Soloing Revisited

[rabbitatfarm]

I have been soloing my three-year-old male for about a week. One of the judges at the World told me he seemed to have the track at a check but pulled back to the other dogs instead of taking it out. I'm hoping he will gain some confidence that he has the track no matter what the other dogs are doing. I think it's helping. He also opens quick and I think solo is helping that too. Today he opened three times and produced a rabbit all three times. He had a few losses but got the track quickly. I'm going to run him solo for the next couple of weeks and see if there's a difference at the next trial.

Larry

[Mapel Valley Kennels LLC.]

Your gonna hear 100 different opinions, heres mine. To get the most out of any dog he has to be able to produce a rabbit and circle a rabbit by themselves. Thats my 2 cents.

[rabbitatfarm]

Red can do that; sometimes it takes him longer than three minutes to get it up and in the case of brush piles the rabbit may never come out. He just needs to realize he has the track and ignore the other dogs in the cast. Thanks for your comments.

Larry

[rwolfrom]

I am a firm believer in soloing dogs, especially pups and young dogs. They have to learn to do it all on there own. You can see just what kind of dog you have and evaluate their progress. I enjoy wachting one dog run a rabbit, most of all young dogs, it builds confidence and independence.

[mybeagles]

If your looking for trial dogs that constantly challenge for the front and will disregard the line to get there solo time is not very important and perhaps detrimental.

If you want a control oriented dog that runs at his natural speed that doesn't get pulled so much by the pack then you need to solo and brace. You really need to understand what you desire in your hounds before you can give them what they need.

[HBmudbug]

i been running these ole dogs for 40 yrs,it don't matter if you run little pack, mid-west,or large pack, if you want your dog to perform at its best ,you better solo. nuff said..

[The Asphalt Man]

My thinking behind the matter if they can't figure it out in a pack of dogs then ship them down the road.

[mybeagles]

Asphalt man,

Did your parents enroll you in High School at age 5 and tell you to figure it out or send you down the road? I'm guessing someone read some books to you and showed you how to write your name etc

[johns03272008]

Asphalt man,

Did your parents enroll you in High School at age 5 and tell you to figure it out or send you down the road? I'm guessing someone read some books to you and showed you how to write your name etc

[chop505]

Mybeagles
I don't follow your argument. You don't put a 5 year old in high school I agree but you don't but the same 5 year old in a room by himself and say learn either.
In my opinion and this is just my opinion I want to see a dog excel in a pack. I want to see how a dog handles pack pressure. If he can run the rabbit in spite of what's going on around him. If you have to constantly solo a dog to get the refocused then what do you have.

[Newt]

Asphalt man,

Did your parents enroll you in High School at age 5 and tell you to figure it out or send you down the road? I'm guessing someone read some books to you and showed you how to write your name etc

It depends on the dog and the child.
I've got seven eight wk old pups in a starting pen with San Juan rabbits. I'd bet they will all be running in another month.
I've got a grandson in kindergarten. He taught himself to read by playing video games on a computer. He reads at a fourth grade level.
Heck I couldn't read well enough to pass out of the third grade. But I didn't have a computer nor video games.

[wireman252]

I can see both sides here. We all have our own opinions . But for me personally , I almost never solo. I simply never want to leave anyone of them behind , when I go run. I've seen plenty of dogs that have never been soloed , show the "independence" and "confidence" that many think is only obtained by soloing. On the flip side , I've seen some that have had many solo hours , that once shown pack pressure , seem as if they can't handle it. I think , for the most part , they will be what they will be.

[mybeagles]

There you go....get kids on computers earlier and drop them in large day cares and we will solve the education crisis in America. Who would have known that it was all the individual attention that's holding our kids back. Following that thinking if we run our dogs in Large pack we could greatly improve the breed.

[wireman252]

There you go....get kids on computers earlier and drop them in large day cares and we will solve the education crisis in America. Who would have known that it was all the individual attention that's holding our kids back. Following that thinking if we run our dogs in Large pack we could greatly improve the breed.

Uh Oh. Sounds like a dig on large pack runners .

[The Asphalt Man]

MY BEAGLES
Ya they did enroll me in high school at age 5 and I figured it out. I was not saying anything bad about soloing dogs I just disagree with soloing dogs.