The American Beagler Forum

A friend & I where examining a scenario. We where split on our decision so to try & see what the majority would say I ask:

Dog A: has been credited with 10 scores or positives. Also 4 negatives.
Dog B: has been credited with 6 scores or positives. 0 negatives
Leaving both dog A & B with a total of 6!

Which dog would you prefer and why ? A or B

Few side notes are: akc scoring, negatives where nothing pick up worthy (off game, back tracking, etc) more or less being a little rougher just not excessive.

Dog B.

No negatives sound like the winner

If the going is so good that a hound can do it without any negatives the one with four negatives would probably come in second place. Most of the time I find the hound without any negatives isn't doing much though, but you did say 6 positives here , so he would be the winner.

It really just depends. I also try to keep in mind things that can often be overlooked. I like one to hang onto it after a check. If one dog is carrying more track than the other that outweighs you're scenario to me and can go to either one. However, if I feel like that they are about equal I am going to keep running them until I have separation.

If you picked dog B up then dog A would have to run more rabbit. Seems like dog B is all ready running more rabbit with no faults Dog A sounds like it's creating break downs to get more score. It's nice to see a good smooth pack run with less faults.

Which ever one jumped the rabbit, yes consistency is very nice, but a hard driving dog can make some checks happen resulting in minuses, Depends on what type of dog you want, But hunt and jumping ability is a must.

BM Orchard wrote:A friend & I where examining a scenario. We where split on our decision so to try & see what the majority would say I ask:

Dog A: has been credited with 10 scores or positives. Also 4 negatives.
Dog B: has been credited with 6 scores or positives. 0 negatives
Leaving both dog A & B with a total of 6!

Which dog would you prefer and why ? A or B

Few side notes are: akc scoring, negatives where nothing pick up worthy (off game, back tracking, etc) more or less being a little rougher just not excessive.

In my opinion if dog B is worthy of a win, then it should be exploiting dog A's faults. A dog that runs behind something all the time and just picks up a check here or there isn't worthy of winning in my opinion. I can't stand a swinger and a cheater, especially one that disrupts consistant running, but if the other dog is worth his salt then he will make it perfectly well known who is trying to illegally get an advantage. It comes down to preference and I like a more aggressive hound. I can give an example. Gabe Stockton had 2 males that finished, FC Sullivan's Go Joe and FC Main Event's Showtime. Showtime was a consistant winner's pack hound that was almost faultless, but not a dominant dog. Go Joe was the type of dog that ran on the hairy edge, but if he was on then he could destroy a pack of hounds. Not as consistant as Showtime, but the potential to win more frequently. I prefer a dog like Go Joe while many others would rather have Showtime. Gabe would tell you that Showtime would show Go Joe his backside on Joe's off days, but had no chance when Joe was on. Your scenario reminds me of that and I think it's personal preference. There are some judges that don't expect perfection as long as there is accomplishment and there are some that look for faults and seemingly don't care about accomplishment. That's the beauty of us human's, we all have our own ideas..........usually.

If the dog with 10 merits an 4 demerits is still on the ground at the end of the day then obviously it didn't do enough wrong to get picked up,big difference from being a little on the edge and disrupting the pack. Dog A got more accomplished than Dog B,but dog B did less wrong. Kinda comes down to personal preference,but the AKC rulebook does say Accomplishment Over Style. If the dog wasn't disrupting the pack to get picked up then I would have to go with the one that got more accomplished.

Too many variables left unknown for me to decide.
What were the demerits for?
Which dog showed more hunt or desire?
Which dog ran the line better?
Which dog did the jumping?
Could go on and on! Just too many variables. Not to mention the judges personal preference!
What I like may not be what someone else likes!

I don't see a real question with the scenario I must be dumb

I would choose dog A for getting more done and apparently the negatives wasn't bad enough to get picked up.

Granpa always said if you wasnt messing up then you wasnt getting enough done so I would have to go with dog a. Besides I never diod like a goody two shoes and thats what b sounds like.

I don't hunt beagle trials or competition so I'm curious if this question is NOT answered in the rules as are what are merits and demerits? Actually if the rule book does NOT explain how this should be judged then it is left up to a personal opinion. I would think that a competition of any sort would have a set of written objective rules and NOT leave anything to subjectiveness. An opinion can never be right or wrong and therefore not challenged as there is no word of rule to decide upon. I do understand that a persons interpretation may vary but it still leaves the written word as the deciding factor and NOT what one thinks or interprets it to be. In UKC coon hunts the rules were pretty clear right down to who won the cast with plus, minus and or circle points. I can't see how any competition that leaves the winner up to want a judge likes verses what the rules demand to determine the best has won. What it does do is allow what a judge or judges like, to be determined to be the best in lieu of an explicit set of rules.

AKC's rule book is definitive on this subject. The integrity of nothing is in question here. A pretty simple question of "which do you prefer" is however the question. To simplify : an edgy dog that's gonna score but probably take a minus here & there "dog A" or a cleaner dog which in turn might not score as much but will not get caught making as many errors! Dog B
Which do you prefer ?

In the proposed scenario, I believe I would go for dog A. One I just like a more aggressive style dog, but two, AKC stresses accomplishment over fault. And if the negatives were not pick up worthy, then the ten accomplishments would out way the faults of aggression, and I would feel that dog A got more done than the dog B with only 6 positives. JMO