PREACHERS KENNEL wrote:but where in the rules did it say it had to line it out ???if u know for a fact the dog is barking on rabbit because it was seen even tho and i am not happy about them goin the wrong way but it was stated that the scenting was bad ,,,.;i gotas give positive points .. let me pose a few more ???just how long is a line??if its good scent or bad scenting is it the same???now haveing said all that i do want a line and if its a 5 dog cast i like to have at least 3 dogs barking on it preferably...and would like them to go at least 30 ft or so with it just makes me feel better... but i have seen judges say they didnt give me a line and heck they went 50 yards on a bad scenting pecking yes but itwas 3 or more dogs doin it . in my opinion u gotta give scenting a big part of judgeing.sometimes common sense plays a big part .. a detective gathers info saying what do we know/...WE KNOW HE HAD A RABBIT ,, not ghost barking or just abbling he had a rabbit and we knew it .!
When a detective gathers info, he must use all of it, not just that which suits him, all or nothing!
We are looking for the best all-round rabbit hound, or are we?
To me, if you reward hounds on bits and pieces your not looking at the total hound. If you use your info on a rabbit jumped by the gallery, you must take into consideration all results seen from the marked line ie.. claiming the line, AND advancement of the line. To reward claiming the line w/out demerit for failure to advance the line is one thing, but because we have a marked line, to ignore the fault of going the wrong direction(backtracking), this is an abomination to a rabbit hunter. After all, isn't this what we're after, the best "RABBITDAWG", the one we would like to take rabbit hunting?
This is one of those times I'd loved to hear, "the little CHoo-Choo train hound turned it from behind on him", that their always spouting about...
This hound has proved himself a fool, but the others in the cast lack ability, confidence & independance to turn it around, so they are no more than me-tooing(following along), waiting for someone to get it right...
If a hound is getting scent to backtrack, does it not stand to reason he would get somewhat better scent going forward on the line?
Sorry, but I could not reward a hound for claiming a line and then, run it backwards...unless I could minus the hound for his faulty actions at the find and negate any credit given. Backtracking is a major fault and is catching to other hounds, especially the young...
If your going to say, "WE know he had a rabbit", then you also have to say, "WE know he's running it backwards" and judge accordingly...everything must be taken into account as to how it contributes to a positive or negative effect on the hunt.
Most times in a situation like this, hounds are lifted and move down the line and judged from the first check...but, we're wanting to give strike points to credit the hound's find, but not discredit him for backtracking(yes, if your not going forwards, your going backwards), so, the back track was shown by the hound but no forward progress was made on the line and the time elapsed. No credit/no score, turn the puppies around and judge from the first check. This is much more gracious than would be the case if actually hunting, for the backtracker would have gotten a boot in the buttt...
