The American Beagler Forum

How do you guys handle a mouthy dog? My male opens quickly or harks in on the other dogs. He has a big nose and has placed in 8 out of 9 trials we have entered. He has a 3rd, three 4ths, a 5th an 8th and a 9th. He is in second place, two points out, for HOY. He'll be two, April 23rd. I'm hesitant to "bump him" with the e-collar; I don't want to dampen his hunt. He seems to be maturing a little and I'm hoping he might outgrow it. He's barking on rabbit scent and not squirrels or other trash.

I have a bitch does same thing in a loss or hard check she just started doing it this winter. She is 3 yrs. old I think it's getting worse. (I don't think there is much you can do except cull)

Shock him, if he has the brain power to figure it out he is worth keeping. JMO.

Dogs can be controlled correctly, when intelligence is there. Good luck!

Their really isn't much you can do to tighten a dog's mouth. If you can live with it, I wouldn't worry about it. I definitely wouldn't shock him for it while running a rabbit.

Sounds like he's doing a good job from his places in field trials.

I agree with BC.
I had a male I bred as a pup.
He started this at about a year old.
After a few outings and carefully watching and monitoring him I placed him with a tight mouth dog.
So I watched him and I would listen if the other female didn't open I went in and observed and each time I noticed a difference in his bark from the usual chop.
So I would bump him on low and say quit it.
I did it for a couple months and I was able to get him out of 75% of the babbling.
But the truth is he could smell when othrrs could not so I was never able to completely stop it.
He died on me last year and I would pay big$$ for another like him..


Anthony

Anthony,

We see eye to eye on that exactly. It is a well thought out process.

Why can't you shock them on track or in the act of running a rabbit, DONE CORRECTLY, it can be done. I have seen it done with hounds from years ago, not just the ones I have now.
Smart dogs are smart dogs....again, correctly, and you can help your hound.

Most I've sen like that have some etra mouth in the kennel also.If he does put a collar on him in the kennel and when he starts barking holler hush at him and give him a good jolt.You don't have to fry him.Enough to make him yelp and go in the dog house is plenty.Also with the garden hose hush and try to drown him with it.Once he knows hush means shut his mouth you can holler hush at him when he's acting mouthy and if he wants to keep opening you can deal with it with the collar.Any of them can and will control their mouth to a certain extent if they are made to.Once they have gotten older and have been allowed to get away with it,it becomes harder to correct.A hound with a real good nose doesn't have to open early or be mouthy.

I'm no field trialer but it sounds like ya got a young hound with lots of potential but the pressure has got him starting to crack. I can't stand a hound speaking while harking in to the pack, it is excitable barking, he has no scent, just throwing his mouth.
9 trials under 2 yr old sounds like he being pushed pretty hard for a youngster. jmho
He's your hound, but I'd have to wonder how this hound would hold true and accomplish so much more as a mature 3 or 4 yr old hound?
Good luck with your hound, don't let the crack end up busting the casing.

I agree with SR,
Leave him alone, he's just a pup still. This is a good young dog and overcorrecting is a bad thing.

Run him hard with a slow dog. After a month or two n he is still harking to the slow dog. I say he couldn't be cured.

Barking while harking into other dogs is a combination of too much pressure and excitement.

May get beat up in the parking lot for this but if it were my dog I would solo it for a couple weeks then brace it with slower dog for a couple weeks like Sou said. I would take a break from the trials during this solo/brace period and not return him to competition until he settled in.

This is classic example of what to much pack pressure at young age can do.

I don't believe you change how much extra mouth a dog gives. Level of excitability is different for every dog. I would caution shocking the dog.

I have had success in the past tightening one down using the tone on the shock collar. I have never been, nor will ever be afraid to use a shock collar to correct a fault. It is a tool just like any other when used properly can work wonders.

I had a young dog that had the extra "Pop" by following her and keeping a good eye on her I Bumped her when she was wrong --then went to the tone and finally just my voice would stop her when she hit 20months old it was pretty much gone.

As far as one of the post a lot of dogs will lose the extra at about 2 years old--depending on the line/breeding of the dog--IMHO anything past that age is either Live with it or Cull it

Good luck
Jim

BCBeagles wrote:Shock him, if he has the brain power to figure it out he is worth keeping. JMO.

Dogs can be controlled correctly, when intelligence is there. Good luck!

I agree with Jim. Electric shock therapy can help. I have had mouthy dogs before and I've corrected their ways and gotten them tighter with their mouth. Bad thing is that in the back of my mind I always know the mouthiness might pop up here and there. I've seen right mouth dogs get mouthy when pressure is applied.

The first thing I would do is forget about him placing. If he is less than two, he probably shouldn't be in that many hunts anyway. I would worry more about making a good dog at 4 than thinking about what he has done at 2, because it won't matter if he is still acting like this in a couple of years. When thinking about hounds in your kennel, placing at hunts should never matter as much as evaluating a hound as an overall hunting dog.

IMO "big nose" is usually an owner's justification for a dog that needs to just shut up. It's used an excuse for a dog that barks way too much. I agree with Jim (BCBeagles). I would start with toning him any time I question his barking. If he continues to bark out of place, I would move up to shocking on 1, then in a couple of weeks, 2 ...

I would run him with a couple of true mouth hounds that bark when they should. If you are patient and consistent, working slowing to make him better, by next fall you may have a solid hound with a mouth you and his packmates can trust. If this doesn't work (if not before), then I would cull him.