The American Beagler Forum

How important is it to solo a young fresh started dog? And how important is it to solo a finished dog?

Fellas
I look at it this way. Some people can learn by watching others do, and some people are hands on not learning unless they actually do it themselves. I believe every dog learns differently. But what I can tell you is I solo my dogs alot and you can really tell which ones have had the solo time and which ones have not. And I for one have never hurt a dog with solo time, but I do believe I have hurt a few that could have had more. Just my opinion of course. And every dog has different needs.

Shoot Straight
DEA

Guys that keep lots of dogs will say it's not necessary.....guys that keep 2-3 dogs seem to be more interested in it.

I solo or brace all the time.....I'm obsessed with individual performance and believe if you have great individual dogs the pack as a whole will run better. I've never owned a dog that wouldn't pack so I only pack when I trial or run with friends.

I have two dogs that I'm trailing and two young derbies and one pup that will be ready to start soon. And I work full time. So what you guys are saying is I should solo each of these. Which means they would only get run one evening each week. And that would be enough training time to keep the trial dogs sharp and develope the derbies. If they need to be soloed when run with a good clean running pack then, I consider them culls.
I would hate to drive 4 or 5 hours to trial and not enter a couple of dogs.
And if I want decent dogs in the future ,I have to work on young ones now.
I would love to quit working and just train beagles but," the ole girl " said NO!!!!!
I guess I'll have to stick with stronger minded beagles that don't require soloing.

I love to solo my dogs. You can see things they do on their own that they wouldn't do in a pack. You can take a dog that looks like a million bucks in a pack out and they can't do it by themselves.its not as fun to listen to but I try to solo to make sure every h dog I'm feeding is a well rounded rabbit dog and not just looking good in the pack .

Sam

I know how these Soloing threads go, by the dozens I've read in the past. And I may have it all wrong. But, it seems inherently wrong to train a hound solo to prepare him for running in a pack.

ray s wrote:I know how these Soloing threads go.by the dozens I've read in the past. And I may have it all wrong. But, it seems inheirently wrong to train a hound solo to prepare him for running in a pack.

Sorry to jump in here Ray, but you forgot the rest.

It seems inheirently wrong to train a hound solo to prepare him for running in a pack . . .

unless he is a sorry dog that can't learn to jump rabbits and get checks unless he is the only dog in the woods.

Or if he comes from a line of weak-minded ancestors and line of dogs that blow up when they face constant pressure.

Or if he is owned by someone with heart problems or high blood pressure that can't stand the heart pounding sound of a pack in hot pursuit running with the intent to catch.

Or if he is owned by some lapdog loving sucker that won't challenge his young hounds and cull out what needs it, even knowing it will better the breed and his overall kennel in the long run.

Or if he is owned by one of those I know better than you solo to the end guys who "just loves to hear one dog that knows how to do it right."

Or if he is owned by one of those "I want my pup out of ... have the chance to be the best he can be and I know soloing will do it."

Or if he is owned by that guy that says, " I owned old so and so and I soloed him and he got so much better. He became a great dog because he had to do it all himself."

Or if he is owned by that one guy that says, "I soloed his dad and he made a great dog (yeah in his eyes. )

Oh, by the way, we had snow and ice again today and I am sitting at the computer. Can you tell?

To boring for me. Rather brace dogs!!

JCM wrote:

ray s wrote:
Or if he is owned by someone with heart problems or high blood pressure that can't stand the heart pounding sound of a pack in hot pursuit running with the intent to catch.

Very true. Many of times I had to puff on a inhaler to calm down my breathing lol

Well I usually stay away from these conversations because quite frankly I believe a man feeds him and he can have and do what he wants. Having said that I am one of those guys that keeps 6 to 10 running dogs most of the time. I haven't ever soloed a dog, I just don't have the time. One of the main reasons I don't trial is because I would rather run 5 or 6 of my own then go off to a trial with 2 or 3 and feel guilty that I left most of my dogs home in the pen. I also agree with JCM IMO you raise dogs to better the breed/what you feed/hunt and to me having to give a dog a lot of independent time means he most likely is missing something. Having said that I can see where if you have a younger dog that is already making contribution to your pack that he or she may improve quicker with alone time but again to me the dog first has to show above average talent. Truth is I believe if the dog has it you will see it in the pack just as soon as you will soloing.

mybeagles wrote:Guys that keep lots of dogs will say it's not necessary.....guys that keep 2-3 dogs seem to be more interested in it.

I solo or brace all the time.....I'm obsessed with individual performance and believe if you have great individual dogs the pack as a whole will run better. I've never owned a dog that wouldn't pack so I only pack when I trial or run with friends.

Bingo !

Soloing a dog is just fine if you only own one.
Soloing a dog is fine if your trying to enhance a young dogs abilities faster.
And if you have a great dog soloing its not going to hurt it.
My self I would rather be running 2 or 3 bad ass females and there pups and be a bad mofo culling mashine.with so many trial winning pups for sale so I can have a bunch of suck ups pulling at my shirt tail so I thought I was something special.but im not.im just jason who loves to hunt lol

Guys that keep lots of dogs will say it's not necessary.....guys that keep 2-3 dogs seem to be more interested in it.

I solo or brace all the time.....I'm obsessed with individual performance and believe if you have great individual dogs the pack as a whole will run better. I've never owned a dog that wouldn't pack so I only pack when I trial or run with friends.

Bingo #2!! Mybeagles.......Seems to be the only one on here that goes out with one dog and gets his limit. The proof is in the pudding! Like Dave I only keep a few dogs because if they can do it on there own I don't need or want twenty that have to have a pack to run a rabbit. Its funny how its all ways the same guys that get twisted when a soloing thread starts. I guess some have something to prove...DH

Oh, I forgot to say . . .

I solo cause I don't need a pack to run a rabbit. Old Joe can run a rabbit all day by himself and he don't need no help like all those dogs those pack guys have to have just to run.

Oh, I also forgot to say . . .

I run a pack cause I got a whole lot I gotta prove and I can do it soooo much better with 20 dogs.


Kind of like how a bunch of eye rolls and extra "o's" prove I am sooooooooooo right.