The American Beagler Forum

When I was a young pup,my Dad had a dog that would jump a rabbit then run the rabbit by keeping his nose in the air! Hardly ever did he put his nose down, unless he lost the smell. His name was "JACK, THE WONDER DOG". LoL! What do you guys call this type of running?
He wasn't sight chasing either! He would actually circle a rabbit like this.

I call it a hound with a wonder dog nose

Under certain conditions mine also do this. When scenting is real good they are heads up and as it becomes tougher you can watch them bring their noses closer to the ground until it is right on the ground. I saw something scary this year however. An older gent I am friends with has a beagle that I swear looks part collie, it's hair is so thick and long. This hound can run a hare with it's head up and run nonstop on the line, turn corners without nary an over run and do it so you would swear that he is sight chasing. It is the most unbelievable thing I ever saw. This hound is AKC registered, big and burly and out of very respected lines of hounds that I will not mention because of my collie comment. But it is a rabbit hound extrodinaire. So help me goodness this hound had me convinced it was some sort of a trick and I was looking for the hidden camera and a guy telling me to smile because I was on candid camera. But it was no trick or fluke!!! This hound is not a great check hound from what I saw as mine were able to out check him in the few checks they did have but they had to run so fast to keep up with him it was ridiculous. He was so close most of the time I really thought he was sight chasing but I know that it was not the case. A real show to be sure. According to my friend he says the hound has one big drawback and that is no endurance. He says the hound poops out after an hour to an hour and a half. I told him I don't think a sprinter could keep up a sprinters pace in a marathon either, and that is what that hound reminds me of. One thing is for sure it is real site to witness.
NYH

The collie comment gave it away!! Can you say Sgt Preston!

I call it "running heads up" or "running the air scent". I have saw some of my hounds do this also on occasion and I think it only happens for good, heads up runs when scenting conditions are near perfect for the hounds. But man when it does happen, it's a sight to behold and the hounds look awesome!

Yep, this is a hell of a fun run to watch or listen to. On nearly perfect scenting days, I've watched my hound run 3 or 4 yards downwind of the line with nose up. The whole time thinking he's going to blow off the line, but he doesn't. Those are the good days. When you just lay back and listen to the music!!!

That is the way I expect to see my hounds run, but about half the time they have to dig a little more for scent and have to slow down. I don't know if they could run a cottontail like this as we have only hare, but I doubt they could. The few times they've run cottontails in trials they had to slow down and work the line but at times could line a rabbit out with head in the air. The best nosed hounds I've ever seen all ran like this when conditions allowed it, but geared down when they had to. Too bad about the lack of stamina- otherwise that would be a GREAT hound.

Its called head high flyin in my book. Getting up and cranking on those days that conditions allow.

Down here we call it winding. Alot of fast dawgs run this way. I have more deer dawgs than rabbit hounds so it's a common sight especialy with the really fast walker hounds. They wind most of the time when they get one up & really going. Really fast hounds will overrun a track so we always try to keep a "steady" hound in every race.

Tabbycat Elkins

My Dad always tells me stories of dogs his dad and grandfather had that would run a rabbit like this. I am just wondering why guys have bred these traits out of there dogs. Most of us guys that like to HUNT rabbits should love a trait like this in a dog. I am looking for a pup with good speed and conformation with good line control both on bare ground and snow. Obviously us people in NY need snow dogs - I got 44" yesterday--any of you guys got beagles that can produce rabbits in that kind of snow

If you've got 44" of powder, I'm guessing you'll need 54" hounds! The last 2 years we had 4 to 5 feet of powder all during January and February, and even though I believe the hounds could have run on this kind of snow, they'd simply disappear in it. We couldn't get a vehicle off the road enough to get in the woods and a snowmobile would just sink to the ground- no base at all. Nothing we could do til March. Right now we've caught a break in the weather. It hit 25 today and the wind let up. Supposed to be below zero again tonight but I'm going tomorrow. We only have about a foot of snow on the ground and we need some new snow to freshen things, but I think we'll do OK tomorrow. These dogs have several winters on them now. I'll give you a report on Monday if you're interested.

I don't know about that kind of snow. But there are a lot of dogs around that run like this (head up). I have 1 and have seen a few others right close by. The thing is to get them to put their nose on the ground when the need to and lift it up when they can.

Anyone got a great dane they can sell him?