dog question?

[dave5050]

hello everyone.i'm fairly new to this board. i was out of beagling for about 12yrs,i was in high school those days and didn't know the aspects of proper training back then. i got back in 2yrs ago and with some new friends and the web i'm learning alot.anyway her's the question.i have a 20month old female i got when she was 1yr old.she was started when i got her but like many of you he had too many dogs and didn't run her alot after she was started.so i soloed her most of the time and she did pretty good, alittle wide in the check but good overall.so then gun season comes around and i start packing her up(2 to 3 dogs)and she seems to be overruning track and not getting very many checks. i dont care about shooting alot of rabbits so i watch her do this.do you think she needs more solo time?or do you think she is still young and will learn as she gets older.
today i took her out by herself, i jumped the first rabbit she run it for about 3 minutes,and came back,2nd one i jumped she ran and was barking on track the rabbit came out and i shot it,but she never made it all the way to the end of the track.3rd one she ran for about 30mins she seemed to gear her self down on this and she brout it back twice i did'nt shoot because she was doing such a good job.then she ran another straight to the hole(i seen it go in)and the last one i jumped she ran really good also so i did shoot it(hate to clean just 1 rabbit).anyway do you think she's relying on the other dogs too much and it took a few to get her going again?also it was pretty cold this morning,the rabbits she had trouble with were early and the good runs were all later after it warmed up?well my fingers hurt,so any replies are welcome.thanks,dave

[Hare Hunter]

From what you described it is sort of a 2 edged sword. Mostly she needs running, rather solo or packed but mostly both. She sounds competitive but unsure of herself, it takes time with any hound, I recommend running young hounds 3 times solo to each time in a pack until they show the maturity to handle the pressure. Just keep her in rabbit tracks either way. Hope this helps. Hare

[dan grimes]

I agree with Hare Hunter on running her solo and then with other dogs, but I can't say for sure but she may be too eager to run the front and her legs over run her nose. It sounds like the other dogs are content to run where ever they are and by doing so they are cutting her to pieces on the checks. Some dogs just have to run the front or they aren't satisfied. It's possible that they are not matched up in speed. You may have to run her with slower dogs so she doesn't have to force her way to the front. I may be wrong but if you know of a slower dog try running her with it and see what happens. Dan