The American Beagler Forum

I gave a buddy a pup I bred and he had some things come up that stopped him from running. He gave me the pup back a few days ago. he has not had the pup out any. is this a hard thing to try or should it come easier to this 14 month old?

Not much different then starting any other dog. the older ones will tend to pick it up quicker at first but will also try more shortcuts then younger dogs. alot may depend on what has or hasn't been done with the dog up to this point.

I have started them at that age before. If they have it in them they will do fine. I think the key to starting them at that age is get them started and run them 3 or 4 days a week for at least a month. It kinda gets them to the point they should be at for that age.

I started one at 15 months old once. I gave him to my son and my son gave him back to me at 15 months old and all he was used for was a pet and he started about the 6th time out. He would follow the other dogs from the get go and when he saw his first rabbit the light clicked on and he acted like he had been running all his life. If it is in them it will come out.

jfields wrote: He has not had the pup out any.
Is this a hard thing to try or should it come easier to this 14 month old?

I've found it to be slooow going. I've had people bring 9-10 month olds to the pen and they knew nothing of getting through brush. The quickest was to leave them in the pen an learn not to come unglued when the honeysuckle caught them up. They seem abit retarded due to the lack of exposure to the field and are at wonder about all things.

the oldest i've started one was 10months old. showed him a tame rabbit a few times. took 3 trips on the 3rd trip out he opened up good. was a slow runner on the track but has now picked up the pace and runs the front.

Traded for a 4 yr.old that had been used only as a show dog.Took him out about 4 time then he started running with other dogs ran him all that summer he was doing a good job .All at once he would only run 1 maybe 2 races then would go back to truck and lay down.finaly got disgusted and gave him away as a pet.As good as he was running I never did figure out what went wrong.

I bought an unstarted 3 year old once for her pedigree, got her going and she was a solid contributor to my pack for another 7 years.

John L