The American Beagler Forum

Just a quick question to some of you experienced guys out there. I have some pups that are six months old and I was just wondering how often I should run them solo and how often should I put them with my old dog. They all three are giving mouth by themselves. I dont want them to become to independent on the older dog. I was thinking maybe once with the old dog to every two or three times solo. Does that sound like a good ratio to you. I have not really trained many pups before. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I would focus on running them brace with the older dog until they are really running well, then I would try to solo them some. soloing 3 dogs can be quite a task as it is time consuming and the others are sitting in the pen. I try to take young dogs out 2 or 3 at a time and get them going strong. If one is shining more than the rest I will pull him out and solo him. Young dogs do need solo time, but too much solo time can make them really independent and not make them want to hark to other dogs.

Big Dog

As with any trial dog or hunting dog, use the 3:1 rule. Run the dog 3 times solo for every 1 time in a pack. This will ensure that the dog can run solo and he doesn't rely on a pack.

chris