How do you do what ya do?

[eddywilliams]

Ive been involved with coonhounds and beagles for 35 yrs now ,i dont hunt coon anymore but i have always had a beagle .I first got into field trialing when i met a fella named Gerald Magers of St. Louisville ,OHIO he and Chuck Rittenhouse and Merle Spicer had opened a ukc beagle club on his property on Dog Hollow road St. Louisville, i went to a trial with him and his brother Mike (who i would form a 15 yr hunting ,trialing relationship with )we won our cast with DOG HOLLOW DIAMOND LIL,we didnt look back we championed in the field over 17or 18 hbch and several to grand also championing the dogs on the bench .My favorite was our 1st Branko dog from canada Mike named him Dog Hollow FastEddy(sound familiar) he championed quickly .We placed in several large hunts placing Dog Hollow Teresa 8th in the ukc world hunt ,Dog Hollow PATCH 3RD in the ukc world hunt (gr.son to mystery man )Patch also won the pedigree challege series junior male he is stiill kicking today . I have a lot of memories with that old man ,Mike has since slowed way down on running beagles as he is nearing 70 now ,i still have 1 of the old dogs Mike and i bred at my new partners house Tom Ingram ,her name is HBCH CH Dog Hollow Fancy ANN she can stiil pound a rabbit ,tight mouthed and extra fast .In the past several years i have done a lot of sampling with different blood I found several i really like and have started my own string of hounds my kennel name is Rabbit Ridge ,named after a ridge down the road .I hope to continue to have succes as Mike and i did I have a few that i hope to do well with, Rabbit Ridge Big Tuna ,Gotta Go Bow Shooter ,Rabbit Ridge Maggie ,Rabbit Ridge Witch Hazel ,Rabbit Ridge Lil ROCKY from my buddy John L ,Rabbit Ridge Stella and others ,I like em honest mouthed and hunting for a rabbit not another dog ,all in all i love the sport andhave met a lot of great people over the years and seen a lot of great hounds circle one back to us ,its not the kill itsthe thrill of the chase for me ,They Call me FASTEDDY

[Duke]

First question Why have you chosen the line of hounds you have?

First off because they are good gundogs. If they are not a good hound for hunting they are GONE. They have great hunt and desire, can run all day, dont quit and can account for most rabbits. They run well in most conditions, will walk when they need and fly when conditions are right. They have brains, and that comes straight from the sire of all but one of my hounds. They dont have trouble with the gun, or running all day in hard conditions. Again most importantly to me is that they are hunting dogs first, winning trials is a byproduct of being a good RABBIT HOUND.

Second question Do you run when its hot ? Why or why not?

The answer is dependant on the hound. My older hounds dont need the conditioning that my young hounds do. In fact they at some point in the year need to rest a bit, heal up grow a little hair back on the tail ect..... They know how to run a rabbit and can get back into shape very quick. I may slow them down a bit in the summer and run them for shorter periods, The young dogs wil adapt and can run in tough hot conditions. Just make dang sure they have plenty of water. Night running is a great way to condition hounds for the hottest time of the summer. I have also began to use conditioning outside my kennel to see that I can keep all the hounds in shape.

Third question When you do run how long do you run?

Mostly mornings around 4-5 hours and in real heat at night.

What fault and they all got em are you seeing in your dogs? Be honest.

Probably kennel manners. LOL Just aint happy being in the kennel. Other than that I cull very hard. If they dont have the speed, they dont have the hunt, or they lack the brains they gotta go. So what I am saying is I just dont really have any glaring faults as I dont keep em. I flat out dont put up with it and I dont breed subpar hounds. No reason to breed dogs with faults. I have one of the best stud dogs and I only breed him to nice select females and I like to keep a pup out of the litters. From that I know what he breeds well with. So I get some very nice pups. Regretfully I have had to turn a few guys down in breeding to Dutch, just because the female was not in the same league.

[Welshman]

Liked this post. Brought it back to the top for some interesting reading.

[Pine Lakes]

The line that is dominant in my kennel wasn't chosen by accident. It's best attributes are the abilities to carry a line while also having more focus/concentration than any other line that I've owned. They are good pack mates, but not over competitive. they are well structured, houndy dogs that are quiet in the kennel. Their running characteristics come about due to their intelligence in my opinion. for me, it started when I purchased my male from Cale Maynard. His ability to run the line, and run it with authority without being influenced by pack mates has always impressed me like no other I've owned so I acquired more. He can certainly be beat, but it will take a darn good dog to do it. His consistency is unbelievable and his ability to turn out of a pack is his calling. He is clean and honest, but has a strong sense of smell. Some days he might only average 4.5 mph on the garmin, but then there are days when he's around 6 mph. Either way he's bringing the rabbit back around to the gun. It's very difficult to leave the house without him and I hope all of you own a hound that you think so highly of. If I could put just one more step of speed into him he would have a lot more success in the trials. As it is, he's doing alright. His biggest fault is his owner.

With my line of hounds there are a couple of things to watch for. Certain dogs in my kennels ancestry can produce tight mouthed offspring, but when you're honest with yourself this can be avoided. Hunt is pretty consistent, but my male could use a little more while one of my females is ridiculous with it. They are a solid med fast mostly with typical variances in speed from time to time. I've owned faster dogs in my 20 something years of doing this, but my running has never been more consistent. I'm hoping to add a bit more speed, but I won't sacrifice this bloodline's control to do it.

I hate running in the heat so I try not to do so. I see no reason to place my hounds in harm's way, but in order to get them ready for fall trials they must be subjected to it. I work a crazy swing shift, I'm married, and have 3 active children so I run when the opportunity presents itself. During school months it's not uncommon for me to run up to 6 hrs because my wife is a middle school guidance counselor and all my children are in school. 2-4 hrs is probably the norm, and I probably average 3-4 times a week out in the field. I run at night almost as often as the daytime, but that isn't by choice.

[Welshman]

I brought this post back up so I need to respond. First, I chose the line of hounds I run because after a few years with a variety of dogs I found a young dog that kept the line between her legs and circled the darn rabbit. I would watch her come to the check, work it out and move forward with it and I would tell myself, yes, that is how it is done. She didn't blow, up run fifty yards in every direction, back track, give up or make you scratch your head and say what the fxxk are you doing.
When I was a kid back in the early 70's I had a few dogs, grade dogs mainly. They did ok. Used to know a very kind old man who had some brace dogs and he used to pay me $10 dollars to run those who didn't quite make the cutoff for trialing so he could sell them for the upcoming hunting season. He loved those dogs and that is all I should say about that except I have seen some bad gun dogs.
The very best dog I ever owned came from this man's father-in-law. He was out of Wind Creek Limbo stock. That dog got it done period! So I also have seen good ones. All I paid for this dog was a visit to church. Praise the Lord!
Back to my current line the little female I mentioned above was out of Green Bay Butkus x Green Bay Dolly. It took her a while to adjust when I first got her, maybe a fault, depends on the person. She may have had a little extra mouth but not much. When she was on she was steady. Gave her to a guy because at the time I didn't think I was going to be able to run her enough and he desperately wanted something out of Butkus. Wish I would have never done it. Anyway I became sold on that line of dogs. Current dogs may have little extra mouth and some hunt better than others.
I don't run when it is hot. I am not comfortable in that weather so I don't think my dogs will be.
I run in cooler weather for as long as I can. I don't run all night because today as compared to the 70's I worry about those darn coyotes and in some places the traffic. Never had a dog run over or attacked by a coyote and hope it stays that way.

[Shady Grove Beagles]

When I was a kid my Dad and his friends kept some beagles that we just considered "meat" hounds.They weren't registered and where they came from didn't matter to us just as long as they produced game to the gun.We shot cotton tail,hare,pheasant,partridge and the occasional woodcock in front of them.
In the early 70's I got interested in tree hounds and over the next 21 years kept registered Blueticks and a couple of reg.Walkers.During this time I studied with interest most of the successful big name breeders and the crosses and methods they were using to get outstanding dogs. I've also accumulated quite a few books and articles on breeding and genetics authored by acknowledged experts in the field.
When I made the switch in 1993 to reg. beagles I asked a lot of old timers on the northeast's Large Pack on Hare circuit what I should be checking out.The answer kept coming back; something out of Branko's Jack of all Trades as he was producing some outstanding sons and daughters.
In '93 Maravic's Blue Ninja [Branko's Jack of all Trades x Greenbrier Branko's Tootsie ] was winning every where he was put down in Canada,Massachusetts,Arkansas and Louisiana becoming an International Field Champion and being named Better Beagling's High Hound.His litter mate sister FC. Maravic's Mimi in '93 was also winning the 10'th Annual L.P.H. Federation Trial of Champions,took 1'st in the first A.K.C. Large Pack Championship 15" bitch class and 3'rd at the Can-Am Challenge on snow.Mimi later went on to win the Large Pack Championship a second time and another litter mate Maravic's Missy also won the A.K.C. Large Pack Championship.
That year I made it a point to attend several LPH trials and watch Ninja and his sisters compete.What struck me about these hounds were their concentration on the line,desire,drive yet close check work.The deciding factor for me was watching Ninja take 1'st place at North Hampton-Russell in an all day trial with 59 big males.I was sold on these hounds !
I bought a female pup from Vic Costanza out of Ninja x Greenbrier Charity and have been line breeding that blood ever since with results I like.
Not only has this line of hounds proven to be top performers with Ninja producing 2xNLPC Maravic's Blue Barry,NLPC FC.Little Bit of Pepper,NLPC FC.Dixie Hill Belle,Better Beagling's 1998 15" High Hound female FC.Lonesome Creek Tricky Nicki ,IFC Squirrel Creek Angie and many others with titles also.
What has impressed me as much as the performance is the reproducing power; Ninja was New York Hare Club's top sire 1995-1998,Better Beagling's Top Sire 1997 and 1998,International Beagle Futurity Top Sire 1996 and Canadian Beagle on Fox Top Sire 1998.
If you look at the pedigree of many of today's top hounds you can still see the strong influence of Ninja and his decendants; IFC Greenwell's Reggie,NLPC Beavercreek's Blue Max,Better Beagling's 4x Top Dam winner FC. Green Bay Blue Bay,IFC Beavercreek's Manifest Destiny,FC. Side Hill Keuka Blue, Fc.Hornbill's Topfuel Chester,FC. Dago Valley Bullet,FC. Chester's Topfuel Torque,Staten's Blue Samurai, etc.,etc.
I like and stay with this line of hounds because I've yet to have one that I've raised not make a rabbit dog.They are intelligent hounds that start easy,break off of off-game easy with some never bothering it at all,I've yet to raise a shy one,they are good hunters with no hanging around your feet,all mine have come with a decent hound mouth that's pleasing to listen to,they have enough nose for me and the conditions I hunt in ,they are not wind splitters but have enough foot to compete in your LPH,MId-West SPO or ARHA Little Pack with no problem at all. And as I've heard Mark Trudell of up-state N.Y. and a long time owner of many Ninja line bred hounds say----they are extremely tough with a ton of bottom.
And that's why I've chosen and stick with this line of hounds...................

As far as running when it's hot.Let's get something straight---there's a BIG difference between "hot' in New Hampshire say and" hot" here in Tennessee. I've got hare hunting buddies in N.H. that think it's hot to run dogs when it's 70 degrees and I've run for years down here when it's in the 80's-90's and the humidity about to kill me!
I've always run my hounds year round and in the past there were plenty of times running them when it was just plain d**n hot! I've had hounds tip over in the woods from running in the heat. Over the years I've had several hounds that I had to put down due to kidney failure.I had many veterinarians and vet. clinics that were my customers over the years and have had many conversations regarding kidney failure and running in the heat with a lot of vets.I'm convinced that you need to be very careful in this regard and as a result I don't run in the real hot weather anymore.
I'm retired now so can pick the times I want to run plus the fact that I don't like the heat myself----rather be at the lake.

IF I run when the weather has been hot it's either real early in the morning like 4:00-7:00 a.m.or at night 9:00-midnight.That's about 3 hours in the hot weather.
This time of year I run as long as I can stand it ----the dogs are always wanting to go longer.LOL.
In October I spent a week in northern Vt. and then the next week in northern N.H. hunting hare.The dogs ran every day for at least 5-6 hours.They are willing to go every time they are turned loose and don't quit but at the end of two weeks they are looking pretty rough.Usually takes a week or so home in the kennel to get the weight back on them.


Faults,and be honest? O.K. I'll try.
First off,if they were too faulty they wouldn't be here so I'm getting a little nit picky.
To my way of thinking these hounds are what I would call"'medium" nosed,which is what I like for my running and hunting.They don't cold trail much at all, opening when the rabbit is up and running.Some may want colder nosed dogs then these and my hare hunting friends require a dog that will work the older/colder tracks than mine do.
I have seen some of this line be somewhat tight mouthed.Not run semi-silent like today's competition coon hounds do but may slip the line a bit when you know they've got it.For my use I don't mind this as I can't stand loose mouthed hounds.Other folks might like more mouth than mine.
I've had the opportunity to watch the U.B.G.F. hounds run and those dogs NEVER shut-up! They seem to bark right through their checks.If you like those hounds you won't like mine.
My hounds won't shut-up when the police,ambulance,firetruck's sirens go by on the main road.I've tried but they still sing a chorus everytime!
My hounds are all turd eaters.A disgusting habit!
Guess that's all that's wrong with them.At least all I can think of right now.
Give me a day or two and I can probably come up with something more. They're just dogs after all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Deep South]

Thanks Jimbo, and to all who responded. enjoyed reading !