why solo?

[Buckeye Blues]

JCM, I'm glad you feel that way. I'm glad you dont promote what the web site says they promote. I've seen quite the opposite, but then I havent been to the amount of trials it takes to accomplish what you and your hounds have accomplished. Cudos to you.

But I still promote soloing :-)

[bucks better beagles]

Charley, it was hard to read that page because my eyes aren't up to it. Obviously, the philosophy exhibited is our philosophy. This man did not need to solo to know which dogs were worth keeping and which ones were not. It hurt for him to cull but he knew it was necessary. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, somebody bred the beautiful colors out of them.

[Househounds]

Charley, it was hard to read that page because my eyes aren't up to it. Obviously, the philosophy exhibited is our philosophy. This man did not need to solo to know which dogs were worth keeping and which ones were not. It hurt for him to cull but he knew it was necessary. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, somebody bred the beautiful colors out of them.

But he did solo his dogs...


Willet wrote "I would later run in a couple and alone and insist that my hounds be able to run alone and be independant as well as run in a pack.

[toldyouso]

Solo or not to solo. Bred to improve dog or your pack. I bred to compete and in order to compete the dog must be packed. I have 10 3 month old puppies in my 5 acre training pen right now and the most dominating pup is getting all kinds of solo time. The others not so much now i am not saying the other dogs wont be decent dogs but they will not be the dog that the one that is dominating right now is going to be. And i would bet that when this dog is year old she will hold her own with 2 and 3 year old dogs. Will she dominate them NO but she will compete. when she is 2 and 3 years of age will she compete at a very high level oh yea. She will not be solo but she will be put down with dogs that she can dominate. And once in a while throwed in with some dogs that she shouldnt dominate to get a fair assessment of where she is. This is how to measurer your young dogs. And My Beagle with all due respect you said that most these dogs that are not solo and only packed cant run there own rabbit because we have bred too much foot into the hounds. I DISAGREE 100 PERCENT!!!! A dog that is solo will slow down if not being pushed and circle his own rabbit that has nothing to do with foot and everything to do with BRAINS.

[Tsa la gi]

Thanks Househound for clarifying things for my ol friend. Dang Buck what am I gonna have ta do? Move back up there and read things for ya. I know ya can see those Red Fox on that white snow . Or can ya?

[golden acres]

Frank are you saying you have never sat back grabbed a cold barley pop and listened to Patty do it all by her self.

[Greg Wells]

Nothing more ple@sing to me th@n listen to @ GOOD dog solo , but I w@nt them running to c@tch even by themselves or th@t either shows l@ck of t@lent or desire. It will @lso keep them closer in the check & sh@rper on the turns & le@rn to find those tough checks without @ny help.

[littlewoody]

, but if you don't solo and manage these speed devils they cant run more than 30 yards without loosing it.



Mybeagles[/quote]
Thats my paycheck hound fast as hell he's getting better with soloing. He is bred for hare but I have only ran him on cottontail. I want to wait until he's two for hare.

[Newt]

Solo time is the absolute best way to develop a young hound.
If I have 3 or 4 young dogs they get rotated throughout the week.
Each one needs their time to shine.

Look at how many dogs out there can't jump and circle a rabbit on their own.

Dogs under 18mo. I like 3/4 solo to 1/4 pack time.
Older dogs it just depends on the dog. Some need more than others.

If I ever get to a point where i can't give dogs solo time......i've got too many dogs!

LPB

If they can't jump and run their own rabbit, how are they going to solo? I'm serious. I'm not going to be jumping many rabbits for a dog to lose, come back to me, and wait for me to jump it another. If my pups can't solo a rabbit by the time they are six months old they are in a precarious position.

[mybeagles]

My Beagle with all due respect you said that most these dogs that are not solo and only packed cant run there own rabbit because we have bred too much foot into the hounds. I DISAGREE 100 PERCENT!!!!

Frank,

Feel free to quote me, but dont reword it to make a point. This is what I said:

I think part of reason some NEVER solo and why they think its so boring is because many competition dogs CAN'T solo their own rabbit, or at least cant do it with any efficiency. More break down than run time.

I have watched way to many field trials where there were so many "fast" dogs that the pack could not circle a rabbit. The name of the game in Little pack is cause checks and solve them before the next dog can. If dogs don't cause checks they dont score much. If thats what some like, thats fine, buts its not running with efficiency or accuracy and there is as much break down time as there is running. Soloing a dog with that style of constant breakdowns would be miserable. Some fail to realize that the line control (solo'd dogs) in the middle of the pack are what makes the gambling front runner able to keep a race going.

There are some outstanding hounds that can do it with speed. They are the rare exception rather than the rule and the ones that can do it without being disruptive are the ones that have a custom running program that will undoubtedly involve a percentage of solo time.

Mybeagles

[deerhost]

I purchased a 10 week beagle pup over 20 years ago from a beagler in the southern tier of New York. The beagler told me he never solo'd any of his hounds. He just threw them in his pack and let them learn. He said he normally ran a pack of 10-12 beagles. I started the pup I purchased from him six months later. I was hunting with that pup the following winter by the beaglers home who I purchased the pup from. I stopped by the mans home to show him the pup. He never watched the pup run but he looked at the pup in my car and said hell are you hunting with just that one dog, and I replied yes. He asked me if the dog can jump and run a rabbits on it's own, and again I said yes. he said, I WILL BUY THE DOG BACK FROM YOU RIGHT HERE. He started offering me money but I refused. He told me out of his pack of 10-12 hounds only a few dogs were doing most of the actuall work running a rabbit. He didn't have time to start and solo pups so he just threw them in the pack and hoped for the best. most never turned out I never forgot that and I said to myself I never want to train and run dogs that way...To each his own I guess....DH

[littlewoody]

I purchased a 10 week beagle pup over 20 years ago from a beagler in the southern tier of New York. The beagler told me he never solo'd any of his hounds. He just threw them in his pack and let them learn. He said he normally ran a pack of 10-12 beagles. I started the pup I purchased from him six months later. I was hunting with that pup the following winter by the beaglers home who I purchased the pup from. I stopped by the mans home to show him the pup. He never watched the pup run but he looked at the pup in my car and said hell are you hunting with just that one dog, and I replied yes. He asked me if the dog can jump and run a rabbits on it's own, and again I said yes. he said, I WILL BUY THE DOG BACK FROM YOU RIGHT HERE. He started offering me money but I refused. He told me out of his pack of 10-12 hounds only a few dogs were doing most of the actuall work running a rabbit. He didn't have time to start and solo pups so he just threw them in the pack and hoped for the best. most never turned out I never forgot that and I said to myself I never want to train and run dogs that way...To each his own I guess....DH

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