BAD HABITS IS THERE ANY HOPE

[beagle-me-dave]

I have a problem with my dog. I am new to rabbit hunting and owning beagles. I have had my first two for a year now. When we hunted last year they did real well no extra mouth no cold tailing. I ran them some over the summer but could have run them more.
The dogs are 4 and 5 years old and I paid 300.00 for them. I was happy with them they hunt hard and handle well.

About the second time out this hunting season one started cold trailing and barking. The first time she got on a track and barked and slowly hunted it for about half an hour.
She did get a rabbit up but I don’t know if it was the one she was on or another one.

Now every time out she does some cold tailing and barking. She will leave it and hunt on but it is aggravating and I know it is wrong and she has hunted long enough to know better.

Is there anything I can do to break these bad habits she has picked up?

HELP DAVE

[BCBeagles]

Dave,

I just put one on the board for sale for that reason. It is tough to control, if at all. Don't want to be discouraging, but this is the case most times.
We, overall, have had a bad year of hunting because scenting conditions have been tough. Yesterday every track, even rabbits we saw, were ran like an old
track at times. I don't have the best dogs in the country, but they can regularly circle rabbits under most conditions. It has been a strange year.
If I were trying to correct her I would tone her and bump her with an ecollar regularly and see if that slows her down. Good luck.

[Bunnyblaster]

I've never understood how you can get it across to them that you still want them to run rabbits but not run an old(cold) track by bumping them with a collar???

[bill huttozac]

Bunnyblaster- I am with you on that score. After all, they are scent dogs. If you want something that only barkd when the rabbit is up. Cur dogs are very good at barking while site chasing. You will miss many a good race and some nunnys too by "bumping" them off of a rabbit's feeding trail. Trial dogs and gun dogs are not of the same discipline. If you are a Trialer, pass that dog along to a gun hunter, if you are a gunner, no big deal. Just my opinion.

[beagletrainer]

i run 5 dogs 2 males and 3 females my dogs wont open till they jump the rabbit even if i jump it i can call the dogs over and show them were i jumped it they wont open till they jump it again. They`ll work the track till they come to the rabbit and put it back up then they`ll open. Its been real bad senting here in weatern PA. this year and the dogs are having alot of troble running them a lot of break downs and a lot of holed rabbits.If one of my pups don`t open up on track by 10 month its sold as a pet.

[bucks better beagles]

Every dog has natural tendencies that can be considered "good" or "bad". As a trainer, we should try to encourage the good and discourage the bad. This is the simple explanation for training the dog. The trick is using the personality of the dog and the trainer to amplify the characteristics that one wants in a dog. Some "bad" habits can not be eliminated. If they are habits which you don't want in your program, you must take the dog away from your kennel. Not all beagles make the type of dog that is considered top notch. JMO

[BCBeagles]

Perfect point on this. I just sold one that cold trailed too much. I toned her and nicked her and it slowed her some, but she still did it too much for my liking.
You have to know the personality of the dog as you said. This female was hard going and would not show any reaction to a nick of the collar other that a squeak
and right on to hunting again. Some hounds would not take this and be standing at your feet. I sold her b/c I don't want that trait in my hounds. The next guy said it
wasn't an issue. All in what you will tolerate with them. You can reinforce the bad and good if you selectively and consistantly do it, JMO. Some you cannot and you
move on. Life is too short to hunt a hound you don't like in most ways. I have make the mistake of hanging on too long only to have the same result, a hound I did not
like in my pack.

[cheatmountainman]

I follow a dog like that everytime I go and wouldn't know what to do without her. I know cottontail hunting you don't usually need a dog like that but i hare hunt in the mountains and most everyone she opens on she can jump and she doesn't bore around in one little area she can really move a stir track fast enough some people think she has it jumped. We hunted Saturday jumped four and killed two on hard crusted snow that could hold 260 lb man up and some of the other dogs couldn't do much when it was jumped. So all in what you like but I would love to have another one just like mine. If you don't want to shock her or you decide not to keep her email me I may be interested in her. cheatmountainman@aim.com

Happy hunting
Dave

[beagle-me-dave]

Thanks for all the advice guys; it did put it into prospective for me.

I have used the collar on her but in most cases she will just hunt on she is a hard hunter.

So here is the prospective I got: This dog has always hunted hard and she gets more then her share of rabbits up and running. It looks like maybe the problem is not the dogs but may be mine. The guys I hunt with have started saying she has a cold nose this year like that’s a bad thing. But in most cases this dog gets the rabbit up and the other dogs get in on the chase. I am not saying she finds them all but she gets more then her share.

So I got you cheatmountainman she puts rabbits on the table and in the freezer and that’s why I got her so maybe I should not expect her to be perfect.

Thanks for the interest cheatmountainman but we still love to hunt with her and from what I you guys are saying that what it’s all about and your right.


Thanks DAVE

[Bunnyblaster]

Another point to be made too is while yes you shouldn't let your friends or anyone else try to influence what "you" like in a dog you just have to be aware of the fact that if it bothers them enough you may not be able to run her when they go along with their dogs.........it's just another part of meshing with hunting partners................and/or visa-versa. A little give and take so to speak.

Just as an example I ran a dog once that cold trailed and it didn't bother the other dog that I had because he could tell by the sound of the "cold trailers" voice when he actually had the rabbit up so then he would honor. Now if I took that dog with my brother in law and his dogs then they would be constantly checking in when my cold trailer was barking and disrupting their hunting which irritated him.

[DwayneA]

I was wondering, is Cold Trailing and/or extra mouth genetic, or picked up from other dogs? I had thoughts on this, but I really dont know what those thoughts are now myself..LoL Was wondering to either breed you could breed out of it, or watch what you ran with.

[HatterasBob]

Both!
It's definately genetic and I've had some some pups pick it up from older hounds. I got rid of the older hounds.

Some days there are heros and some days zeros.

[DwayneA]

well, I kinda thought one way, then the other, which is why I didnt really know now what to think. hehe

was just wondering on someones elses take on it since the OP had some good responses