The American Beagler Forum

What would make a dog run silent? He may put out a squeel once every 30 to 40 yards. He hunts hard, jumps rabbits, leads the pack most of the time and we see him get just about every check. He just don't bark. At home, he barks just fine and loud, right in our neighbors bedroom window at 3:00am. Can a person put mouth on a dog while he's running? I have teased him with rabbits, rewarded him.... I just don't know, any suggestions?

Our male won't open his mouth unless he actually sees the rabbit. We were told it's the Patch breeding in him that gave him a tight mouth. He's just 10 months right now. I'm hoping maturity will loosen it.

I had one do that at about 6 months old. He did open at 8 months and went on to become a decent rabbit dog.
The guy I sold him to is happy with him. People like different things. I would say lack of nose is the reason for it.

Could be several reasons not enuff nose or compettive nature to run the front or being out run and gota run tight mouth to stay up or just in genetics being tight mouth even could be a health issue ears etc..

I had a male that open good when soloed but with other dogs was real tight mouthed even with dogs alot slower than him.

I have a 14mo old male patch that will open and run a great rabbit on sod but you put him on snow he cant do it. I am at a crossroads with him not knowing if he will ever be able to run on snow and in wisconsin that is a must. I got him from kentucky where they dont run on snow and maybe breed some of the nose out of em to make them better sod dogs.
Wont buy a dog from the south again no offence but if a dog cant run on snow there is no room in my kennel for it.

When i first started to sell a few pups, i had some fellows from Mich. call and ask if my hounds were mouthy(patch bred), I was somewhat shocked as I'd never seen a loose mouth patch. I evaluated them as using their mouth correctly or if anything, a bit tight when in their youth.
Well, finally I got one that was mouthy, but he was also a total idiot, cold trailing, back tracking...you couldn't have a race with him down. Oddly, he came from Mich., but i didn't attribute it to where he came from, but from the hounds in which he descended...

SR,
I dont want mouthy dogs either but brains and nose power I believe are the combination needed to run on powdery snow and dry conditions. Im starting to think my 14mo old has the brains just not the nose. How long would you give a dog to loosen up enough to open up in snow as good as he does on sod? I would really like to know some opinions on this. The dogs back in the pedigree were probley very good dogs for running sod in the south but in my opinion a dog with a pedigree full of dogs bred to run in snow and sod will be better suited for my needs.

The daddy come from Altoona Pa., Darrel and John can tell you all about them.
I never caught who was the mama hound to your pup?

You can never say for sure on pups just how they progress. I was at Leroy Miller's one early summer, his boy Dale and i took out a couple hounds to run in the cattail slough by a big wood. We cast the hounds and among them was a young hound Dale had gotten from G.R. named Ranger, his running mate was a big white and tan ticked hound named Big Sam Patch. Well, they had split up and Ranger opened on his rabbit at the south end of the slough and was tell'n it all until Big Sam took over with his big booming bawl mouth about 2/3 the way to the woods. After Sam had the lead on this young hound, we never heard another word out of Ranger, just seen him with his nose down trailing behind Big Sam up through the woods. Some young hounds are put off by older more confident hounds until they gain experience in the conditions to be confident in themselves, they just won't say to much, but it's a bone tickler when you see and hear the switch kick in and they take it with some authority...

I believe Run n Gun lucy is the dam

i have a hound that i know when she is on tract by her behavior and motions but will not open until the rabbit is up she is very mouthy runs hard,but when there is a loss she will go back silent until the rabbit is up again.She is 11/2 old and i have put alot of time and effort into her sometimes it is frustrating to see this but i feel she will be a good dog for me just not sure if she will break the habbit (if it is a habbit).Any advice trying to help with this would be great.

I just wanted to say thanks for the replys and ask one more thing about something.

I was told a week ago to go gunhunting and after I gut the rabbit give the rest of the rabbit to my male that won't open. I was told to let him eat the feet, head... everything and in combination to that, run him with a large pack of 8 to 12 beagles for hours at a time even if you have to turn fresh dogs in on him, and let them "gut him". I thought nothing else has worked so, why not, so I have did this all last week. He ate 3 rabbits and ran with 9 dogs last Sun, 11 dogs Mon, 14 dogs Wed, 13 dogs Thurs and 11 dogs Fri. I went yesterday evening with just him and my other 2 dogs. He ran and hunted like he always did, but a little more aggresive and he gave more mouth than either of my other dogs and more then he has ever before in his life, It worked!

Now, can anybody tell me why? I thought that taking it easy on him and soloing him would have been best, and with several hard hitting dogs he wouldn't get any rabbit. This guy tells me that soloing has its place but it is over-rated and can actually ruin your "pack hound", and to pressure and crowd him like never before and let him taste what he is after. I seen it with my own eyes that what he told me to do works, I just would like to know why?

How old was this dog

Lol… I know what you mean, and I think I know who told you to do that. Unless it is a coincidence, I was told to do the same thing “word for word”. And yes, it worked. It could be because he knows the dog’s bloodline and characteristics and what works on that particular line, but he knows the ins and outs of most lines in general. He has ran, trained, competed against and judged just about every line out there, and he keeps a “log” of different dogs and lines that he runs with to look back at later. Pretty sharp.

But mjs bunnybuster was concerned about the one young dog, but there are some dogs and lines that don’t get “wide open” until a couple years. Mr. Lane told me that Larry Perry let a dog named Barney go because he was “tight mouthed” but when he got about 2 ½ he dominated at trials, finished as champion and had more than enough mouth. He also said he threw that in his pups, they were mostly all tight until about 18 months and then they became wide open. He said he never has had any that were tight and stayed tight. I have seen this to be true out of 2 different pups out of the Barney dog and at least 4 grand pups. It’s just the way they are. They are very intelligent dogs and have more than enough nose and run well on ice/snow and in the dry. Just their trait. And it’s like clockwork, at 18 months old, but when they do open up, it is “wide open”. And when they bark it is gospel.

Rabbitsmoker, He is 16 1/2 months old.

Dr, Chris, yes you are right about who gave me the advice, it is "freaky" what he knows and can quote. He wouldn't let me read that "log". His friend said he has never read it either, he says he has too much truth about other people's dogs, field champions and bloodlines that he ran with, judged or trained that would be offensive to their owners to deal with because he has the major faults and strengths and what he feels which dogs and lines compliments each other. Out of curiosity I would love to read that thing. But he says it is for his personal use, kind of like his diary of the dogs he has witnessed over the years.