The American Beagler Forum

ANYBODY OUT THERE DO ANYTHING SPECIAL TO GET PUPS TO GO TO THE BRUSH (MY PUP WILL FOLLOW THE OTHER DOGS IN BUT WILL NOT SEEK OUT A BRUSH PILE WHILE SOLO.

Give him time, he will. The trick is to coax him in were your pretty sure theres a Rabbit. Then after a few times he will figure it out. But it 's probably more to do with being a pup if he goes in with the others. jmho

I find the thickest brush pile and stand in the middle of it. My pup follows me in. once in he will start walking around. If he starts crying Ill move to a thicker spot of the pile. Now he really does not have a problem going in.

I start pups searching brush when they are pretty young with food. I take small pieces of dog treats or hot dog weiners etc and will put a small piece on the ground and call the dog to me and point it out to the pup. After a week or so of doing this I start putting pieces a foot or two in the brush and send the pup in after it. After a while I will start throwing several pieces deeper in brushy areas. Then after a time I put less and less pieces in the brush and eventually the pup will search for only one or two pieces. Do this before a pup is even old enough to be interested in rabbit scent.

When you put them in a starting pen instead of feeding them in bowls throw the food with a cup in your hand in a round motion so the food goes all over the place as they will have to hunt for their food to get a meal..Now you start to throw the food into the thickets and brush piles where they have to go into the nasty stuff for food and what I have found is that you will get them to bump a rabbit or two out of these thickets while they are looking for food and whats more exciting to a pup than a sight chase????some pups will put 2 x 2 together fairly quickly and start looking in those thickets for another rabbit.. JMO Try it and see if your pups start diferently..I was told to do thsi with dogs that have weak to no hunt as hunger will force them in to get the food...