six beagles and a rabbit - Page 2

No, the rabbit is ahead of them, the hunter can shoot if he wants the rabbit for food. This friend of mine leaves them, he says, 'a dead rabbit can't make a tack.'

Beagles seldom catch the rabbit when trailing .. Beagles have a family order just like all dogs and wolves. The pack order and some of the BS about Alpha thru Zeta has been proven wrong .. primarily by humans living in close proximity and getting to know wolves. Beagles do fight and have squabbles just like all dog families. The original idea of a pack order and domination was made by humans observing groups of unrelated animals. Almost all wolf packs are related animals and their is also an age hierarchy that allows immature animals to live with dominant animals .. similar to adult humans living with teenagers.

The pack order and some of the BS about Alpha thru Zeta has been proven wrong .. honestly, by whom?

A structured "family order" is a pack order, it´s about

strong-weak
old-young
courageous-anxious
smart-stupid
...
doesn´t really matter if the dogs are related or not.

All I can say is these beagles don't fight or squabble. Any pups that fight or squabble are not used in his pack. Period. Fighting is never acceptable in a hunting pack of hounds. They hunt with dogs they don't know and no fighting. There are old gray muzzled females, young females, older stud dogs, young entact males all mixed in the pack...no fighting.

Beagles operate as a family group and they will fight just like family members do both in the family unit and with other dogs of all breeds and their own breed. During the hunt they are focused on the hunt but when the hunt is over they are back to being dogs. Fox hounds and Coon hounds the same thing. In beagles and fox hounds the bitches often run the show especially when hunting. The females are often faster, have a better nose, and lead the pack on the trail of the game. The fastest dog with the best nose generally leads the pack and the pack moves fast and can get strung out. When a slow dog leads the group the pack is bunched up and you see the dogs in a Conga line. The females excel at crossing fences and obstacles because they are smaller and usually lighter. Beagles will find an opening or climb a fence and the pups learn how to hunt from the parents and family members.  Frustration builds aggression and dogs around a treed or denned up prey animal will break out into squabbles and fights out of frustration alone.  When the dogs go to ground or tree the handlers and hunters get there fast if possible to calm down the dogs and control the aggression.  Beagles seldom go to ground from my experience although some will tree a squirrel or other climbing prey.  I can only speak to my experience with several beagles our family owned and related dogs also in other distant family members packs.  There are two types of beagles one small bodied ( closer to the basset end of the spectrum ) and one larger bodied and closer to the fox and coon dog end of the spectrum.  I think the original spectrum of hounds were subdivided to make the breeds.

These are 13 inch beagles. The 15 inch looks the same, only two inches taller and both sizes can be from the same litter....nothing resembling a basset except maybe the color. As for coon hound...no similarity at all.

Bubbabooboo's post is spot on. I've raised beagles since I could walk. They are as described, generally "merry little hounds." Still, their personalities among the breed are as unique as our GSD's. A requirement of the breed is that they be a cooperative pack hound. Fighting or rioting while on the track is not tolerated and such individuals would be excluded from breeding, though frustration fighting can occur (very rarely) at a hole, tree, etc. Even hounds that are strangers realize an alpha during the chase and such respect can be observed at the end of the track if in fact the game is harvested by the hunter. Hounds of a family group / kennel do have a clear cut pack order, particularly when allowed to be kenneled together in large on ground pens. It would be extremely rare to have a pack or dominance issue with beagle / handler, or any person, mostly due to their small stature and overall personality - so yes, that part of the pack issue may be (partially) accurate as compared to other breeds, GSD's, Malinois, etc.  (My grandmother had a male beagle growing up.  Tex' show of fangs and aggression at the door when anyone knocked if my grandmother was not home rivaled the most fearsome of any I've seen.  And it wasn't fear - he had extreme protection drive which I believe kicked in after my grandfather's passing.  When she was home - he was fine - and exception to every rule.)  "Tex" was also an outstanding hunting hound who lived into his late teens, protective of gramma til the end.

All I can say is * these* beagles don't fight or squabble. Any pups that fight or squabble are not used in his pack. Period. Fighting is never acceptable in a hunting pack of hounds. They hunt with dogs they don't know and no fighting. There are old gray muzzled females, young females, older stud dogs, young entact males all mixed in this man's fourteen dog pack...no fighting. Hunting in a trial with dogs that don't know each other has nothing to do with alpha. The man has a little female that won a trial against male dogs, females, no esrablishment of whos alpha....she just out-hunted the rest.

Loved the video, thanks for sharing, have a really bad experience with a Beagle...
While working with the Setter breeder we had a Beagle staying there for his owner vacations, we was the worse! Not even name "trained" ignored every single person, talked to the owners and they said he was the same at home. With the females he was ok, we had some really tough Red and White females, two in particular was always on him and he submits to then. With the males was other talk... Only one of our males was able to deal with him, and he just ignored him. One day our boy was losing it... We had those beautiful show lines red setters he was at least 4 times bigger than the Beagle... to protect the Beagle I had to intervene... the result? was send to the hospital by the dam Beagle... the dam dog bites my hand right on the thumb, wasn't able to move my hand for 15 day... was the only ever dog in my life that bite me...
The only other Beagle that I knew up close was at the dog club, and she was basically the same personality but a female version...

Ana, sounds awful. But remember, there are poor representatives in all breeds. You'd love these beagles, they look you in the eyes and melt your heart :-)