The American Beagler Forum

have a dog that hunts super hard but dosent seem to jump alot i mean he is real busy the ones that seem less at their hunt jump more will he improve? he does seem to produce better in the middle of day when they set tight

1st how old is the dog, some dogs will take awhile to figure out where the rabbits really are sitting. I have a Northway female that is my hardest hunting dog, but up until this past january she jumped less rabbits than any other dog in my pack. She finally started to figure it out when she was just shy of two years old. Now she jumps quite a few; however she is still about the 4th best out of the 5 running dogs I have, even though she seems to out hunt them. I have several that are just jump dogs, they don't waste a lot of energy they just seem to know where the rabbit is. I like a mixture of both, but the answer to your question is, if the dog is young and you keep him in the woods he will probably get better, some dogs just have it and some dogs don't.

Big Dog

I agree with Kim. If the dog is young, give it some time.
However, it seems the better jump dogs, don't look like their always trying as hard, and then the dogs that hunt their tail off, hardly ever jump a rabbit. I know this is not always true, but I have seen it this way, more than the other.

Bart

i've got one like that as well he'll be 5 yoa this oct so i don't think much will improve. i used to think this dog was just unlucky but even i couldn't be that unlucky. That being said I think there is a difference in dogs with good hunt and a good jump dog. Some dogs just make it happen consistantly; they are the jump dogs. I want all my dogs to hunt but know some will make the grade to jump dog others won't be as "lucky".
Good luck with your dog!!

I agree BUSY does not guarantee success in jumping! However, BUSY helps a dog with a good nose and/or brains be more successful. Over time, a dog with this combination of traits will be a great asset to a pack. That said, some of my best jump dogs were not BUSY - just THOROUGH and knew WHERE to hunt. In fact, they moved relatively slow and normally did not cover much ground in finding rabbits. At first glance, you might call them "lazy" until you considered the percentage of the jumps they made. After awhile though, it is clear that there is more to their success than luck! I hope that "busy" dog will "blossom" for you soon!

As long as a dog is busy, I won't complain. They'll jump their share.

AlabamaSwamper is right on. I've owned dozens and currently own several dogs that hunt hard and jump their share or rabbits. I've ownly owned 1 great jump dog in my life and that was 20 years ago.