Disappointed with quality of dogs

[See low]

the dogs of yester year seem to be better to me as well... People seem to be satisfied with dogs that will stand around ya,, hunt in spurts,, can run an average rabbit... ect.......I guess you have to have known a great dog to know a great dog.. i have a male dog right now that i would say is slightly above average... but there aint nothin around here that my buddy's are huntin that can get close to him... there's somethin wrong with that... i think there are several factors causing it,,less time to hunt,, less rabbits... more junky dogs out there.. i n the old days our yard dog we had would beat 90% of what we are hunting today...I talk about my slightly above average dog as if i dont like him.. thats not the case,,, but rest assured that if i can find somethin to beat him... im very capable of buying a dog... just one hillbilly's opinion...

[Joeyman]

You hit the nail on the head alot dont know what a good dog is if you will listen to them talk you find out they dont/ I see them run or watch them on video and what they call good i wouldnt give a dime for them.

to each there own. everyone has their own opinion on what a good dog is. If they like it and feed it then thats all that matters.

[GCbeagler]

What percentage of these Hot line breed crosses or good to good crosses turn out good pups?

How many pups do you normaly raise & train before you find 1 that hunts & runs the way you want?

[Mapel Valley Kennels LLC.]

I would say alot of the pee poor quality is from pee poor breedings .

[rabbitsmoker]

Alot of hunters just settle with what they have because they are so hard to find and hard to make the right cross to get that total package hound. Myself i have never been the one to settle for second best im not saying to have a hound better than someone else But hve a pack that will stand toe to toe with what and whoever i run with I was always taught that if i worked at it hard enough and be very picky with what i wanted and never be satisfied and always try to get better that i could make it happen all it takes is being a tuff culler a hound is like a football player there may be a differance in speed looks or color but a good solid total package hound is not a matter of opinion a good hound is a good hound no matter where its at or who owns it That hound maynot be fit eveyones style but it is still a good hound If my hound dont get half the checks and half the jumps strikes with whayever i run it with weather it be shooter or whoever im looking for a new hound I dont care if one runs the front all day From my past a absolutely outstanding hound you will not find a hunter that knows ther hounds that want know thats a rabbit dog But you got to have the total package Some feed half packages and thats fine if thats what they like The feed bills the same it cost as much to feed one as it does the other

[bill huttozac]

In all probability, each of us can remember a grade dog which may not have even been a pure blood, but that was equal to or better that most of what we are feeding today. As we look back on dogs that we previously owned, we tend to remember their best qualities and forget their worst. For meat dogs, the best two I have ever owned were Beagle-Pointer Bird Dog crossed.

Randall said , "it is better to breed to the average hound that has a family of quality hounds to back it up, than to a one shot wonder that has nothing of substance to support it. It is the family, not the individual you are breeding into your pups.

I agree with that statement whole heartedly, line breeding or not, the Sire and Dam should be as close to identical in all aspects as possible. This will lessen the chance for a disappointment later. This will not alleiviate the requirement to cull.

[rabbitsmoker]

We used to run anything and everything best i seen was 1/2 beagle 1/4 dash 1/4 wennie dog had a neibor that had a 1/4 beagle and 3/4 rat terrior sound like a bird but was a raabbit dawg

[See low]

The best dog I've ever hunted with came from a trade day when was abot 3 months old. He was a year old before he ever ran his first track. Sometimes I think there like people. More famous after ther gone. But the dogs then would definitely beat those of today.. I would like to hear other opinions on why..

[augerhead]

I disagree totally on the price of a dog making a difference i've ran with and owned some BIG MONEY dogs the only thing different about them was the price. NOT saying a good dog is cheap ' but price don't make the dog. Had a big money young dog off this very board 4 digit money, he was still just an average non hunting 300 dollar dog. People now days seem to be more interested in its sire's traits, or what it could be rather than what it is . I've bought ,traded ,raised dogs most of my life.Seen big money trail dogs, ran with them, not impressed, price, pedigrees or sires traits don't cut it for me. I'm not keeping a dog till its 3 years old to see if it makes something. If they can't compete with what I run they have to go. With all that being said, I'm not trying to insult anybody, run what you like. All I am trying to say is it seems to me that the overall quality in dogs has went down hill. A dog that REALLY hunts is hard to find, anything will look good in a briar patch full of rabbits but where I hunt there isn't many. Maybe it is just sweet memories. But I'm going to keep trying and not settle for an average dog.

[bucks better beagles]

See Low said, ".I guess you have to have known a great dog to know a great dog." A true statement if there ever was one. If you have never owned a good dog, how would you ever know one? I think Augerhead probably owned a good dog and is spoiled by it.

Joey man said: "If they like it and feed it then thats all that matters." I must disagree with this old cliche. This may be a politically correct statement but it has nothing to do with a "good" dog that the augerhead is describing. He is not talking about somebody's overfed pooch. He wants a good dog that he can be proud to put in the woods with other people.

Now, as to references to the price being a factor in obtaining the type of dog he describes, that may be true. However, many people price dogs on these site way, way too high. I traded for a dog that a man gave a thousand dollars for. I then called the man that it came from and asked if he would give $500 for it back. He said no. You will soon be seeing it for sale for what it is worth. It is high bred and can do a real average type of job running a rabbit. (yea Augerhead, you insulted me by saying "Had a big money young dog off this very board 4 digit money, he was still just an average non hunting 300 dollar dog) That is the one I am talking about. You can pay a $100 for a hundred dollar dog or $400 for a hundred dollar dog but you still have a hundred dollar dog.

I had a guy once that gave me $10 to take a dog off his hands because it ran deer so bad. It turned out to be one of the best I ever had.

Augerhead, you may be suffering from overly high expectations among other stress related issues. High quality anything is hard to find and usually, you get what you pay for but sometimes, you have to "kiss a lot of toads, before you find a prince". JMO

[See low]

I agree augerhead people keep saying that theres better out there , but I'm thinkin they may be the salers in stead of the buyers.i don't think they know I aint gonna give 1500 for a dog when I will sale mine for less and he will beat it in every way. Money Money money, wake up America

[augerhead]

Buckie, Was hoping you would chime in soon,you know what I'm trying to say we have been talking about it for a long time.Maybe your right though and I'm willing to kiss a few more toads if that is what it takes. But what I'm not willing to do is settle for something that is less than what I think a dog should be. You would think some of my family from old KY could find some nice young hounds for us MI boys.

[Dave Swiger]

Jimbo, As you know, these boards are full of dogs for sale, where good studs are bred to worthless gyps, with people thinking the stud can pull the cross off.

I stand by my slogan below.." We breed rabbit dogs to rabbit dogs to get rabbit dogs.
Dave

[rabbitsmoker]

I run with a dude that had a pair he give 10,000 for i had 2 i raised prob had 150 each in mine mmmmmmm!!!!!! my 300 pair made me proud JMO ther is not a dog out ther worth that kind of money they may make in pups but the dog in general is not worth it if i ever give that kinda bucks for a hound ive lost my mind

[northernhare]

Pups out of two great dogs is much more important than them being closely related. Tons of guys inbreeding/linebreeding producing dogs you wouldn't own. Vast majority of the great dogs you see are not the result of close breeding. Consistency maybe, but the best ones usually come from outcrossing. An argument could be made that dogs on average are better, but you don't see many great dogs because more and more are linebreeding.

Mybeagles

My Beagles
I could not agree more with you on line breeding/in-breeding.I like to call it attempting to ''clone'' a certain dog out of the past that you would like to reproduce! These people sell these litters to unsuspecting customers. often a large percentage of these offspring are retarded and need culled. When I was young and was eager to find a good dog I kept running into this problem! My opinion dogs are best bred with Hybrid Vigor! Northernhare