A general forum for the discussion of hunting with beagles, guns, clothing and other equipment and just talking dawgs! (Tall tales on hunting allowed, but remember, first liar doesn't stand a chance)
But, do your dogs "always" run with their heads up? If that be the case, I'd venture a guess there looking to the other hounds in the check area.
Hummm, a hound that craps with it's stern down ,...ours usually hold the stern out or up thus not able to overcome the force of gravity, proving the length of tail had no bearing on the crap hitting the ground.
Now scent, relying upon evaporation thus overcoming the laws of gravity may in fact be aided by the funneling effect of the ears relationship to the end of the nose... hummm
So many things to ponder while out greasing & sharpening the mower blades this evening... ...the Easter flowers have sprung and my wife can't wait to get out on the mower again, God, I love that woman...
I'd say there is no canine better equiped for trailing than a wolf, the way God made it. Can man improve on that? I think there ears may just be for hearing.btw German sheperds are pretty good trackers too.
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I didn't think about this thread that much this morning when I posted my first comment. I was simply presenting information that I had found written by others who are supposed to be experts. Just now, when I sat to at the computer, an image of my dog Razz came to mind. Razz was attacked by my neighbors dog when he was a pup. Now he has an half of ear on 1 side.
He still runs, and hunts, but I often wonder if the attack hindered him in any way. Razz often times runs like he doesn't have a good sense of balance. OR, it could just look like he is about to tip over to 1 side from my point of view. He also takes off to the pack or my calling in the opposite direction. Sometimes he may go 50 yards before figuring out which direction the sound is coming from. Finally, I've seen him smoke rabbits, but; he S's over the line 6-12 inches either side. Amazingly, he can run like that, and turn when the rabbit turns.
None of these things may have anything to do with his odd behavior. Then again, it may have everything to do with it.
Mine run with the head up , and make circles with there head up looking for the check. They usually wind the rabbit then lock up and take off.
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Big long ears look good, but i doubt anyone can convince nme they make a dog run better because they help them smell.
it probibly does help , im sure a blood hound or bassett could run an old track that most beagles would never consider twice. but that is what we have bred them to do, find a rabbit, jump him, run a hot track at a med to very fast speed. it is hard to imagine the ears helping. i still like long ears & a big nose, but maybe i should look for dogs with long tails cause i hate scraping poop of ceiling of kennel.
JMO, If large, long ears had to do with tracking game, slower dogs would never miss a turn and faster dogs would not be able to carry the track. Wolves do not have hound like ears but can run a hare or deer to death ! BTW, a Beagle running a deer will run downwind of the track and heads up. I think that it is all about the nose, some hounds with long, wide ears cannot run a track to the toilet. I guess that if ears had to do with scenting, a lot of Beagles would be culled for tongueing before the rabbit was up. Then, those that did not tongue before the rabbit was up could be said to have inferior ears.
Long, large ears only add to the appearance of the hound, we like that characteristic as we are programed to believe that it is what a hound should look like. It also occurs to me, that if the ears are so important in a dog's scenting ability, to improve the breed, we should be breeding dogs that "cold trail" and cull the ones that cannot.
Pearson Creeks were known for their smaller ears high on their head. That didn't seem to affect their winning traditional brace trials.
If UNO, is the closest to the standard in modern times, he should have great scenting ability aw well as great stamina.
After all, he has been genetically designed toward those qualities someone decided was the perfect beagle.
Form or Function.
How about FORM AND FUNCTION
In Over 100 years of writing about hounds from MANY MANY authors in ALL factions one thing was always mentioned LENGTH OF EAR and WHY? To HELP in Funneling Sent Guess ONE fella Way back Decided that was How He liked em.
breed what ya like!!
From Field to Show and Show to Field the way it should be
All long eared dogs are hounds bred to be pack runners. That means they run various game with dogs in front, behind, and on both sides of them, normally from 4 to 50 and all bred to have LOUD constant barking mouths.
The long ear flaps hang down over the actual hearing part of the ear and thus knock out all that distraction and drive them crazy loud noise coming from all directions so they can put all emphasis and concentration on running that game.
Dogs with short ears run closer to the game and do not have to pick up cold scent or recover long checks. Game running wide open to get away does not have time to create sneaky checks like doubling back.
We have 3 bloodhounds we use at work for arson dogs on wildfires as well as mantracking(Tucker, Sadie Mae, and Jessup). The ears and dewlap do aid the nose in tracking. In the case of "mantracking", the dogs are receptive to scent rafts that are microscopic cells that float on the air currents along our bodies. We are 98.6 degrees and the atmospheric temp. varies so this creates subtle air currents. As the person moves along these currents are disturbed depositing the rafts on the ground and in the air. They begin to decay giving off gasses created by bacteria. Everyone has individual "smells" when their cells decay. The rate of decay is a function of the conditions (temp, moisture, etc). In poor scent conditions the long ears, dew lap, and loose skin funnel the skin rafts in and create a micro-climate that optimizes the colder and or older scent. THis is true for bloodhounds. They are said to have more scent receptors than other breeds in their nose as well. This could be helpful for beagles in poor conditions but really matters when you are following a track of an arsonist that is 4 days old and has been burned up to ash. I dont want to run 4 day old rabbit tracks. I have witnessed the track of a co worker on an ATV being ran 5 days later (3 days of which it rained) successfully with Sadie Mae.
All of my dogs ears are located behind their noses, I suppose if I was to stand one on it's head or if one of them bent their head down at a 90 degree angle from their spine then their ears could possibly be in line with their nose. I don't think he could run in either of these positions though. If my dogs ears are funneling scent anywhere, it is into their chests where there are very few olfactory scensors located. Now, before I get something started I just want to state that this ear location is on my dogs only. I haven't seen your dogs and the ears on your dog may somehow be attached in a different location.
All of my dogs ears are located behind their noses, I suppose if I was to stand one on it's head or if one of them bent their head down at a 90 degree angle from their spine then their ears could possibly be in line with their nose. I don't think he could run in either of these positions though. If my dogs ears are funneling scent anywhere, it is into their chests where there are very few olfactory scensors located. Now, before I get something started I just want to state that this ear location is on my dogs only. I haven't seen your dogs and the ears on your dog may somehow be attached in a different location.
,...ours usually hold the stern out or up thus not able to overcome the force of gravity, proving the length of tail had no bearing on the crap hitting the ground.
...the Easter flowers have sprung and my wife can't wait to get out on the mower again, God, I love that woman... 
