Med speed or fast speed.

[rabbitearl]

Here in NC you got to have a little speed to run a rabbit out in the open for a shot because it is so thick.I used to have maybe a 4 or 5 speed and sometime were it was thick they just could not run the rabbit out.They sound good but just could not bring the rabbit out.I always say it was the rabbit.And then and old rabbit hunter told me my dogs were not fast enoth.I used to have real fast dogs and they speed more time looking the rabbit were they lost it than running it.So a man told me that med speed dog will run one faster than a fast dog because of this.Now I have maybe a 6 or 7 speed that will do it like it sopose too.What speed of dogs is best for you to rabbit hunt with?

[Newt]

I agree a 6-7 speed if they have a brain. As you mentioned, if they over run and have no interest or don't have the brains/nose to solve the check quickly then they don't add much to the chase. It's not the speed of the dog that makes a great run it's the speed that he can pursue and stay in control of the line and make the most forward progress.

[main event`s beagles]

get the job done speed. run to catch

[RIDDLERUN]

I AGREE MAIN EVENT RUN TO CATCH I WANT IT TO RUN IT LIKE THERE LOOKING AT IT THE WHOLE TIME

[PBJ]

I personally want the dog to push the rabbit as fast as possible not just run fast. I don't want a check every 30 or 40 seconds. Dog must be accountable for the rabbit and keep the line between the legs. Steady pressure on the rabbit will force him out to where he can try to put distance on the dog and to my gun! I want fast speed without breakdowns.

[tommyg]

Most of the places I hunt are very thick and steep,holds a fast dog back. I like a hound to have good foot but I want them to run the line,I solo them and watch to see if the concentrate while running or if they just try to out run other hounds. Only thing worse than a hound that creates a check is if they blow holes in the ground in the check area after they screwed up the chase.

[Briarhoppers]

I think GEARS are more important than speed. In the 8 years I've owned beagles, I've own flat med speed beagles that sounded great but to me they were boring to hunt over. I've also owned a couple of rockets that could flat blister a rabbit in good conditions, but they looked like fools when scenting was bad or the rabbit was twisting thru blackberry briars. Then after a couple years of this I then began researching and talking w/ a lot of people and ending buyin and then breeding dogs that were bred to have gears and brains. They run as fast as conditions will allow. So often they are running med-fast (a 7 - 8), but they can also walk the line if they need to. I want a dog that can "run to catch" thru a bean field and then gear down to walk the rabbit that came out of the field and went down the middle of a gravel road, and then gear up again when the rabbit crossed the road and went into a hardwoods bottem.

IMO - a blazing fast dog is fun to own and run against other guys, but most fast dogs (and I'm talking about 9 - 10) that I have seen create way too many checks. From my experience it is rare to have a very fast dog that can run w/ few checks. I know there are some out there, but I've not been lucky to own one.

Give me a med-fast, run-to-catch dog w/ nose, brains and gears - I'll sacrifice a little speed for a steady race, but don't get me wrong my dogs can roll when conditions allow.

-Pete

[CHAD CAMPBELL]

No doubt,there is gonna be a lot of opinions on this one Alot depends on the terrain and how the rabbits run in the particuler spot that make med speed or a fast hound look good or not.A fast dog that can gear it down and will plow through the brush can get the job done just as well as a med speed dog in the thick stuff on those cut and dive bunnies.Those fast hounds with the brains to do that are not easy to find and are even harder to buy.Nothing wrong with medium speed,hard driving dogs,they make some of the best gundog's and in some formats great trial dogs.The only down side to the med speed dogs(i feed some) is out in the open on a big running rabbit they can be left behind,and i mean left behind,by those high speed power hounds.Find what works for you in the spot's you run or format and feed what you like.That being said,don't bring a 5 speed dog to a LP trial and think things are gonna go well As for the kind of dog I like the best,hands down RUN TO CATCH.I want the rabbit my dog's are on to think judgement day has come and hell itself has been unleashed upon them BRING THE HEAT

[chapkosbeagles]

run to catch is the olny way if it cant catch a rabbit i send them down the road now this makes for selling some good rabbit dogs, but if speed is what you like there are dogs that can run it with enought brains to keep the line between there feet they are just hard to come by

[Big Dog]

I like a footy dog myself, but with that being said I find it really hard to find a dog above what I would call an 8 in speed that can do well on a twisting turning rabbit. I hear many great claims on the board and I have seen many of the dogs that are talked about on the board run, but very few do well on a nip and tuck rabbit. It isn't so much about speed as it is about brains and ability to make the turns and gear down when necessary. Most of the true medium speed dogs I have seen have the brains to gear down if the scenting gets tough, they also most importantly know where they lost the rabbit and they snap back to that point to look for it rather than swinging all over the place(guessing) where it might have gone. When I lived in NC I often went down east to hunt and from time to time I would run into marsh rabbits(bluetails,swampers) They would put my dogs to the test. They will sometimes refuse to stretch out, they will crawl, slide, double backtrack and pull every trick in the world. I have had them make some of my best dogs look like idiots. However I always had one or two dogs that had PATIENCE and they would keep the rabbit going while the others were swinging all around guessing. Many places that I run now in ohio and indiana have big running rabbits and almost any potlicker can look good running those. One of the board members "McCadery" shows many video clips on hear his dogs are medium speed and by no means what I would call slow, but they keep the rabbit going, they don't overrun or swing they just flat out pound. I would love to find one that was an 8.5 in foot speed that could do it like they do. The true test is for a dog to be able to do it on any rabbit regardless of how the rabbit runs. Here are a few that I have seen over the last couple of years that could do it regardless of what the rabbit does or how he runs. There are pleny of others I am sure, but these are some of the ones that I have seen that could do their business on any rabbit.

Bandit owned by Danny Vansickle
Reject owned by Mike Crabtree
Storm owned by Don Smith
Libby owned by Bill Gildersleeve
Tori owned by Josh Patterson
Buzz Saw owned by Lynn Perkins
Bomber(deceased) owned by Sam Wells
Digger(deceased) owned by Craig Tull
Queen(deceased) She is the dog in my avatar was about a 7.5 in foot but could run any rabbit regardless of what it did, she had a big nose, but had extra mouth to boot but she could make other dogs look foolish on a doubling rabbit or a baby rabbit.

[ANTHONY KERR]

I live and run in the thickets of North Carolina every day. I like fast dogs that can push one hard. I run dogs that are competitive in ARHA Little Pack and manage to run and kill enough to make me happy. I don't know how to grade speed, but my dogs and the guys dogs I run with are as fast as we have ever run when the conditions allow. Like Briarhoppers said they have to have gears. I have watched the fastest dog I own work doubles on the run without blowing the whole race up or others shut up and snap back when the rabbit turns away from a logging road. Several years ago I bought two females from a good houndsman who said these dogs are way too fast, in his words they were 8 or 9 in speed. They were good young dogs that could run a rabbit. When I ran them with what I had they were way behind at the first check and falling behind further by the second. I guess speed was relative to what he had and liked. I ran them and by themselves and later sold them to a guy that liked "faster dogs". He was tickled to death to get them. Feed what you like.

[eddywilliams]

They got to have the nose to be able to move it also

[Big Dog]

Yep, you're right Eddy, I left out nose which is the most important trait. They can't run it if they can't smell it.

[ANTHONY KERR]

Big Dog I know what you mean about the Bluetail rabbits down east. One day down east I got up in a deer stand and watched a rabbit jump up on tall stumps and then jump to another stump and laugh at the dogs before he jumped down headed right back to where he came from. If I had not seen it I would have thought he went in a hole. They usually run then squat and sometimes a careful dog will catch one on a re jump. Your old Socks dog caught one last year on a check. I would rather run cottontails, but have had some really good races on Bluetails also.

[chris fuson]

i think the most important trait is the BRAINS!!!!!!! they have to know when to bark and when to turn and without the brains they cant turn on a rabbit like they should. BRAINS!!!!!!!!