what shows you brains in a hound?

[Honey Pot Hounds]

I am really enjoying this thread.

One of my young un's used to love to start a barking party in the kennel runs so I put a bark collar on him. It got so where I could just yell out the backdoor at him and swing the bark collar so he could see it and he would shut up and run into his doghouse.......but 5 minutes later I usually had to go put the collar on him......he was pretty smart for a MALE anyway

[briarshakersdaddy]

The Hound that will keep trying to please you. Knows the right way to run a track no matter what the conditions are. Knows where to find a rabbit and jump it. Handles like a dream. Knows not to run off game. Good kennel manners. Knows not to get sucked in on some fool running off game or babbling on a track or cold trailing. a hound that is a pleasure to run and hunt with. Not by any means a perfect hound but one with the brains to please you even with its faults. Brains in a hound means different things to different people. Just like some faults that some one else can live with and another man can't. But If you can get a hound with enough brains to try to please you I think that is all the brains a man can ask for.

[mo. beagler]

MY dogs come take my gun and shoot the rabbit. Then they wait for me to go pick it up. that is a smart dog........ and I am just being a
smart _ _ _..lol[/u]

[briarshakersdaddy]

Mobeagler. Had one almost like that. My son is not a very good shot. Hunted about half a season without killing a rabbit so the dog caught one and brought it back to him. Dont know if he was smart or just making fun of Joey's shoting. Probley figured that was the only way Joey was going to kill a rabbit. True Story.

[S.R.Patch]

Ok, I was at the meat market the other day and while standing in line, I noticed this beagle standing behind me with a purse tied around it's neck. As I advanced in line, so did the hound. Well, I got my bologna and waited to see what this hound was up to, the bitcher leaned over the counter and ask the hound, "what will it be today?", the hound put its paw on the glass in front of the ground beef and barked twice, the bitcher asked, "anything else?", the hound put it's paw on the glass in front of the porkchops and barked 4 times. The butcher wraped up the meat and took the money from the purse then, place the meat in the purse and the hound went out the door. Well, I had to see what this hound did with his purchase, so I followed him down the street. After winding through a few blocks, the hound stopped at a door and begain to scratch on the door, in a couple of minutes, a man opened the door and the hound went in, "in amazement", I hollared, "hey buddy", that's one smart hound you got there, all he replied was, "naw, he ain't so smart, this is the second time this week he's forgot his key"...

[Jack]

You know about the dog that you show a light he trees coon,or .22 and trees Squirrel,a shot gun and he runs Rabbits. Well my smart dog does all these but does one better. You show him a fishing poles and goes to digging worms.

[S.R.Patch]

You know Jack, that's why I married my wife... Cause I never could get one of them hounds...

[Wilkerson Boys]

I like the hound that stays on top of the dog house and speaks to me, (eyes focused and tail waggling) as I pass then hops down and stands at the gate to speak again as I pass back by, (eyes focused and tail waggling) wanting a pat on the head and to be loaded into the dog box. (the hound thats loves people and loves to chase rabbits even more) Then I like him to sing a happy song to me as we travel the short distance for him to run. Once dropped on the ground he may look up at me and may not but immediately goes and finds himself a rabbit and glides behind the rabbit like a kite string tied to a kite. He keeps going, going and going! This 10 month old multi-tasked pup is what I like to see. He is smart and smart enough to catch and eat his own rabbit. Wayne

PS - Call him; Wilkerson Boys I Kingpin

[full circle kennel]

great replies! keep'em comin. thanks, pat

[Jack]

Every hound I ever had that I felt was fairly smart for a hound was a perfect homer. Not that I think hounds are dumb, but think that all the good one have a mind set of single mindness that makes them appear as a one of the K-9's that were not truely blessed', but with the desire to get it done.
Patch, Sounds as if your a lucky man.

[jonnyringo]

The Hound that will keep trying to please you. Knows the right way to run a track no matter what the conditions are. Knows where to find a rabbit and jump it. Handles like a dream. Knows not to run off game. Good kennel manners. Knows not to get sucked in on some fool running off game or babbling on a track or cold trailing. a hound that is a pleasure to run and hunt with. Not by any means a perfect hound but one with the brains to please you even with its faults. Brains in a hound means different things to different people. Just like some faults that some one else can live with and another man can't. But If you can get a hound with enough brains to try to please you I think that is all the brains a man can ask for.

This about sums it up for me. Not a better reply could be made.

[warddog]

I have to agree with Norwester on this as I believe that folks mistake genetics for brains or intelligence. Being smart or having intelligence is possessing the ability to learn either by instruction or EXPERIANCE. I've read numerous posts about folks claiming to be the great teacher of hounds but IMHO all any of us do is put the hounds into the situation where they can gain experience and hone their genetic skills. Through repetition or experience we can then see if a hound has the ability to reason, think and or understand it's quarry namely Mr. cottontail. Most of what dogs do as a result of our "training" is little more than rote learning which is nothing more than repetition or experience so routine that it is done almost mechanically without thinking. A good example would be when you consistently run a specific small area and the dog as soon as unleashed heads right to the only brush pile in that area and finds a rabbit. Beings that spot is consistently hunted or ran the dog is rewarded with enjoying a rabbit chase and a possible reward of being praised or maybe even a taste of fur. What I would suspect to be intelligence or brains is if I observed the dog when unleashed to look over the terrain and case several brush piles or thickets and make a decision of which one to go hunt. Another example of rote learning IMO is trash breaking when the dog takes off burning a deer and you light it up with the shocker only to have it return to you so you will protect it from the shock. I've got a 8 month old female that I started 2 months ago and haven't ran her but a time or two since she started. In the last couple times I ran her she ran deer and I haven't been able to get into the rabbits so I put her up till last weekend. I saw 3 deer in my back pasture and so I hooked her up to the shock collar and lead her out to the general vicinity of the deer. It didn't take but a second and she was on the deer tracks and when she was opening up good I laid it to her. As I stated above she came running back towards me and of course the shock was not happening as long as she was coming to me. When she got to me she hunkered down as if to say I'm safe now from whatever that was. I waited awhile and then wondered into the thicket toward where the deer had ran as if we were hunting and she was all business again and then she hit the deer run and off she went a second time. I allowed her to get going and opening up good and then laid it to her again but this time burned her all the way back to me. Again she hunkered down when she got to me. I waited again for some time and then wondered away from where the deer had went and into another area of my property. She went back to hunting and eventually opened up in a heavy brush pile. When she finally came out from under it she ran the track a little piece and then sat down and looked back with a look as if she was asking me if this was OK for her to run. Not getting any shock she returned to running that track until it blew up and she couldn't progress it any further. Bear in mind that this pup had started the first day in the starting pen and ran for about 4 hours that day and about 4 hours the next when the guy called for me to come get her. We ran her about 1 1/2 hrs so I could see she was started good and I took her home. I ran her one time after that and saw she ran a deer and put her up. The next time actually in the field and not just running loose around the kennel was when I set her up as stated above. IMO this young female showed me signs of reasoning as she understood that when she ran one scent she got to do it for several hours being praised all along the way but when she ran the other one she was met with this excruciating pain so when she came upon the next track she thought she'd look back to see if she was on the right track and when I said to find em she continued to run that track.

[Beagled1]

One of my young un's used to love to start a barking party in the kennel runs so I put a bark collar on him. It got so where I could just yell out the backdoor at him and swing the bark collar so he could see it and he would shut up and run into his doghouse.......but 5 minutes later I usually had to go put the collar on him......he was pretty smart for a MALE anyway

LOL!
Recently, a puppy buyer told me about her old Beagle that died this summer. When her elderly mother made breakfast in the morning the dog would watch her intently, then the moment she sat dowm to eat, he'd scratch on the back door the way he did when he wanted to go out. When the mother got up to open the door for him, he'd go back & steal her food Apparently, the dog did this three times before the mother caught wise ... whose smarter?
My dogs are indoor/outdoor, and sometimes the couch gets crowded! My best hound frequently does something similar. If she is squashed or theres no room, she goes and throws a tantrum by the door (stomps her back feet and cries, lol). When someone gets up to get the leash ... they find Heidi comfortably nestled in their seat ...
Then we have a bluetick who is EERILY smart! Best darn huntin' dog I ever had, or probably ever will have. He once had a seizure in teh field and as soon as he could get up, he kept on tracking - albeit he was STILL seizing ... but anyway, we have a funny story about him, when he was a pup. It was around Christmas and Deputy was maybe 6 months old. We were wrapping presents and gave him one of the cardboard tubes from a finished roll of wrapping paper. It was an oversized roll, so the tube was unusually long. He was running all around with it like it was the best prize when I called him in the bedroom. The doorway was narrow and when I saw him come running to me with the tube in his mouth I could just picture him ramming into the door with the stupid thing. But the moment he reached the doorway, the slick SOB turned his head so that he could get in with his prize possession!!! I was impressed

[Tim L]

I may as well get in on this....
I have a 3 yr old bitch in the kennel who has learned a neat little trick. She will start to bark right around sunset. Now I have wondered why she would do this but I soon learned it was my wife's doing. When I would be out with the younger pups at sundown she would bark and my wife would take her some kind of scraps or something so she would stop barking. Now I have to go outside and let her see I am home or she barks and waits for my wife. If I do not go out she will bark for hours... Smart little booger I tell ya.

[Honey Pot Hounds]

They are smart kids! Does anyone else feel like they can communicate with their hounds just by looking them in the eye? I feel like I know what my dogs are thinking most of the time. Not like the PET PSYCHIC, LOL, but to an MUCH greater extent than my husband that's for sure (he's not a real "dogman" unfortunately).