Dogs that can lock on a cottontail

[straight&narrow]

You generally don't have to worry about the over competitiveness if your looking to solo a dog.... I had a male that was a fine hound. Strong, fast, solid nose, overall good rabbit hound. One major glaring fault in my mind OVER COMPETIVENESS!! You put him out by himself he could run a rabbit for hours and hours on end just plain sweet music and float while doing it. You put one dog in there with him still pretty solid running but would start to decline a little. By the time you had a pack of 4 or 5 on the ground it was total choas. Pushing for the front, over running, lots of checks (which were usually recovered and fairly fast) but there was nothing smooth about the race. I sold that dog and he was the best I've ever owned but for what I was looking to do was to run a 3-4 dog pack and gun hunt my hounds he wans't suited for. A nice trial dog that actually won the first two midwest trials he was entered in. The problem I have is the stament I just made in my mind is absurd " He's a great trial hound but not such a great gun dog" There in lies the problem with some of the beaglinG world and will continue to be the down fall of this sport. Beagles were made to be gun dogs first and competition hounds second and two many handlers have that reversed in their minds. I am not longer actively in the sport, I do own a few beagles and will gun them for my enjoyment and for my children to get into the hounding sport but I probably have seen my last trial....

[Larry G]

Lessee here, need extra mouth, stand around on checks waiting for another dog to pick it, then jump in front of it, don't need to hunt, HEY! I just might have a kennel full of field champions in my back yard!

[Nor' Easter]

I'm sure there are people that want a dog that can solo a rabbit like you just said Larry, lot's of them. not everyone want's the same thing in a hound and no single type of hound makes up all FC's. there are as many different types of FC's as there are dog breeds. If there's a certain type of hound you like and are looking for you have to go and see it run in a trial or elsewhere yourself to find it. That's what it's all about. Otherwise you'll have to trust someone else's opinion.
I had some that would lock on better than others, but all were great at gunning hare either way.