The American Beagler Forum

I've only owned huntign Beagles a few years, and want to trial my best bitch this summer. I have no idea how I go about registering her or getting her ready for a trial. Do I need to be a member of a beagle club first? HELP?!
BTW, she is AKC.

There are trials to suit all types of dogs, the first thing to do is find the format that your dog fits into. This could be AKC, ARHA,PKC or UKC. I would visit a couple of trials just to get a feel for what is going on and to see if your dog will fit in. Make sure that your dog is trash broke so you will not have to run around looking for it if it gets on a deer or fox or other junk. ARHA, UKC and PKC allow you to register your dog with them on the day of the hunt. In order to participate in AKC trials your dog must be AKC registered. To prepare your dog just run it as much as possible and make sure that you think the dog is trial worthy, i.e. good enough to compete and hopefully win. If you think that you have a dog that can win then go ahead and enter it. The biggest thing is to make sure that the dog is in shape, will pack with strange dogs, and last but not least can run a good rabbit. If you think you have a good solid hound then take it to the trials and see what happens. Go with the intent to have fun and win while you are doing it. I have some dogs that I trial and some that I don't as every good gun dog is not always a good trial dog, but every trial dog should be a good gun dog.


Big Dog