Beagles are my favourite people..

[Mount Sweetness]

We had a good day

[ninepointer]

We had a good day

You sure did! Good going!

[jaycee]

I have spoken with several beaglers in the maritimes who have trained their hounds to recall using the tone signal on the alpha units.

There was a fellow lived in Cambridge [Galt] that raised and trained beagles sadly he has passed away , [Horace Halstead] he trained his beagles right from small puppies to respond to a hunters horn [cattle horn]. He used to run his dogs just down the road from us in an Reforestation Area, he would just turn them out from his vehicle sometimes up to 6 dogs and he would just sit by his vehicle and listen to them run.
When he was ready to go home he would just blow on the old horn and they would all come back to the truck where he would crate them and head home , he didn't kill any bunnies , just liked to hear his dogs run.
I had seen this many times as I would often stop by and chat with him, , those dogs of his sure did respond to the horn

[matt mootrey]

I agree. Beagles are the greatest asset to small game hunters.. iv been at it for 20 years. And i couldnt see myself without them! I have a problem! The ban on garmin trackin collars. We as houndsman need to ban together and have our federation help us on gettin the gov. to see that our canadian dogs are just as important to us as the american dogs are to thier handlers! They technology is here. Let us use it..pls.

[terrym]

Most Canadian dog handlers just use them anyway. Call it civil disobedience?

[huntrfishr]

I have three and it's getting harder to call them when they are on the line but ok when they lost the track.
The reason is I used to use an e collar which I don't now.
I also used to run them independently without the others barking in the kennel.
They still are quiet when one is running but slip out barking at kennel sometimes which never happened with the e collar.

I may have to go back using the e collar again. They just have to be reminded once in a while and they are then trained to the whistle again.

Most of the time they come running when I whistle when I time it right if I know they lost the track. They come to me thinking I have the track which I do sometimes(fresh snow helps). The trick is not to kennel them every time they come but show them the track every now and then.
So when it's time to go to kennel I just wait for the opportunity and fool them with the whistle but this time I catch them.

This pass week I have run them 4 consecutive days as soon as temp is higher than -10C.
They had very good runs we quit after about 2-4 hours each time. There doesn't seem to be too many bunnies at my place nowadays so I try to restrain them so not to overexert pressure on the bunnies.
I don't shot any except when the neighbors start to complain of over abundance of them.

My beagles are not perfect but I'm really enjoying them as individuals right now as each one seems to have their day.
Yesterday The mom was always first on the check and that didn't happen a lot as she is into details, however the conditions was in her favor somehow.

This is when you enjoy these dogs to the fullest when you start seeing the individual characteristics that make them shine sometimes.

CHEERS to all who enjoy the chase....

louie

[Sharon]

Very enjoyable read.
"This is when you enjoy these dogs to the fullest when you start seeing the individual characteristics that make them shine sometimes." So true . You need both - a dog that is quick to be first on the check , and one that has the experience to consider the possible details - big jump or rabbit has back- tracked.

[matt mootrey]

I like your thinking! But i hear they r gonna cut the signals.. im hopin someone comes up with something to help us out.. sooner then later..
Happy running..