What becomes of your old hunting dogs?

[PREACHERS KENNEL]

I get attached to my dogs ..probably let them roam around the house not even tie them, up at that age ..they aint going nowhere .lol

[likeemfast]

:

So if my hound isn't hunting worth a darn one day and pisses me off and I work that hound over with a leather lead and when I cut that hound loose again and say now "FIND EM" and that hound starts hunting harder than ever and soon jumps a rabbit did that hound hunt for me? Or for itself?

There are a lot of "ifs" and "whens" in your question? I have no idea. How do you answer an "IF" and "When" question? Maybe?
If it doesn't hunt harder, do you whip it harder and try again? How many times, is the required dosage to achieve success?
The ones that won't hunt, when you use those methods, usually goes to the truck or sneaks off and hides. Yours may be different in your imaginary example.

My dad tells me of stories when rabbit hunting was a major source of feeding the family when he was growing up. That when and if example he tells me rang true many times thru the years. If the hounds were not doing what my grandfather knew they should b doing that leather lead was used and my dad tells me they hunted hard the rest of the day. Example goes back 50+ years ago but it's true. So did they hunt for my grandfather or themselves?

[bartman357]

I think the hardest decision to make is! At what point do they start suffering and it become an act of mercy to put them down?

bartman357

www.bartsbunnies.com

[Newt]

[

My dad tells me of stories when rabbit hunting was a major source of feeding the family when he was growing up. That when and if example he tells me rang true many times thru the years. If the hounds were not doing what my grandfather knew they should b doing that leather lead was used and my dad tells me they hunted hard the rest of the day. Example goes back 50+ years ago but it's true. So did they hunt for my grandfather or themselves?

I have no idea what your grandfather did or believed. I do know that I have taken my dogs out and they didn't hunt to my satisfaction. Take them to another spot and they hunted great. Maybe the first area didn't have any rabbits.
I grew up in those days also. I remember sitting around the camp fire on a deer hunt. The locals gathered in, and told tales that would make a young boy's hair stand on end. I remember a guy telling about the time he stole a panthers cub and brought it back to the camp. The mother panther tracked them down and reared up and screamed at them. Hmmm? I don't believe there was even a panther in the state of Louisiana in those days.
All outdoorsmen in those days had tells of favourite dogs. My Dad's was Old "Buster". Buster would grab a hog by the ear and hold it until my Dad put rings in its nose. Old Buster would also tree a coon or possum at night and tree squirrels in the day time. I've heard my dad tell of old Buster hunting the wrong game, like your grandpa, my dag grabbed him and beat the crap out of him. Old Buster was very intelligent. He knew the problem and proceeded to tree what ever Dad had on his mind. Don't know if it was telepathy or dad spelled it out.
I once heard a story about a man's "Possum Dog" Old Blue. The dog was so good that the man could cut a board stretch the possum hide, show it to Old Blue, and Blue would go out and tree a possum the size of the board. One day the man's wife asked her husband to make her a new ironing board. He was careless and Old Blue saw the ironing board, headed for the woods and hasn't been seen since.
I suppose dogs were just smarter and tougher in those days. I can only judge what I have seen. If I over use the shock collar or my boot, my dogs refuse to hunt for me.

Just curious, were your Grand Pa's dogs registered beagles? Maybe they were tougher in those days because they spent more time in the woods and less time on the couch. The dumb, sensitive, quitters were probably weeded out as breeding stock rather than keeping them because they had an impressive pedigree.

[likeemfast]

Lol, Poor Old Blue. Newt you did hit the nail partly on the head cause some of those old hounds were mutts he picked up wandering around the mines. He tended to the mules at the mines and would hear a hound pounding a rabbit and either find out who owned it or take it home if it were a stray. Some of them were actually grade hounds also, but were tough old little hounds. We still had some of that old grade breeding when i 1st started tagging along up thru till i was about 18 when it ran out. As a young guy, my father, obviously learned from his father some of those methods which i witnessed and they did work on our old line of hounds. Today's hounds dont measure up to them in many ways especially in the department of toughness, brains, and hunt. Today's hounds are soft.

Obviously rabbit meat is not a necessity in our world today (but it is still very much enjoyed by us) so those methods are not used by myself, but i dont feed a hound that dont measure up or is too old to hunt or just keep up. There is always another to take their place.

[dave404]

My dad always said, u cant make a dog hunt by whipping it or being mean to it. All it ever did was make em scared of me.
I keep my old ones and run em as long as they can. Then care for them till death.

[Lee Cockman]

If they have been good to me. I will let them live out there life in there same kennel. When they die the collar goes with them. It does bother me a bit to feed a good dog. Old or young. But it has to be a good one or have been a good one. Not average. I have two that I have not run in two years. Look fine but one cant hear and the other lacks foot. They are fat as a tick and slick as a mold. I would not give them away to anyone unless it was a super good home. They have been good to me. The best thing to do is just figure on having a few retirement kennels. Mine are hunting dogs not pets but if he or she is a good one. Well it has a home at my place. JMHO

[KPrice]

Joey, their working hounds, they serve a purpose that is useful to you, when that purpose can no longer be performed then its time to move on. I see no reason to feed something just to feed it when i can feed something that is useful. I dont own pets, i own working hounds that i treat very well while they work for me. Do what your gut tells ya. Their your hounds and no one else's, Its that simple........As someone stated give them away if need be as a pet. As always just my opinion.

I don't raise my beagles as pets either, but since raising and running these hounds is something I choose to do for fun, I don't consider them just "working dogs". They are sporting and companion dogs that deserve better treatment.

[J.C. Blair]

If they have been good to me. I will let them live out there life in there same kennel. When they die the collar goes with them. It does bother me a bit to feed a good dog. Old or young. But it has to be a good one or have been a good one. Not average. I have two that I have not run in two years. Look fine but one cant hear and the other lacks foot. They are fat as a tick and slick as a mold. I would not give them away to anyone unless it was a super good home. They have been good to me. The best thing to do is just figure on having a few retirement kennels. Mine are hunting dogs not pets but if he or she is a good one. Well it has a home at my place. JMHO

Aint but three things in this world, worth a solitary dime, and thats old dogs, n children, and watermelon wine.......................

[outrider66]

If they have been good to me. I will let them live out there life in there same kennel. When they die the collar goes with them. It does bother me a bit to feed a good dog. Old or young. But it has to be a good one or have been a good one. Not average. I have two that I have not run in two years. Look fine but one cant hear and the other lacks foot. They are fat as a tick and slick as a mold. I would not give them away to anyone unless it was a super good home. They have been good to me. The best thing to do is just figure on having a few retirement kennels. Mine are hunting dogs not pets but if he or she is a good one. Well it has a home at my place. JMHO

Aint but three things in this world, worth a solitary dime, and thats old dogs, n children, and watermelon wine.......................

Thats a good one ! brings back ole memories I seen Tom T. Hall play at a campgrounds in Nova, Ohio in 1972