The American Beagler Forum

Hi All,

Hope your hunting seasons are going well. Here in NE Wisconsin the rabbit population seems good, but conditions have been poor; no snow, dry and icy/frosty.

Here's my problem:

I have a 9mo old male who for the most part is doing pretty well. He can start and complete a fair number of tracks on his own. I would say he is of a medium speed, but does get into high gear when the track is hot. My hunting partner (and uncle) has two litter-mates (brothers) to mine who are at about the same level as mine, maybe not quite as good starting their own track and a little rougher. The problem is my dog will not hark to other dogs. When he starts the track and the others hark to him he's fine and will usually lead the pack. To make things worse at a check, if another hound regains the line he will not join them but will continue to work the check on his own falling behind on the same track. I have been calling him and running when another dog opens trying to get him to hark with only limited success and this seems to confuse him.

Any suggestions? I would assume that he should not be run alone until he learns to hark?

I had a female that was like this and I fear I am doing something wrong training to cause this. To much solo time?

Sometimes if I have a dog like that I just get the rest of the pack running good and hold the problem dog on a leash so he gets so excited that he cant stand it and if you can get him to see the rabbit and the dogs following and restrain him for a few races it can help or at least it has worked in the past for me.Good luck
Mark

patience. He'll put it all together.