The American Beagler Forum

All this talk about barking dogs. What about a 'dead mouth"? A dog can have everything else, but if it is in a pack and its mouth dies, it is useless to me. If I can't hear it because its mouth blends in, then why even have it?

I think this topic will be understood by those who run a lot in packs of 4 or more and with a lot of different people. It will also appeal to the purist out there who have been at it a long time, have and keep pretty good dogs, and expect a good "live mouth".

A lot of the boys on here have shown videos of this type of mouth on a hound. It makes you get excited just listening to it. Some have shown videos of dogs running a rabbit that is about as exciting as watching ice cream melt.

i find that with all the foolish dogs people hunt these days that, if you aint got a dog with a stand out mouth your up the creek.. you dont ever get to hear your dog.....i have a cousin in michigan who has a pretty nice young dog but, his mouth has been refered to as a housedog, and with a big pack this is no good....like i said in another post, i go for the compitition wich means i go to win... everybody wants that powerful mouth that makes the croud say ' what is that dog ' now a really good mouth on a foolish dog can be a total disaster however... thiis kinda dog could make you go home with your tail tween your legs...lol

Are you referring to someone I know? Name names. Let her rip.

Perhaps a dead mouth is not an issue with anyone else. Without a good mouth, all you have a "just another dog". A live mouth makes them stand out and be something special.

Buck, I like a good mouth on a hound as much as anyone. But, I will take a hound who does his work right and uses it's mouth correctly and blends in over a loud mouth you can pick out of a pack anytime that does not us it's mouth correctly. Most folks don't know what they are seeing when watching a pack of hounds run let alone what the hounds are doing when they cannot be seen and only heard. I have heard a lot of loud mouth hounds in a pack who were barking in the check, and on over-runs that some who were listening thought was just doing a marvelous job., do entirely to the amount and type of mouth. There are certain sounding types of mouths that I will not tolerate regardless of how loud and distinct, and I detest a hound that barks rapid fire, that is terrier like not Hound like.

I agree that there some dogs you cannot hear in a pack. I like a deep raspy bawl mouth.

i ran with a dog the other night that had what they call " machine gun chop " you literaly could not here another dog in the pack because of it , this dog barked nonstop , dont know how he didnt pass out from lack of air , this is the second dog i have ran with that was like this and my comment was the same both times , i have 3 inches of cure for it in the door pocket of my truck , just absolutly no need for a dog too bark that much while running a rabbit , dont care how good they do it either , drives me nuts !

Of course GW. I said a dog can have everything else, then it takes a mouth. The down side of a great mouth is that, if he does not do right, every one will know it. All good mouth dogs are not good dogs. With me, if it doesn't have a "telling" mouth, I don't want it. There are plenty good dogs so pick and choose. It only takes a little more to go Cadillac.

Come on Dog, was he doing it right or just barking? That kind of mouth is what ol' C-low was talking about in the other post. Screeching mouths are what I hate even though you can tell them easily. The screech sound gives me a headache. Many years ago, a screeching squeal was called an "Indiana Mouth".

he was doing all right , he was a young dog , year old , but it drove me nuts , i can tollerate a chop bark but this dog did not take a breath , ill bet it was 3 barks to every step and he had some foot , cant stand it , dont have any use for a dog that barks like that , no need for it

Dog: No dog can run a rabbit and run it right without ever taking a breath or making a lose, and when he makes it, he has to stop barking. If he don't ever stop barking, I agree with you.

no buck he shut up in the check for the most part , i mean while he was running , barked nonstop , as fast as he could , i know he was getting air because he would have passed out if not , i swear he barked 2 or 3 times to every step he took , if i ever run with him again i will video it and show you what im talking about , like i said , this is only the second dog i have seen like this and let me tell you , it aint my cup of tea

dog, that is exactly what I am talking about and I have posted about it before. I don't care if every bark is dead on, that darn yapping is just begging for the 3'' cure. You will see this a lot with the UBGF bred hounds, drives me crazy, If I wanted to hear a chihuahua I would buy a purebred instead of mixing it with a beagle!

Buck, you said something along the lines of; if the hound's voice blended in what was the point of having him in the pack? My point was somewhat in this direction, Let's take a hound with what you believe is standout mouth and place him in a pack with two others with nearly identical mouths , he will no longer stand out so I guess he would no longer be contributing? and I guess the other two would be useless as well ? Of course he would be contributing just as much as always and to answer the question of what good would he be his talents would still be obvious even though his voice would not be. This should answer the question of what good would he be! Not trying to be argumentative but a mouth don't run any rabbit! And I was sure you said a dog could have everything else but if his mouth blended in he was useless, perhaps you meant otherwise?

NO ONE loves a big mouth more than I do!!! I had big mouth coon hounds and I have big mouth beagles as well. I LOVE a pack of roaring hounds and several better have BIG mouths I don't mean unique, I mean VOLUME and INTENSITY. I LOVE that part of a big pack!! I have and will into the future breed for a houndy large mouth, I feel it is a part missing in several lines today, JMO. I have and will again, sell a hound with a less than satisfactory mouth, it is something that matters to me, again JMO.

I have one that is a mite stingy on her mouth. I call her tight mouthed. She has a beautiful bawl on her but has a tendency to use it only when the track is hot. She does contribute to the pack though- she picks up checks & jumps her fair share- That being said, I didn't want pups out of her, so I had her spayed. But Ya, I'll keep her-

The key is a mouth that excites, I love it. But seen alot of good mouth me tooers. Sound good aat night sitting at the truck with a rabbit dog leading them around. But of course if you don't care if they can do it by themselves and you can't hear, then I understand. I will not keep a dog that doesn't excite me something that makes me want to throw my hat and yell go on son! A stand out mouth on the front end driving a line does it. A stand out mouth on a foolish,non hunting or metooer makes me sick to my stomach.I can learn to love a dog with an average mouth that is a RABBIT DOG, a great mouthed dog that dosn't stand out because he is a "pack dog" is to me use less. Be cheated alot over the years by those great mouthed metooers!