hickory hills kennel {mearle craine}

[catfish hunter]

to the mods or owner of this site if this is against any rules I am sorry please delete if so .
I have been running dogs most of my life ,I grew up running w/ my granddad and uncle ,I never needed to have my own pack because I always had theres to run.over 20 years ago we started dealing w/ mearle craine and buying his dogs ,we always had good dogs ,there were times when we had to return one but that didnt happen to often . Well as time went on family passed away and I knew I had to carry on the tradition of running hounds so I contacted mearle and ordered 2 dogs ,I got the run around from him on the shipping so I jumped in my truck and drove 16 hours out to see these dogs run ,while out there we bought 4 instead of 2 .When I got the dogs home we ran them and all was good until I crossed the path of a deer then the race was on .Mearle agreed to replace the dog and I met him on the side of the highway one night and got another hound ,Well this dog was pretty as could be but didnt run worth a darn .Mean while I never got to fire a shot over the one I didnt return yet ,I took the dog out and fired over the first bunny and this dog went the other way and hid under the briars and pissed himself.Back on the phone w/ mearle and he admitted the dog was a little shy and again I had to replace a dog ,this time I had a hauler bring the new dog out to me ,I got the dog and it was a 15 inch ,I ordered a 13 ,oh well at this point I will take any dog that runs ,I take the dog out and he runs a little but not anywhere near where it should be .I continued to work this dog and with in the second month of having him I was out back when the dog had a siezure ,I now rush him to the vet ,I got hit w/ a 400 dollar bill and want happy .I call mearle and after 2 weeks of no call back I got in touch w/ him ,he again admitted the dog could have "sugar" he told me he treated the dog w/ a mint or some candy .I flat out told him I wanted my money back and he wouldnt hear it ,he offered a new dog and said he would be in touch w/ me soon ,well soon has come and past and I cant get hold of him for anything .I Know I got beat on this sick dog ,I thought it might be a one time thing but ,as I type this I am covered in dog pee cuz I was just out back watching my dog do back flips and slide across the kennel .I am now left w/ the decision of what to do w/ him . Thru all of this I been trying to get papers from him ,I got one set for a dog named john ,well I dont have a john ,he told me that was the dogs real name and he only called him joe in the field .then the other papers were for a dog that was already registered elsewhere.I am sick of this mans b.s. and wanted to vent a little .I urge all houndsman to stay away from this crook .I know there are people on here that know him ,I hope you can print this out and show him this ,please tell him his dog selling days in nj are over . I guess people worry more about the money than the dogs ,it is a shame this man is aloud to sell dogs still .they should have shut him down years ago .

[Lance]

Maybe you ought to put some time and effort into making your own dog instead of buying other peoples culls. Take it as a lesson learned...your not the first and won't be the last.

[eddywilliams]

Some people dont want to start pups they want runnin dogs I understand this ,a man is only as good as his word

[les guynn]

I have heard a lot of stories over the years about merle crain and the crain dogs, i think mr. crain runs a puppy mill and that is why everyone should stay away from these kind of breeders, find you a good dog man that has some good dogs and only breeds when he wants a pup out of sertain dogs and then sells the rest. there on here just watch for them on pups for sale then give them a call or leave a note on here for them. GOD BLESS

[johns03272008]

i could name a few on here that are some dog traders and only buy and resale dogs but i will not name them out the best thing to do in my eyes would be to go to some local hunts that are close to you or if you have to travel a little ways to a hunt that suits your style and watch and listen to people i am 25 years old and have learned a ton just going to hunts and talking with people and i have made some life long friendships that i would never had met had i not gone to these hunts!!! Like i said go to one or 2 or maybe more even if you dont have a dog and just maybe someone will have a running dog that just dosent make it in the trial world and is just a total fire ball for gun hunting also you can listen to what guys are breeding their best dogs to and maybe get a pup out of that litter that is my advice to you!!!! I hope this helps you out and if you are ever out in the midwest give me a pm and i will be glad to run dogs with you!!!!

[wagler]

are u sure ha got that bad of dogs or are u just a whiner i was believen ur story till u said about puppy mill sounds like ur a humanr freak to i dont think this website was designed for whiners

[Gbeagle]

are u sure ha got that bad of dogs or are u just a whiner i was believen ur story till u said about puppy mill sounds like ur a humanr freak to i dont think this website was designed for whiners

He aint no darn whiner I been hearing the name Merle Crain for a while. From different folks that don't know each other. It always ends the same nothing Good!!!!!

Pretty sure buy this time tommorrow you gonna see quite a few more post on this subject.

[kenjames]

Wagler if you will read the post you will discover Catfish didn't say puppy mill Les did....Unless I missed something.

[DavisFarms]

I enjoy this site. And I don’t speak up much, but I would like for some of you to listen and think about what I am about to write. This September 15th I will be 69 years old. I started helping out with Beagles and Coon Hounds with training and handling in trials when I was 15 years old “1955”. I have seen a lot. I don’t claim to be all that smart, but I know what I have witnessed over the years.

Believe it or not, at one time Mr. Crain really was a good dog man. He knew what a real dog was and had high quality “well above average dogs”. Dogs that could pound a rabbit and could produce dogs that could do the same.
What happened to him is exactly what has happened to some others and is currently happening to some today as we speak. They hit a “hot streak” in the trials, they produced and reproduced some really good “legendary” dogs and then they begin to sell a “few”. Then they begin to sell “a few more” and than sell “more than they can actually produce”. By then people would buy an absolute cull and argue with you that it is good because it has certain names in their pedigree “from this particular breeder”. As the years go by they breed to any old female just to mass produce pups because there is always somebody out there that is looking to buy a good pedigree rather than a good dog, totally relying on a persons word or the pedigree with well known dogs of “greats from the past” in it. Breeders relying on their “greats from the past” to squeeze out one more sale. And people all around can see with their own eyes that this person’s line of dogs are not what they used to be, but that doesn’t stop them from wanting that “RED” pedigree. Money is the ROOT of all evil. Some “not all” breeders with success lose their vision. They start breeding for the “money” of it, rather than the “love” of it. Most do start out with the right motive, money just screws things up. Mr. Crain was one of the best at one time years ago.

As far as Mr. Crain is concerned, AKC banned him along time ago. He can’t produce papers for any dog “in his name” because he is banned. There have been multiple people all over the web complain about him “and others like him”. Even an article or two in magazines. These breeders go on and on because they can. They can because people still buy their dogs.

Fellas, it has been this way for years and it most likely won’t change. And this is not with just Beagles, it is with every kind of hunting dog, chickens, cattle, horses, race dogs etc…

Find a good close hound man that will show you the dog, the Sire and Dam of the pup and where “to him” it is for the love & pride of beagling, not just the $$$$$$$$$$$. And usually, you can talk to a person 5 minutes and tell what they are all about by how they represent their dogs and themselves.

Who I feel bad for is the younger folks that come into this and have an unfair advantage of not knowing who is who and what is what, and in return they lose money, but more important they get a bad taste towards all beaglers. Those more into it need to give friendly sound advice and warnings without tearing a man down, thats just the right way. I guess thats what I am trying to do.

I hope I didn’t offend anybody, that was not my intention. But the truth is the truth and I stand by my humble opinion.

[big mike 50]

Well written Davis, but I wonder why the guy that started this thread wants a beagle if he is hunting catfish?

[Alabama John]

AMEN Davis!

Is this writer possibly Gill? I know he could of written this as he too has been around a long time and knows what he is talking about.

[catfish hunter]

are u sure ha got that bad of dogs or are u just a whiner i was believen ur story till u said about puppy mill sounds like ur a humanr freak to i dont think this website was designed for whiners

well you read as well as you spell ,where did I say anything about any puppy mill .I was simply venting about how I got burned by a low life breeder ,If my post saved one other houndsmen from going thru what I am my post was worth it .As for raising my own ,I wish I could do that but my town doesnt allow kennels in it an I dont have the time ,I would much rather pay someone for a good started dog ,that is my choice and if people like me didnt do so ,there would be no kennels selling dogs .. the point of my post was do not buy or deal w/ this man ,he is a low life that sold me a deer dog , a gun shy dog ,now a sick dog .if you search my name on here you will see ,I have been reaching out asking questions for the past year or so from time to time .My story is not bullsh*t what I type is all true every word.

[billi]

First of all his name is Merle not Mearle. I would think you would realize that knowing him as long as you say. I dont doubt your story many have just passed Merle up when it comes to todays beagles. However i was one that bought a couple from Merle years ago. He ran a great ad in the rabbit hunter magazine about a dog called Dusty and others that had done so well in little pack trials. I guess he was my flavor of the month lol. It was convenient to take a little trip and see some dogs run. However my buddy and i both bought pups. My pup ended up running pretty good but she also liked deer. This was prior to me having a decent shock collar actually none at the time i dont think they made them back then is they had she may have turned out good. I think when you breed as many as Merle was breeding back then your bound to have some bad ones. I just wonder sometime if the two sons still help him if not im sure its just to much at his age. Its really common sense that to have as many as some people have they cant all be world beaters. I cant help but be curious of how much you gave for the dogs. I think you will find that some people bought some nice dogs from him years ago and probably still has a few. Its just hard to find good dogs for sale...if you got a good one why would you sell it..your going to pay out the .... or just get lucky.

[wvduece]

are u sure ha got that bad of dogs or are u just a whiner i was believen ur story till u said about puppy mill sounds like ur a humanr freak to i dont think this website was designed for whiners

sounds to me like your a whiner who the hell ya think you are that guy can post whatever he wants as long as its within the rules as he said he talked with bev about posting it before he did i never had any dealings with the crain guy but a close friend has he couldnt get no papers as promised got a couple different dogs still no papers he just gave up n got rid of the last dog crain switched out for him

[Triple_S]

Mr Davis,
i liked what you had to say.
where are you located in Missouri?