Pup Trailing Other Dogs

[ronnie r]

Put a 7 month old pup in the running pen alone. He was running in five days by himself. Needless to say I was tickled with him. Put another pup in the pen with him that will run a little. This afternoon, after a short race broke up, the new pup come out to me. I then heard the young pup I just started comeing through the woods katie bar the door running the other dog. He has never been ran with anything that has ever overpowered him. He is just a bundle of energy. Thought about running him under supervision and bumping him a little when I know he is dog trailing. Any suggestions would be helpful, I really like this pup but he is doing the one thing I cant stand....Thanks

[Red Briar Kennels]

Ronnie, we surely don't claim to be the gospel on beagling, but we do operate a kennel in which we start, train and condition hounds here for alot of folks. We've dealt with alot of problems over the years and this being one of them. There is no cut and dry answer for this sort of thing, but one thing we do as a general practice specifically for this reason (as well as others) is that we solo start and train every hound here. This is not to say we don't run these dogs brace with anything, because that is all very important. In fact, that's a whole other subject with me. But at first anyways, we start each one seperately. If I do get one that wants to trail and open on another dog, I've found that over time they usually grow out of it. The same way a young dog opens prematurely on scent that isn't really runable and appears to be a little too mouthy. Over time they usually....and I say usually, they find out or figure out that it is unproductive and tighten up and eventually stop, or least drastically reduce the behavior. The fact that he's only 7 mo. old is very encouraging to me. The other thing is that he may be a very "active" dog and is very eager to run "something"...behavior that is not uncommon for such a hound with this sort of mind-set. All this said this is what I would do if the dog were here.

First, I would make sure that he is secure in knowing what he is supposed to be doing solo. A few days is good, a couple of weeks or a month is better. After this is accomplished, I would introduce a hound that is running at his speed or preferrably a little slower and see how he does. I like to see the pup do most of the work. If in fact you do catch him running the other dog, and you know for sure without a shadow of a doubt...I would correct him with a collar and give him some sort of verbal command. I wouldn't lean on him too hard, just enough to get his attention and break his concentration. You can always work your way up as far as intensity to get the desired effect. Then I would go back to running him a time or maybe two solo again and try the other dog with the pup again in a few days and repeat as necessary. Usually they start to pick up on the fact that running the other dog isn't getting the "stimulation" both electronically and verbally from you, that they are looking for, and they usually gradually stop doing it and drop off. I say usually alot in this post because nothing is absolute with hounds as you probably already know. We can't always fix everything so to speak, but often times with consistancy, repetition, and alot of patience, most problems can be at least improved on. It will take time and consideration on your part, but if you like the dog, it's worth a shot more times than not. Good luck.

- Steve Cellar
Red Briar Kennels

[ronnie r]

Thanks for the help Steve. I just think he is just young and full of go..Thanks again for the help,,,Ronnie