The American Beagler Forum

I am contemplating raising a litter of pups. The female I want bred is in season july and December usually. When is the preferable time to raise pups, spring or fall?

I would rather have one bred in July. September pups would be ready to start when the running is good due to more big running buck rabbit chases. I am working a newly started pup now. I am soloing her but its tough with so many baby rabbits and rabbits that keeping running same small circle. Confuses her quickly and don't get much of a chase before she loses it.

I like breeding in the winter for Spring pups.
This means that by gun season the pups are of an age where they have probably already been started and are ready to participate in their first season.
If you live up north in snow country it's going to be tough getting any time on those pups born in the Fall.
I'd rather have to put a heat lamp on new pups than worry about them being over heated here in the south.

I like for mine to be born in Sept. Its not so hot as summer time pups. You feed them through the winter, start them in the Spring, and by November they are ready to hunt.

thanks those are some good reasons

Depends what you wanna do w them. If you were gonna trial better late summer/early fall so you get long derbies. Plus in all honesty a dog born in spring is way too young imo to be of any real use come fall. You be looking at training em instead of hunting em the first season or else you might blow up young dogs packing them with older dogs.

Bowguy
I'm not a trialer so don't really care about their derby status.
I've got three females in my kennel right now that were born in Feb., March and April. As I mentioned, this is when I like to have them arrive.
I know that all dogs are different.Some start very early,others much later. It's also true that some lines will start much earlier / easier than others. Also some lines can handle the pressure and others get all shook up in a pack situation.
Here in Tn. a pup born in March is 8-9 months old when gun season gets going. Don't know about your hounds but over the past 25 years I've been killing rabbits in front of mine at that age.
If my 8 month old young dog at the start of the season and 11 months old at the close of season can't run with it's older kennel mates and contribute than they are not what I'm looking for.
I hear a lot about it but I've yet to see one of the ones I raise,start,hunt get "blown up".
As always JMHO.

Shady Grove Beagles wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 03, 2018 10:36 pm

If my 8 month old young dog at the start of the season and 11 months old at the close of season can't run with it's older kennel mates and contribute than they are not what I'm looking for.
I hear a lot about it but I've yet to see one of the ones I raise,start,hunt get "blown up".
As always JMHO.

I'm thinking perhaps Bowguy may have been referring to entering a young derby into a trial with older mature dogs that it is totally unfamiliar with. I certainly would never do that to a young derby in the LPOH trials. I think in your case it's a little different scenario with kennel mates being dogs that your young dog(s) have always known and have been to the woods with on numerous occasions. In your situation, I'd agree with your statement. That being said, like people, all young beagles are different. Some are ready for the show before others.

I agree with shady grove . I expect a spring born pup to start over the summer & i expect killing a few off of them in there first season running them solo. I do consider that first gun season as (training).

Guys I was just adding some info for the op to consider. Yes I was referring to trialing.
To answer shady grove I too can often gun hunt an 8 month old dog.
This is where I’ll disagree and no disrespect meant by this but each person has dif likes or tolerance for mistakes.
What I call blown up maybe is perfect for the next guy.
I’ve seen very few that were bulletproof to pressure from older more experienced dogs. (And if a dog isn’t better than an 8 month old he’s living elsewhere!!!)
The pups start reaching, skirting, watching instead of working a check. That’s what I call blown up. The mind is going faster than the nose or ability and it causes mistakes or flaws. Pressure intensifies this.
Maybe some guys don’t care if a check is worked correctly or have a dif def of correctly. That’s fine too. We all feed what we like.
We do agree that pressure is what dogs should do. So how exactly does a rabbit feel pressure when the dogs are going north and the rabbits turned from there twice???
I personally believe in running that young with only the correct dogs. I don’t throw em to the wolves although many do
It’s all info for the op to consider

Don't get the idea that I take my young dogs and" throw" them to the wolves. I only run her with her three kennel mates who I do consider to be " correct" dogs. I don't take her with them until she's physically able to keep up and mentally able and ability able to contribute. Do I expect her to outshine her kennel mates that are 3,5 and 6 years old? No, but I do expect that she has occasions to shine in that first year and yes she'll sometimes out jump them,pick a check on them or come through on the line in front. If she isn't doing some of that in the pack then she's not meeting my expectations.
I don't take a young dog north on a 2 week long hare hunting trip.I don't take them when I go run with someone else and we're turning out 6-8 dogs.I don't put her out in a trial. I DO give her solo time and brace time.This is all part of the young hounds training.
Born in Feb.-March I expect a fair amount out of my youngster come Jan.-Feb.

Shady tree I was not criticizing you, nor the way you do things. Only points to consider. Sorry if you saw it different

No problem at all.

Shoot shady grove I realized I wrote your name wrong. My apologies

I can tell you from years of experience when you cut loose with Shady Grove you can bet his dogs will be in it to the end! He's always kept and dropped quality dogs no matter where in the country he turns 'em loose!!