The American Beagler Forum

We have two, nine month old males that hunted really well in the last hunting season, and now Im looking at running them in field trials.
As a seasoned hunting hound trainer, my motto is the younger the better,
meaning the younger I can start them, the more years of hunting I get, and usually the more tallented they tend to be.
An aquaintence of mine who has been trialing for many years, asked me if Im not worried that I will blow them up. He feels they are too young for the pressure that trialing will impose on them.

ANY INPUT WILL BE VERY APPRECIATED !

Also I forgot to mention, Im relatively new to field trialing

9 months old is way too early to be trialing a hound in any format. I don't know which format you run, but if you put them down in arha Little Pack or Mid-West SPO the chances are good that you will make them wild and crazy as a June Bug. The dogs that run in these formats are normally not pups, but full grown seasoned dogs with a lot of running time on them. Normally at 9 months old dogs are not even tracking at their full speed, nor are they full grown, they are also still trying to figure out their running style. I find that most males don't really show you everything they have until they are at least 2 1/2 - 3 years old. To be competitive in the trials you really need a seasoned dog, and most 9 month old dogs will not cut it.

Big Dog

Would you run derby trials at 9 months or nothing at all. As I said earlier they were excellent durring hunting season, and the only trial I ran so far this year, the better of the two was scoring high, until anouther hound brushed past him, and startled him, and he chased after like in play, and forgot about the Rabbit.

Elwood Simmons finished a 10 month old pup duel grand. It handled the pressure fine. I run a 6 month old in a trial and he didn't blow up. If you think they can handle the pressure run em,if not wait till they can.

I do appreciate your response to my question and I will be making a decision on whether to trial them or not, and like I said this trialing thing is still fairly new to me, I only started in February of 2003 with a Run em-over Tank grandson that was only about 9 or 10 months old and he was a very good hunter but got picked up for skirting the pack to get in the lead and swinging on the line and pretty much stuff that a hunting dog probably does alot but no judge is there to say, "pick him up"!

Exactly what does "blow up" mean?

I feel I have at least one here that has what it takes for trialing and I do not want to screw it up.


Thanks again guys

i agree with big dog. just rember that at 9 months old that dogs is still a pup. and needs time on the ground. the little pack style in the arha is not for a young dog. they will probly run a young dog into the ground.

just let the young dog be a pup first. and in about 15 months to 18 months old try the dog in a little pack hunt. just like big dog said it takes a male dog a least 2 1/2 to 3 years to be were it needs to be. just be patient, it will pay off in the long run.

Catfish

We Decided to have the young ones sit this years Spo trials out. We may run Gundog Brace, and they are derby's this year, so maybe run some derby with them. Thanks guys for the input.

Saying if you run a young dog the pressure will ruin them is a rather blanket statement and holds little trueth. Some puppies my have trouble but others may thrive. I have a 8.5 month old that is awsome in field trial situation. I completely expect her to come very close to earning her grand this year. She also does awsome by herself. It all depends on how you train your dog and the dogs personality. I have spent alot of time with this puppy exposing her to rabbits. Once she developed her own sence of hunting I then exposed her to other dogs on the hunt. I then chose one of my dogs to run her with and teach her the "ropes" to the pack hunt. Bottom line is to take your time. Let the dog take you at the pace they want to go and let them have fun. If you take them to a trial and they dont prefrom well then dont take them for awhile and work on the issues that need to be addressed. I would assume that if you are not certain that your puppy is ready than they probably are not.

I wish folks would leave the pups at home when they come to a trial. In mid-west spo at 9 months old a dog is not going to competitive, more than likely it will be crazy as a june bug if exposed to that kind of pressure that early. Taking dogs to trials too young is one of the reasons that there are so many crazy champion and grand champions in arha little pack right now. Sure they may get a win here and there, but how they do it is the question. There are so many dogs out there right now that are not rabbit dogs, just trial specialists, they cut there way right to the top and can't run a track 25 yards without over running it. How you bring a dog up running is very important in establishing their running style, and too much pressure to early will do more damage than good. Of course ultimately the owner is the person that makes the decision, but I will tell you from first hand experience most dogs cannot handle that kind of pressure consistently at 8 months and turn into a good rabbit dog by the time it is two or three years old, most of them will be wild as a june bug, and good for nothing except trialing, because when you take them rabbit hunting they will spend more time off the track than on. Just my two cents. None of my dogs are even close to perfect, but I firmly believe that bringing a dog along slow will pay big dividends in the end. What is the big rush at 9 - 10 months old?

Big Dog

I agree with Big Dog I just started running mine in trials this year they are just 2 years old. I did take them to a few trials just to see how they would do but it was a few derbys and just to sit and listen to the other dogs run need to take them to get used to the situation at hand. Take them but leave them tired out by your truck so they can get used to other people and dogs.

Gregg

If a dog is going to make champion at 8 months old it should be able to do it when it's 3 years old. If the hounds good enough, it's good enough, why rush it? Taking a chance on ruining a good dog by rushing it into trials just isn't worth it. If I had a dog that I believed was that good, I wouldn't want to regret rushing into trials. I doubt I would have reason to regret waiting.

Big Dog has it right. They're still pups that are prone to making puppy mistakes. Mistakes if uncorrected develope into faults. Heck, I don't get too excited about even starting mine until they are 8 months old. It blows me away when guys would tell me that they had a field champ that was a good puppy starter. Thats like putting a T-baller against a pro. How many homers is the youngster going to get? Remember that those young hounds will be competing against pros. Take your time. I know it's hard to, because in my case I'm usually more excited than the pup, but probably it'll be better for both of you.