The American Beagler Forum

I have a male that I am back and forth on whether or not I want to breed to him. Let me start by tellling what I like. I like a dog that hunts hard and does not stop all day long. I like a dog that runs as fast as possible - running the rabbit to eat it when possible, but will slow way down and work the line close when conditions require it. I run cottontails and some swampers.

This male I have has more hunt and desire then any dog I have seen. He is fast and does not stop all day long. His major strength is his hunt and desire, which I love! His major fault is that he does not have gears. On a good scenting day he looks like an All-star and on a bad scenting he looks like fool b/c he is over running the line. This dog has to run the front and will cheat and swing to get there and that is fine w/ me on good days, but he is causing breakdowns on bad days.

Would you breed him to a female that is pretty well rounded and has much better gears? What I am hoping is to get this males desire plus my females gears?

Has anyone had experience w/ this type of breeding? Thanks!

Are these hounds the result of linebreeding/ are they related in any way to eachother/ have either been bred before/ has it been seen what each may contribute to a breeding.
The best is to pick two well rounded hounds, that in all or as many respects as possible complement each other and have no common weekness, and if they share a common relationship, the better and breed them together.
The breeding of hounds is a constant balancing act, for many traits work in combination to produce the desired results, the greatest of these is "brains"...Patch

I suggest that you take a month and just solo this dog. This will tell you whether he really has the brains to gear it down or not. Over the last couple of years I have learned from my mistakes and I have found that dogs can become over-competitive and learn to cut and swing bad due to the pressure of being run with a pack or faster dogs when they are young. I was able to smooth one of my mistakes out, by constantly running the dog solo until I got his head right. He can now handle a track with the best of them although he will still cut you every now and then, but he doesn't leave the race to cheat and get the front. Try this and your opinion of him may change. All dogs that cut, swing and cheat are not born that way, they learn to do it because of the circumstances that we put them in during their first year of running. Just my opinion, but try it and see. You may be surprised with the results. I will say it does take some patience and time and he will make you say some bad words at first, but with a little time you might see some very positive results. When you do this remember, do not pack him up at all, run him as much as possible and only solo. If he wants to run the rabbit he will have to learn to slow down.

Big Dog

i have a male just like this.trialed him 3 yrs always came in 2 nd 3 rd in the cast.i started soloing him more and within a year he championed.

Thanks Big Dog for the advise, I will try and solo him as much as I can in the next mo. and see what happens. Hopefully, I will be surprised!

Patch - these dogs are not related at all. They are both about 3 years old and have not yet been bred. The male is the result of linebreeding and the female is loosely line bred.