My Father's Beagles at Work and Play

[Lilavati]

I mention them on occasion, but I had no idea until today that they were YouTube! No one tells me these things!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFlpIETbtCQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9emeG...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_p8m...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT3-W...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlNub...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCgm0...eature=related

[~Tucker&Me~]

Omg that first video!

[Teal]

Very cool! I love the staghound

[Lilavati]

Originally Posted by Teal

Very cool! I love the staghound

To tell you the truth, that's not our staghound. I have no idea who it belongs to! Someone Dad knows, clearly.

[Maliraptor]

Those were some fun videos to watch, thanks for sharing!

[Xandra]

omg that rabbit!

and so many dogs! do they all have names? can he tell them apart?

[Teal]

Originally Posted by Lilavati

To tell you the truth, that's not our staghound. I have no idea who it belongs to! Someone Dad knows, clearly.

It happens! I know I've usually got random dogs about that aren't actually mine!

[Lilavati]

Originally Posted by Xandra

omg that rabbit!

and so many dogs! do they all have names? can he tell them apart?

Yes. They all have names, and he can tell them apart, and they all know their names as well.

In my lifetime there have been . . . I don't know how many beagles. Literally hundreds (He's had a pack of hounds for more than 30 years). The pack in the videos is actually the smallest its been since I was little Each one has had their own name (names are not reused) and Dad can still pick them out from pictures.

Of course, we are at the point where we have to pull out dictionaries in several languages to give them names when he has a litter. E-mails go around for suggestions.

And before anyone gets self-righteous: Yes, they all have their shots. They all receive individual vet care (the vet comes out to the kennel). The number of nights that Dad or Mom or I has sat up with the sick, hurt or whelping beagle . . .

[CharlieDog]

That's awesome. I love seeing pack hounds work like that. Its very interesting to see how they're controlled. Does he ever work them from horses? I know beagles were for foot hunters, but I thought that was for a smaller pack.

[Lilavati]

He used to occasionally walk them out from horseback, but they are never hunted that way. I'd have to ask him how many he hunts at once these days, probably 6-8 couple, but I'm not sure. He doesn't take the whole pack out hunting at the same time.

They are controlled by the horn and verbal commands. Also, the older hounds teach and guide the younger ones, same with the more dominant hounds. Basically, Dad takes advantage of pack dynamics to control them as a group. They all know the commands and they all want to stay together, so as long as the "leaders" and/or a critical mass comply with a command, they all will. They also worship the ground Dad walks on.

It takes a lot of skill and a lot of work to do . . . not to mention years of breeding to refine a pack that hunts the way you want them to. (Hounds that don't hunt are petted out). Its very different from how I train Sarama or how Dad trains his spaniels (which he also has). I'm sure he could explain it alot better than I can . . . I always liked the beagles, but I was never really interested in learning to hunt or working with them. One of my cousins looks like she'll be his successor on that front. I have to admit though that watching the videos all I can think is "sigh . . home . . . "