better myself. I know the research I personally put into making a cross but I feel like I'm "rolling the dice" no matter what I do. I've never been overlly optomistic about a litter and I'm certainly not afraid to walk away from it saying.....that will never happen again! Hope springs eternal though and my advice to anyone would be go with your gut and run the hair off of 'em. Who knows, you may be the next Branko.