Soloing Revisited

[Alabama John]

Running a fast front running dog gets it lots of solo time.

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Amen John!

[haderondah]

I think all dogs benefit from soloing, rabbits are full of tricks and when soloing a dog he or she must figure out every one of those little tricks by themselves. By letting a dog run alone i think it gets a sense of confidence in itself that would take much longer to develop in a pack. If i take my dogs out to solo for 3-4 trips in a row i notice a huge difference in how they look in a pack.

[Shady Grove Beagles]

I won't argue with the opinion that soloing can help a hound in many ways such as independence,confidence,smoother running,jump their own rabbit,etc.,etc.
Whenever the topic of soloing comes up it seems to be dominated by the trialers as the way to fine tune that hound to look/perform the best under the judge's eye and I have no doubt that it can be positive.
I guess I'm coming at beagling from a different perspective as I am not a trialer [ go to one about every 2-3 years for fellowship,curiosity and yucks ], my interest is pleasure running year round and gun hunting in season.
Reading through these comments I find myself to be more in the mind set of Dave 404 when he says being a pleasure runner and gun hunter that he doesn't care to hunt and haul one dog to the woods and leave others sitting in the kennel.He'd rather hear a good pack run.
Plottwalker when he says that he never goes gunhunting with only one dog so why go run with only one dog? When I hunt my hounds I have enough splits where they end up running solo so I know what they can do.I too care more about how my pack of 3-4 hounds run as a team.
Undertheradar when he says he doesn't really care how ONE dog runs the rabbit.I care how EACH dog runs the rabbit but in the context of the work in the pack as I like to hear a pack run . And I definetly agree with him when he talks about being able to identify what your dogs are doing when running together.If you're much of a houndsmen it shouldn't be a mystery .I've spoken with undertheradar and know that he doesn't carry a gun but likes to turn out a dozen or more hounds when he goes.
Wireman 252 made some statements that I couldn't agree with more along the lines of having seen many that have never been soloed and they show plenty of independence and confidence and that they will be what they will be.
I take my pups between 3-6 months for walks in the woods with me and if they start a rabbit great,if i jump a rabbit I'll try and put them on it and if they take it great,if they show interest in off-game I'll discourage them and prevent further interest and if they just want to jack around in the woods being pups that's fine too.I don't use starting pens prefering and enjoying to do this part of my beagle's developement my self, too cheap to pay for it and have seen too many pups/young dogs screwed up by misuse/overuse of starting pens.
At 6 months the pups get loaded up with their mom or one or two of the other kennel mates and get cast in the woods to hunt.Guess I'm old school but in my opinion that's how the coyotes,wolves,foxes,lions,coons and about every other creature I can think of does it.The parents or pack members teach the young.The young either get with the program and become contributing members or nature culls them out eventually.Using that illustration I guess you could say the same thing happens in my kennel.Those young dogs either get with the program showing steady improvement/accomplishment or the don't stay here.
These young dogs are run with their grown kennel mates like this between 6 months and a year.Using this method for over the past 20 + years I have not had ONE single young dog that didn't go with the big dogs the first time dropped with them and started within 6-8 times out with them.And I mean start on scent and not just dog barking behind them.
Once that young adolescent hound has gotten with the program and shown me they know where to look for rabbits,figure out what happens at checks and how to pick them up,knows that to be able to chase that rabbit he needs to stay in contact with the line of scent,realizes that rabbit is the only game this pack chases,etc.THEN is when I'll take them out for some solo time to show me that they can do it on their own but even then it probably won't be more than half a dozen or a dozen times.Usually on these solo outings you'll see that the young hound will run smoother,steadier,often give more mouth,sometimes run a bit slower,etc.But,at that point you should be able to see if that hound has the tools or not and as Wireman 252 stated "they will be what they will be".It's time now like I told my boy when he turned 18 and moved out of the house"time to get a job".LOL.
I can honestly say that all of my dogs even though most all of their hunting lives have been as members of a pack I can take any one of them out solo and they can and will do a good job hunting and running solo.Recently I had one female in the kennel with a litter of pups ,another was in heat.I took 7 year old Rainy out solo to run.I can't remember when I ever took her out by herself.It's definetly been years.She went and jumped and put that rabbit around for 1 1/2 hours smooth as silk.
To me soloing is like going to the batting cage,the driving range,the putting green,trap range,etc.If you want the best you can hone those tools by practice,practice and more practice.Just be sure that the hound has the tools to start with.
If you're big time into competition/trialing,striving for beagling success,hitting the circuit every weekend or just that perfectionist that demands evrything he can get out of his hounds then like any professional athlete you need to incorporate any/all the methods that can get you where you want to be.Soloing definetly has it's benifits in the trainer's toolbag.
For this old man whose 's just a pleasure runner and likes the music-----I like to hear a chorus over a solo any day!LOL.

[rabbitatfarm]

Very well said and your position defended. I agree with everything you said. When I and others can see a difference, I know I am on the right track for THAT dog. My R CH female needed more pack work as she was very independent and slow to hark in to the pack. Now she's the first to go. Each dog has different abilities and needs. As trainers/owners it is our responsibility to find what works best and make each one the best they can be. We can just do without the criticism.

Larry

[The Asphalt Man]

I agree very well said shady grove beagles

[Beagle Huntsman]

I never solo either. Hate pens. Haven't been to an SPO trial this century and care only how well my hounds perform as a pack. If I was trying to create a superstar trial hound, I would solo, but that is not my interest. I run a big pack and the challenge to me is getting them to work together, and then breeding replacements each year to keep the whole thing going. Soloing would seem to encourage independence, and I do not want that. I want to be able to take 16-18 hounds out and have them stay together, not be running 3 or 4 rabbits at the same time. Since my hounds know only to pack, they do stay together very well. I sell a few puppies each year who do quite well when trained solo by others.

[Markday]

Well said shady grove beagles I enjoyed that

[Alabama John]

Shady Grove, you ought to write a book for our young beaglers to use as a guide.

[zjamesmoore]

soloing is a big tool in modern day beagling in my opinion because most beaglers are not disapline enough to do what it takes to build a good pack of dogs. the most under stated point in this conversation is how consistant the pack owner is in what he wants out of his pack. pick a style you like and breed to the best in that style that you are able to and cull hard. beagles are pack hounds bottom line, soling is a crutch that helps get a dogs individual talent. who has the time to solo 7-8 dogs to get there own talent to come to the front then put them together to run as a pack?

Amen & Amen
Coddle and pamper each and every member of your pack so they have personal time to run with no pack pressure. So that a individual can maximize there abilities only to find out when bred there offspring will require the same specialized treatment to reach there potential and on and on it goes.

[mybeagles]

I think you have to differentiate between a young started dog and a finished hound. I like to raise and train a pup or two every year and solo time allows them to reach maturity much faster and contribute much more to the pack.

I would agree a finished hound should not need solo time. I brace more than anything but try to solo started dogs weekly and brace most of the week.

I run and judge with a wide variety of people and one of the most common things I see are "me too" pack dogs. They don't disrupt anything but they rarely pull a check and never see the front of the pack. They lack the independence and confidence that could have been gained with some solo time as a young started dog that would have benefited them their whole life. It takes a measure of commitment that most don't have time for but if you find the time the rewards are noticeable.