Oldest age to start?

[DRamey]

Anyone ever taken a chance on a hound over a year old with very limited time in the field, even up to the age of 2? And how much time would you spend on it if you took a chance if there is little to no $$ involved?

[Owl Creek]

depends... .
i had a chance to get back one of our pups that was a few days from turning 1yr old.
the man worked alot of OT and did not start her. but i know how all her littermates are doing.
so we went and got here back. in less than 12 outings she is doing very well .could not be happyer.

if joe blow come up to me on the street and said hey , i have a 2 yr old unstarted hound , want it ?
i would say no thank you.... well really i would say hellll no!


if someone like hookset or stavemill or Murphy ,dan kane , the lanes , larry perry or kennth hill ect. etc. ask me this.
i would think twice.
they all have nice hounds. so they was keeping it for some reason if they fed it that long.

so it depends on what the case is.
is it out of hard core rabbit dogs or just off some yard beagle.

if i did not have any or enough dogs that pleased me and it was from good stock.
and it was free i might give it 30 days.

[T LEE]

In the early 90s I paid $150 for an 8 month old "started pup". I soon found out that not only was the pup unstarted but refused to do much of anything for the next 4 months. I must have taken the pup countless times and he showed little interest.

When he did start (14 months old ) he turned into a Very , Very Nice Dog and better than anything in my kennel. A true jump dog that could get checks with the best of them. Word of mouth got out. I was offered $1000 and for him and took it.

I think this was an exception to the rule and today.....I would never put that much time into one starting that old. JMO

[likeemfast]

20 years back we went and got a 18 month old female that was unstarted out of our old stock (how i wish we still had that foundation) from a guy who never hunted her. She was tied at a pen for over 8 months when he told my dad she wont chase and he didnt want her anymore. I picked her up and showed her 1 rabbit and she sight chased it only. 2nd time out a rabbit ran out in front of her and the rest is history, she was as all the other hounds we had back then, ........"high quality gun dog".

[BCBeagles]

One of the best we ever had was a house dog until a local hunter picked him up at 18 months. He ran the first rabbit he was in contact with. I bought him at a little under 3 yrs old and we gave big money for him back then. He died here and is still a part of what we have, he was a natural at everything. I think the exception not the rule. If I knew the ancestry of the hound and that it had no "bad exposure" I would try it. JMO.

[Ky. Hunter]

I raised a litter once and gave a male pup out of the litter to my son and he made a pet out of him and he and his wife broke up when the dog was 18 months old and he had no place to take the dog so I took him back. The dog had never been out and to my surprise the first time I took him out he followed the other dogs and started giving mouth the third time out and made a good dog, in fact he made a better dog than a couple that started early but I don't like to try to start dogs that have age on them. I usually start mine around 5-6 months.

[gun runner]

I say take a chance you have to roll the dice every now and then.Worst chase you have alittle food tied up in him,and what ever you paid for him.I pick up this male in ky and had his daughter and son with hom,so if i took him i had to take all 3 so i did one had a sight chase on her and the male had nothing at 18 months and they are coming on strong really really happy with them.Some times you got to say what the h*ll.

[Rcoff]

Go ahead and start him. Almost every beagle will start, just depends on how much patience you have. If he won't start, bring him over.

[Joseph J Murphy]

I saw a 2 year old Piney Creek Bear female start the first day she ever saw a running pen.She had been an inside house dog up to that point.Heard a couple of months later that she was running good for the guy who had her.

[bucks better beagles]

Do this all the time. The dependency factors are:

1. First impression
2. Room in my kennel
3. Kennel manners
4. Physical condition of the dog
5. The "story" that comes with it

It doesn't cost much to give it a try but I don't like to take a headache. I have enough of these already. I win a few and loose a few but it keeps the game interesting.

[K&D Beagles]

me and my day got one one time that was 22 months old never been off chain he barked all the time at us when we hunted the field next to those peoples house we got him took him home never will forget it got him a house and bottle of worm medicine lol, put a tame rabbit in a cage in the lot with him he rolled the cage all over his lot and barked until just about a wisper this was late summer early fall we killed rabbits with him that winter like he had done it all his life wish i would have took heed and kept that stock going ever pup that came out of him ran naturally this was in early 90's T was his name was hunting as good at dark as he was at daylight just big stout dog soo if it is in them i would say up to 2 maybe 2.5!!

[Lone Pine Beagles]

I started a super fat "house beagle" that looked like a tri-colored barrel.
He was 6 yrs old.
After he started running he lost weight and looked great!


LPB

[Bull_357]

My buddy at the club just got his male to start barking at the age of 18 months. He only owns the one beagle and it would run a rabbit but would never bark. He started to run with my pack about 2-3 times and it opened up and now has the biggest coon dawg bawl on track I have ever heard. He is now about 20 months and at the point of most dogs half his age. He was just a late starter. The chances on me giving a dog a shot much after 8-9 months would be about zero.

[pilotknob]

I gave a little male runt to some neighbors years ago as a pet.for their kids.He stayed in a fenced in backyard for 4+years.Got to where the kids quit playing with him and he had destroyed their yard by digging they offered to give him back.I took him and the first time out he went with my dogs and opened a few times.In a month he was hunting and running like all the rest.After a hunting season with some rabbits killed in front of him he was as broke as any hound I've ever owned.Made a good hound.Go ahead and take the chance if it's bred good and hasn't been abused it'll probably be ok.

[sizematters]

How about 3 + years old?????? It can be done. Just got 2 started last week for a guy, that had never been loose. They are doing pretty good now.