Trialing Shy Dog

[Bobbi]

I got a good year old male running better than my 6 year old seasoned pros. Isn't afraid of me and other people he knows but is afraid of strangers. He was abused as a pup by a former owner.
Is it possible to trial this sort of hound, are they even allowed in trials? Would be a shame if he couldn't be trialed, he's so good.

[Big Dog]

I have seen many shy hounds run in trials, some of them are shy of big crowds and others are just one man/woman dogs. If I were you I would take him to a couple of trials now while he is young and just tie him out so that he can get used to the crowds of people. After that cut him loose and as long as he will run with strange dogs he should be okay. The only problem you may have is when all of the handlers get to calling their dogs and running toward them at the same time, this can scare dogs that aren't even shy. If you run arha just tell the folks at the beginning of the cast not to try to catch your dog, that way noone will scare it off. I have a buddy who has a female that will not let anyone else handler her, if you grab her she will bite you. He informs everyone in the cast at the beginning of the cast so that they know not to try and handle her.

Big Dog