Running hounds solo

[Ark]

I like to solo a dog occasionally and think they learn alot from it but due to time constraints I dont do get to do it very often. What I do more than anything (with young dogs especially) is run them in a brace or trio. I know alot of dogs have been started by just putting em down with the pack but I prefer not to run my young dogs with finished or older dogs till theyre solidly locked in and know whats going on.

To use the sports analogy that would be like putting me on a basketball team with Michaeal Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Dr. J. How much am I going to contribute to that team or learn when Im not anywhere near that level of talent or experience?

[wvduece]

This is for all the gentlemen that say they dont need to solo or dont believe soloing does anything you ever wonder why your dogs dont win any hunts or dont get past the first round of any trial its because your dog is playing smell a$$ with the dog that is doing all the work!!!! A dog must at some point IMO be soloed at some point to get a independence to themselves so while you are sitting back chatting with your buddys and your dog sounds like its out there pounding a rabbit how do you know its not just out there dog barking while you think your dog is tearing out the check best bet is that your dog is just dog barking in the check area!!! I have personally been to a trial before and had a guy just going crazy saying his dog was this and his dog was that and i watched the entire hunt and even ran along side the judges in the hunt and literally watched this dog non stop barking he was harking to the other dogs just barking and then in the check just barking and right off the lead barking it was ridiculous had i been the judge in that cast i would have picked that dog up quicker that what he did and the guy came screaming at the judge saying my dog was out there tearing it up i heard him the whole time leading i simply smiled at the judge and told the guy in a nice manner his dog was junk and was not doing anything but barking!!!!! Alot of people i have noticed are VERY and i repeat VERY kennel blind if you take your dog out with a pack it may look and sound like a $1000 dog but when you go to solo it and they stand by your feet guess what you have a $5 dog and thats for the box of shells you need to buy !!!! Or maybe it wont stand by your feet and it goes out there and jumps a rabbit or mearly runs into a rabbit track and guess what 5 barks and you are like here he/she goes and then nothing more and you are thinking da$m he/she was running the fire out of the bunny last night with my buddies dogs and now you come up with excuses ohh its high pressure its to dry its raining its this and its that guess what your DOG IS METOING in the pack and is a sh$t eater i think every trial format should do it like Progressive Pack and i dont even run that format but i like how they make the dog jump their own rabbit and then solo the rabbit back to them in a timely matter to be labeled a champion in that format no i am not saying that dogs out there that are FC or champions that cant do this but i like that rule!! imo that helps promote a better dog and keeps all the pot lickers out of the trial, it makes people run better dogs and no junk that they heard in a pack barking their head off!!!!!!!! I will not mention any names here but i was told by a great beagler out there that soloing will bring the best out of a dog, and that a
F.C. or CHAMPION IS MADE NOT BORN

JCM has probally wopn more big hunts than mostt on this bopard n his dogs and also he is in the hof he has championed and granded more dogs than alot of the people on this board just ask him about soloing his dogs if i want to start winning im going to stick with the guy that does most of the winning i use to race dirt track cars my son drove n i footed the bills we won 95 % of our races i had guys that we were out running every week n most of the time lapping them at intermission or even on the street they would try to tell me how wrong my car was set up i got soooooo sick of hearing that bull crap i finally told them when you start out running our car then maybe you can tell me what i am doing wrong keep up the good work JCM your doing a great job at winning at field trials how many of you other people can match your wins with JCM's

[Bunnyblaster]

I guess I'll start it up so here we go. I guess if you only run trials and only ever run in a pack and all you're really looking for is a dog that can score points then yes it will probably never make a difference to you if your dog can do it all by itself. That is kind of the whole moral of the story so to speak. So do we get back into the old debate of whether his way makes a good trial hound but not a great rabbit dog? I have no business disputing the man's record at the trials but to win trials you need a dog that can handle and feed off of a pack...........that's not always the case for us hunters. A lot of us need a dog that can and will get it done all by itself and in a pack. If you can't see that individual time can be important and plays a role then you may need a new set of . I'm sorry that those of us that just hunt don't have a way to put a title in front of most of our dogs to prove how smart we are...............kind of like having a college degree makes you an automatic genius right . JCM, this is not directed at you, it's more for wv's benefit. I believe that JCM is doing what works for him but like I said before you can't say just because you aren't willing to take the time to solo a dog, and that's what it really boils down to, then that dog will never be as good. Like I said before IMO that's a very ignorant statement.

This is the kind of crap that me off................... people basically saying my way is the only way and your way doesn't work. I suppose we could poll all of the other big time trial winners out there and see what they say about solo time. If someone with a better record than JCM solos then would you jump back over to the other side of the fence and stick up for him? HHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMMM, I wonder.

[wvduece]

i been running rabitt dogs for over 50 years i have soloed a few times mostly because i only had one dog i start my pups in a pack now ocasionaly i will let one out by itself just to see what it is doing like being a metooer or give up on a check too quick after about 45 min to a hour the rest of my pack hits the ground i just dont have the paitence and just plain out dont like to run solo if i dont have too and i dont straddle no fence im just me like it or not jb

[rnbrunton]

I don't trial much, that said I only solo when thats the only dog available to run.If you look at the success both Abshire and McGuire have had, how could you argue either is best? When doing something the way YOU LIKE to do it you put forth a better effort,think about it.

[Bunnyblaster]

i just dont have the paitence and just plain out dont like to run solo if i dont have too

There you go sunshine .........that's the point. As a matter of fact I think I even made that point in my post. Doesn't make it the right or the wrong way and it doesn't make it the best way either. It makes it the way that works the best for you. I'm just glad someone can understand the point..........not just the argument.

It's amazing how hard it can be to see something from the other side sometimes huh.

[johns03272008]

[/quote] JCM has probally wopn more big hunts than mostt on this bopard n his dogs and also he is in the hof he has championed and granded more dogs than alot of the people on this board just ask him about soloing his dogs if i want to start winning im going to stick with the guy that does most of the winning i use to race dirt track cars my son drove n i footed the bills we won 95 % of our races i had guys that we were out running every week n most of the time lapping them at intermission or even on the street they would try to tell me how wrong my car was set up i got soooooo sick of hearing that bull crap i finally told them when you start out running our car then maybe you can tell me what i am doing wrong keep up the good work JCM your doing a great job at winning at field trials how many of you other people can match your wins with JCM's[/quote]


If you really want to talk about winning i could argue the fact of what format you are running and how many dogs are in the cast or trial for that matter i had a dog once that had a 2nd in little pack does that mean she is awsome i would say H#LL No and the reason is because there was only 10 DOGS IN THE WHOLE TRIAL it dont matter how many little hunts you have won when you start putting A DOUBLE & TRIPLE CHAMPIONED DOG ON THE GROUND THEN COME DO SOME TALKING im just stating that i believe soloing to bring out the best in a dog and i believe it amounts to the amount of hunt in a dog to be able to have the patience i also have had this happen to me i had KEY WORD HAD a dog that i would not solo and the reason for that was because it lacked hunt now if you have a dog that has tons of hunt which is what i want in my kennel and will not tolerate a dog that has no or little hunt then its not as bad and you can still have fun sure every one likes to hear a pack of dogs pounding me being one of them but if you were to ask the owner to Durhams Lilly if she was soloed i believe and some one correct me if im wrong but i was told she was soloed almost every day and if my memory serves me right i believe she won 9 straight AKC hunts with more than 10 dogs in it i believe it was upwards of like 20-40 maybe more no if you beat more than that on a consistant basis then i am going with that now i know not everyone has time to do that but if you have a dog that you think or know can really do it then thats what i would do also if you are looking on a price stand point i will pay more for a dog that can solo and do it good as compared to a dog that can not solo a rabbit!!!!! JMO like any one else it is EACH ONES OWN thing and you can do what ever you want but if you are ever around and would like to run dogs let me know i would be more than happy to drop a dog or dogs with your pack!!!!!!!

[Newt]

Do your dogs run like you type, check free?

[JCM]

This is the kind of crap that me off................... people basically saying my way is the only way and your way doesn't work.

I agree. In fact, that is the reason I always jump in on this subject. I think everyone should find a way that works best for them and their hounds. The best way to learn is not on this site. Read it, get a good laugh, and then get in the woods where you can really learn.

I believe soloing will help a dog reach its potential quicker. The reason that I don't is because I want to consistently produce hounds that can reach their potential in a pack. My goal is to have the best kennel of hounds I can possibly have. I am not concerned about each pup, unless they can stand the pressure that I put on them.

In the last 5 years, I have run in ARHA PP, LP, and BP, AKC Derby, SPO, and Large Pack. I like to try them all because it measures our dogs in different ways. I have been lucky enough to have some success. BUT, what matters to me though, more than anything else, is running dogs. As much as I run, it takes a dog that has an extreme amount of grit. And, they better be able to take a lot of pressure.

Soloing can make an individual better--Jasper, Junie, Reggie, and countless other dogs have proven this. Relentless running and pressure can build a strong pack built on strong individuals--Frank Reese (Gay hounds) and Willet Randall (Patch hounds) proved this. Everyone who owns beagles should know what they hope to accomplish and train accordingly.

To those that say the only way to have great hounds is to solo, I would say, get out and see some more hounds, and study the history of beagles. You might be surprised.

[wvduece]

i dont trial in any format i run my pack of dogs just for my pleasure very seldom shoot a rabbit i just enjoy listning to a pack of hounds driving that rabitt as hard n fast as they are able to with as little breakdowns as possible i do this for me n me only i dont give a crap who solos n who dont i dont care who wins a big hunt or a lil hunt if your satified im just tickled to death for ya run them any way ya like it wont hurt my feelings one more thing i dont know but about one or two people who come on this board n neither of them trial but we shure love to hear those hounds jb n thats all folks

[windy hollow]

When I am getting them in running condition I will run a Trio, but when I'm Trainning I solo train. I had a trio years ago that if you put them out solo they were lost, when I put them together they were dinomite. So I started trainning Solo and they learned to do it all instead of just whatever the trio expected from them.

[Bunnyblaster]

I just find it funny that anyone that will not take the time to solo thinks they are an expert on the subject........and same thing for people that only solo or make that a major part of their training..........that's all I was ever really trying to get at. You won't hear me argue over which trial format is the best since I don't spend much time trialing.

Good question though.......whoever it was that asked in the first place.

[madcatter]

i solo the young ones till they can run by them selves then i battle test them with the pack,if i see them starting to cheat,do anything i dont want to see its back to the solo work,it helps but if the dog is gonna amount to anything it should show many good signs while packed young,if it is allowed to do wrong things like skirt,me to,over drive the line,run along pack looking at the lead hounds etc,then more solo work is needed and quick.
you cant make a good hound outta a dumb one and allowing them to cheat,promote cheating etc will only worsen the hound.
i dont hunt solo so i like packing them,but i have to yank them all at times and solo them for a week or 2 to true them up.mine always seem to go back to cheating(lol)sometimes though it aint as bad as others.lol
you cant get chicken soup outta chicken crap,so expecting great results from soloing a bad faulty hound is a waste of time

[flinger]

i dont know if one is better than the other as far as getting the most out of a dog , but i can tell you this : i will never start a dog solo again ! i have the last 2 and it has been a nightmare trying to get them to pack ! a buddy always starts his with other dogs , and he has no problems with packing !i can see where solo work can help a dog that is already started but if you start them that way it just creates other problems , that are alot harder to fix , JMO