Would love to hear from seasoned beaglers

[Dogman]

If you would by responding please tell how long you have been into beagles. Tell the best dog you ever seen and what qualities it had that impressed you, please tell me who you think was the most knowledge houndsman you ever meet and what you learned from them and last but not least what has been the good and bad changes you've seen with beagling over the years. Thank you for you time.

[Casey Harner]

Been into these little guys for 7 years. Best hound I have is my current one. His name is Benz. He has a lot of stamina and tons of grit. He is only 17 months old.

Adam Seger took me under his wing and taught me a lot, he has been a knowledgeable houndsman. Matt Glomski has been a great friend of mine and he has to be the most knowledgeable rabbit hunter. It seems like there has been a lot of stolen beagles and a lot more dishonest ppl in the beagling community. I've seen dishonesty in the past four year sky rocket...

The good I've seen is more kids being involved in the sport and in more hunting pictures!!! Beagles always seem to bring the best smiles out of children.

[hskennels69]

Been into Beagles for close to 35 years, I started at 8 years old with a dog named Snoopy,LOL...I have had and ran with some exceptional dogs, Ipod, Autumn, Wicked Sister were all very special....My current dogs are truly wonderful, a female pup named H&S Black Widow, call name Spider and H&S Mandarin Slice and Dice, call name Mandy...I'm sure you will see their names on here when PKC heats back up....The best all around dog man I've ever had the pleasure of knowing is Jr. Price, he can make dogs do things and learn stuff you would never imagine....He's a natural dog trainer, I use him all the time when I have a problem I'm not sure how to fix....

[Alabama John]

1) 67 years. Got one of my own at age 7 when given me for raising an uncles litter born at my home.

2) My uncles that no one on here would recognize, they and me were some of the original members that started the Magic City Beagle Club back in the 50's and bought the land.That club is still in existence and close to my home today. Top of a mountain and beautiful with the improvements the members have done. I was the youngest member. Saw many AKC dogs RUN that are on the last column of todays dogs AKC papers or have gone past the papers.

3) I Learned what a beagle is supposed to do to win at a Brace trial and what one should do to bring the rabbit to the dinner table.

4) The biggest positive change is AKC dogs that can compete and win AKC trials can also be hunted with to bring home rabbits and there is a trial format for whatever type of hunting and running beagle you prefer.

5) Not much negative except some have made beagling a business, very competitive, instead of enjoyment first and take trials and winning way to serious.

[Dogman]

Thank you John would love to hear more, anyone else out there that would like to share a bit I know there is many that I can learn from. Any special moments or funny stories while out with the dogs.I know I love it when my boys and friends are with me always a good time. Not fast paced like the rest of my life and I'll take the woods and brush over black top and concrete any day.

[rackhntr]

Im 35 and Ive had beagles as long as I can remember. Ive sold out a time or two but it wasnt long before Id have another pack. I guess my uncle was the best beagle man that I ever knew. He was like a vet when it came to a sick dog and knew what it took to breed some good beagles. I dont recall him ever trialing or ever even owning a registered dog but he had some good ones. Of the summer we would go to our spot and build us up a fire and listen to the dogs run all night long. He had one that he raised several litters out of named star. I didnt pay much attention back then but now when I think about it she usually struck first and would lead the pack all night long. I worked out 2 pups out of her one time(probably age 12) and raised them up until about a year old. They were probably around 16" dogs I called Blacky and Whitey. In school I was friends with a boy that his dad had foxbeagles and ran in the lots. He invited me to spend the night,bring my dogs and go to the lot. Well blackey and whitey made a show that night. They smoked the other dogs all night long and the old timers was jerking out the cash to buy them but I wouldnt sell. I felt like I was on top of the world whe they'd make a crossing and whitey would be 30 yards in front of the rest of the pack of 30 dogs. The bad thing about having beagles around here now is that its getting hard to find places to run them. People dont want dogs even crossing their land much less hunting.

[rabbitearl]

Had beagles 38 years.Don t have any now do to mom and dads health.Lost my dad in sept and just put mom in the rest home.Got a little now that 8 so it want be long before I have some more.

[Marcus Lehotay]

Been listening to hounds make noise for almost 30 years. The best dog I have ever seen run was Carl Arns dog Hollywoods F Troop. Troop had the ability to adjust to scenting conditions and always used his mouth right. He was probably a 8 on the speed scale and was comfortable leading the pack or steering it from behind. As far as the houndsman that I learned the most from was a guy nobody has heard of. It was my dads hippie neighbor Tony. He always had a pack of good hard running grade hounds back in south eastern Ohio. He knew more than anything else you had to figure out what type of hound you liked and stick to it. He also knew it had to be fun.

[adirondackjoe]

i've been at this 50 years. never done any trialing or followed any bloodline .if we had a couple of dogs we liked we rolled the dice and bred them. most times it worked out, sometimes not. can't say they were pure bread though but they mostly looked like beagles. i can't say my dogs do every thing right (line control, to much mouth etc.) its more what they don't do wrong. where i run in nj. and hunt in southern ny, we have 10 deer for every rabbit (almost. it seems that way most times) when i hunt out of my camp in the adirondacks its 30 miles between roads so running any kind of trash is out of the question. period. my dogs are CLEAN. i went to a field trial once (not running) and one of the dogs ran a deer and the judge didn't pick him up. when i asked him about it later he said he couldn't fault the dog for chasing game. is this the norm at trials i wounder? i would be interested to know. to me a dog like that would be worthless. anyway have fun out there whatever you run.

[19rabbit52]

I'm 60 years old and I've had beagles since I was 13 except Navy time and about 6 years ago tried to quit but that only lasted a year. I've also had bird dogs and coon dogs along the way but have always kept at least one beagle that could circle a rabbit. My dad and uncle also had beagles well into old age. One thing of interest is my uncle always ran dogs that were 25% blue tick coon hound. He said that made them a little taller to handle the snow and he claimed bigger(louder) mouth. 95% of the beagles I have owned were grade. I've owned 2 that I believe were as good as any, ever. One was a male I got for my 14th birthday and I hunted the hair off him. To look at me now you wouldn't beleive it but I broke this dog off trash with a club. I would cut him off and give him a good taste of the club. Then about 1980 I was given a fine boned little male that was a speed demon. He was the type that I would turn loose and bet he would have a rabbit up, Walmart or middle of New York, didn't matter. Also he always accounted for his rabbit hole or gun(I used to check). Bad thing is for every decent rabbit dog I've had , I also have had 15 or 20 worthless super slugs. My wife says I'm to old to fool with dogs anymore but I will as long as I can. I also do not think the best today are as good as the 1960's dogs, that is just a personal opinion. And I wonder, What happened to what we called Lemon Pied and Blue Point beagles? Just a name change I guess.

[begles]

I have had beagles since 1980, been runnin trials since 1993. Hunting and runnin dogs is all you need.

[rock pushin rabbit hunter]

Was running dogs with Dexter Reffett a couple of years ago. While running dogs one Saturday night he told me,Joey,if your gonna be a dog man,pick one style of hound and one bloodline that suits you and go with it. If you run rough swingers with line control dogs youre just gonna have a mess. If you tfy to go down to many roads you'll get nowhere. I took his advice to heart. It has helped my kennel tremendously. Always pays to listen to an old beagler who has been around the block. He also told me to breed for hunt first and foremost. That is the hardest trait to get in a beagle.