The American Beagler Forum

I meet a couple of guys and was talking about the up coming trial season and rabbit season, when I asked if he had his dogs ready he replied which ones ? He went on to tell me me he does not rabbit hunt over his trial dogs, and has a pack of hounds just for rabbit hunting. From what i got from the conversation the trial dogs were to rough to circle a rabbit on most wintery days. This is not the first time ive heard guys saying things like this. Looking back at some of the most productive hounds no matter the bloodline every one seems to end the conversation with he/she was a real rabbit dog. My question is, and I know there will be alot of different awnsers. Is there a difference in the two ? Should there be ? Are field trials suppose to promote the best rabbit dog ?

No differance between a trial dog and a gun dog at this house. If they can't circle a rabbit solo, they are not a trial dog. To me it is as good as a win in a trial when my dog runs a rabbit in tough conditions to the gun when the other dogs do not even open.

No difference here my Rabbit dogs are my trial dogs or vice versa.

One of the biggest complements I received was when a fellow who bought one of my bitches said, "If I can get her hunt and stick into the drive of my champeen hounds, I'll really have something in them pups".

Sometime in the rushed focus of recovering checks, we loose sight of how many checks may be absolutely necessary...

chris83 wrote:I meet a couple of guys and was talking about the up coming trial season and rabbit season, when I asked if he had his dogs ready he replied which ones ? He went on to tell me me he does not rabbit hunt over his trial dogs, and has a pack of hounds just for rabbit hunting. From what i got from the conversation the trial dogs were to rough to circle a rabbit on most wintery days. This is not the first time ive heard guys saying things like this. Looking back at some of the most productive hounds no matter the bloodline every one seems to end the conversation with he/she was a real rabbit dog. My question is, and I know there will be alot of different awnsers. Is there a difference in the two ? Should there be ? Are field trials suppose to promote the best rabbit dog ?

Tell your friend Abshire said he is a idiot.

if they aint the same dogs , shootem

I hear this all the time. I try to explain that some of your best trial dogs make great rabbit dogs. Also when I tell someone I trial my dogs they say u must run those slow dogs. Where do people get all these crazy opinions?

Do both species chase rabbits??? These "trial dogs" and "rabbit dogs" you speak of are no term i have heard of before...my dogs that pursue rabbits are Beagles so maybe that is the difference.

What do these hounds you speak of look like?

I tell you one difference, its the selling price. People pay big money for a good trial hound but don't want to pay anything for a good rabbitdog. What ever you want to call them , if they can't do it alone or contribute to the pack they will do it somewhere else.

If i can`t kill a rabbit over my trial dogs then they are no use to me. My trial dogs are my meat dogs also. Just a little faster then the good old gun dogs.

dogs that are extremely rough or conservative on the line can do good in some form of a trial but not be very good to hunt over. most trial dogs [little pack is what im familiar with] are hunting dogs. imho

Bad Luck Kennels wrote:If i can`t kill a rabbit over my trial dogs then they are no use to me. My trial dogs are my meat dogs also. Just a little faster then the good old gun dogs.

I personally have never seen any difference in speed between a meat dog and a trial dog. Trial means Dog vs Dogs, whereas hunting is dogs vs bunnies...

Same dog at my house. If they can't circle a rabbit to the gun they don't eat my food.

Rabbit dog is the title ours get before they ever see a trial...some do not get to be trial dogs but all are rabbit dogs.

A beagle that is a rabbit dog knows no difference in a trial or a hunt. They pursue their game with the inherited instincts to overtake for food in nature. There should be no difference in the end result be it trial or hunt! What happens is we humans want to inject our personal tastes into the mix by judging HOW this is accomplished. Truth is if left to nature those that did so CONSISTENTLY would survive and those that didn't would succomb to starvation. Mather nature's judgement would not be subjective but rather objective and if they couldn't put meat on the table they wouldn't be anything as they certainly could not survive on the man made titles! Ole mother nature has but one title "survival of the fittest." I do understand that dogs are pack animals but the leader of the pack doesn't always equal the best at everything when it comes to survival. I have never trialed a beagle but if I were ever to do so I would trail my rabbit dog and hunt my rabbit dog. By the way I don't have one at the time as they would have to produce the game or a place of rufuge a very high percentage of time before they would score points with me.