I could not have been more mistaken! A hound's work is unbelievably sophisticated. A hound must first find a track. This is not always an easy task. Hare do not move from their temporary shelter if it has rained during the night, and it is wet and windy the next morning. A hound could hunt for hours and still not be successful. A hound must get to know the habits of the hare to find them consistently. Once the track is found, the real work begins. A hound must determine, from a multitude of scent clues, the direction that the animal has taken. A hare rarely travels in a straight line, stops often, hesitates, comes back and doubles on his tracks, circles and hides. The scent he leaves behind is faint, dissipates quickly and the scent spots are often more than 10' apart when the hare is running. Wind, sun, rain, snow and hard surfaces mask it or make it disappear very quickly. Imagine if you wish, that the hunting area is a gigantic page in a game of connect the dots. The dots are the small scent spots left by the hare wherever his foot touches the ground. In this game however, the numbers often go backwards, are hidden from view, are too faint to read and always disappear after a few minutes. It takes a very intelligent, persistent, stubborn and determined animal to play this game. No wonder hounds are as they are. They must think for themselves and learn most things alone. This does not mean however, that it is not important for you to develop a strong bond with your hound. It is, in my opinion, just as important to have a strong bond with your young hound as it is to have a strong bond with your young Pointer. Your hound will definitely obey more willingly if he likes you. He will look for you in the woods and will be much easier to handle. Neither keeping him in the house, nor being kind to him will deter him from hunting. A good hound will always want to hunt.
As far as hunting is concerned, there are few things you can teach, or have to teach a hound. A hound must learn almost everything on his own. It is a very easy task to train a hound to hunt when you compare it to training a bird dog to hunt. All you have to do to train a hound to hunt is take him out often for a walk in the woods. It is healthy, pleasant and relaxing, most of the time. There is another side to this coin however. Since you cannot teach a hound to do certain things, he must be born with the natural talent to do so. If he is not born with it and you cannot teach it to him, he will never be able to do it. You are wasting your time! It is important to select a hound from proven lines. As far as general obedience is concerned, hounds are generally independent. They have their own agenda and are not overly eager to please. They may be more difficult to train than breeds that are more responsive.
If you have acquired a pup with the correct genetic background, all you have to do is take your pup in the woods where you know there are plenty of hare. Do this as often as possible and under all conditions, rain, sunshine, wind, or snow. Once a week for a couple of hours is a minimum. Your goal is to get your pup habituated to pursue a certain game species. Once this has been accomplished, he will not easily be tempted to pursue unwanted game. He will slowly learn his trade and become more proficient. I will assume at the start that this is your first and only hound and that he will be hunting hare alone. After a few weeks of taking your young pup through the woods, you hope that he will have learnt much about scents and that one day he will actually be lucky enough to see a hare jump in front of him. It should not take him long, if this happens a few times, to recognize the scent of hare and to chase them for very brief periods. Your pup will open (bark, squeal or bay) a few times but he will surely lose the hare after a very short chase (often less than 15 seconds). He has not yet learnt to track.
Your pup will get better and
better with experience, and soon he should be able to find a hare almost any day and trail it successfully
for 5-10 minutes or so before losing. As the pup matures, the chases will gradually get longer and smoother.
If you have a good hound, he will eventually run most hares for 40 minutes or longer (I have often seen
it done for 3 hours) with possibly a few checks (periods of silence, where the dog is trying to reconnect with the
track) of short duration. He will run easily several hares a day and as long as 5 or 6 hours each day during
hunting season, when the weather is cool. He should come back to you easily after a loss (I consider a loss to be
a period of silence that has lasted over 15 minutes). A good hound is always searching for hare and
does not give up easily. A good hound gives plenty of voice when he is on the line, only when he is
on the line, and as soon as he has the line. A good hound does not chase unwanted game. A good hound
follows the line accurately and with celerity, according to scenting conditions.
He does not gamble and take short cuts to reconnect,
and conversely, he does not putter (waste time moving too slowly), babble and backtrack. A good hound
will come back to you reliably at the sound of the horn (recall to signify the end of the chase).
The hound's job is to find a hare to run (he does it selfishly for himself: he wants to catch the hare- there is no cooperation here, as there is with a good pointing dog). Once the hound has found a hare, his job is to pursue it tenaciously and to open on the trail. The hound bays, squeals or barks on the trail out of excitement, but the consequence of this action is that he lets you know where he is at all times and approximately where the hare may be headed.
Your job is to anticipate where the hare will cross the trail. Hare have relatively small territories and in this region, they rarely travel as far as 3 km. They will eventually circle near you if you are patient enough to wait. This can take a few minutes or two hours depending on the wishes of the hare. You must move very quietly toward the expected crossing point and prepare for the shot. It is good to remember that the hare may be several minutes ahead of the hound and watching you. Your job is also to keep track of your hound and to find him or guide him back to you if he is lost.
That is all there is to hunting with a hound!
Now that you know what you have to do, and what you should expect a good hound to do, you should also know that things can sometime go wrong: Here are some problems you could encounter with your hound. They relate to things you cannot teach your hound:
Lack of desire
In spite of having taken your pup out quite often and shown him plenty of hare, he does not show any interest in chasing and tracking them. If he does, he quits and returns to you after a short time. This pup lacks desire. This problem is rare in good hunting lines. Nevertheless, it can happen. It has nothing to do with the fact that you keep him in the house or that he is also your pet. I personally think that a hound that is also a pet makes a better hound. He likes your company, knows you well and trusts you. He will handle much better for you in the woods than he would if your relationship was more distant. He just lacks the strong hunting instinct required to get the job done. If you own a young hound that does not show much desire at a year old, after a full hunting season, chances are that he is not worth keeping. A hound with good desire is always searching. I expect my hounds to search diligently for a track in the woods while I remain on the trail or on the wood's road. A young hound with good desire should search well, remain on the track, and show good persistence at the checks (at least a few minutes) by the time he has reached 6 months of age. I am assuming that he has been shown many hares and given a weekly opportunity to hunt for at least 2 months.
Silent trailing and babbling
The job of a hound is to open (give voice) on the trail. If he does not, he is not of much use to you. You will never know where your dog is, or what your dog is doing. You will never know where to expect the hare. It happens occasionally that a hound does not possess this gift. I had purchased two Beagle pups in the 90s. They were sisters from the same litter and came from champion trial lines. Both would open well upon striking or jumping a hare, but only one continued to open on the line. The other trailed slowly and silently. You cannot teach a hound to give voice on the trail of a hare. A hound must be born with this trait.
I expect that most hounds from hunting lines will learn to track a little and will open on the track after just a few encounters with a hare. Give your pup some time, he may only open at first when the trail is hot and the scent is fresh. As he learns to trail better, he will open more freely. It is interesting to note that the type of voice your hound will have on the trail may, or may not be the same as the voice he has when chasing a sibling. One of my young hounds, named Voodoo, has a deep, rough and powerful bark in the yard, but she has a high pitched squeal (squall) when chasing a hare. You should know what type of voice your pup will have the very first time he trails a hare. The voice he has when he jumps a hare may vary. Some hounds sound like they are caught in a trap when they first strike. On the other hand, I have a hound, named Chloé, who cannot utter anything but a bawl (bay), even in the yard. I prefer this type. Other hounds bark on the trail. They are said to have a chop voice. Hounds vary also in their use of voice. Some give voice frequently on the trail, while others are more conservative. Some will open as soon as they recover a check, while others trail silently until the scent is strong. If they hunt in company, they may do so to get an advantage on the other hounds. I much prefer an honest hound that claims immediately and opens very freely. This is a considerable advantage in the winter, on snow, when conditions are extremely difficult.
CLICK HERE TO HEAR THE DIFFERENT CATEGORIES OF HOUND MUSIC
- THERE ARE MULTITUDES OF VARIATIONS, AS WELL AS IN-BETWEEN AND COMPOSITE SOUNDS.
I have also seen dogs that are at times so excited and so eager that, for a short while, they keep claiming even when they do not actually have the line. They had it a half-second ago, on the other side of the road. They claim while running across the road, assuming the hare has done so. The hare, however, never crossed to the other side. These over-enthusiastic hounds usually go silent as soon as they realize their error; but in their eagerness, if they hunt in company, they may have enticed more sober hounds to follow them, and time is wasted unnecessarily. This can soon become annoying if it happens frequently. Of course, this fault is even worse if it is carried to extreme. I have seen an otherwise very gifted 8 month old hound with extraordinary scenting abilities open on old scent(possibly urine)left behind by a hare. She would try, mostly in vain, to find the line; but occasionally she would succeed. She was amazing at resolving checks and I was happy to tolerate this little quirk, as it did not interfere with the chase. It was only on searches that she exhibited this behaviour. It was perhaps the consequence of having a very keen nose.
The olfactory powers of dogs in general, including those of hounds, vary tremendously. Some are able to follow a very old track, while others have trouble following a fresh one. It is not only a question of nose however; it is also a question of temperament. Hounds that are stoic, sedate and slow by nature are better able to concentrate on an old track and follow it slowly and meticulously. Hounds with a more energetic temperament want to get the job done quickly and run to catch. They want to run fast and they do not have the patience to waste time on an old track, when they could easily find a fresh one to run. Your young hound will be born with a certain temperament and with scenting abilities that will determine how well and how fast he will run a track. Whether these attributes are faults or gifts depends entirely on what suits you. Make sure you choose a pup whose parents exhibit the style of hunting you prefer. Finally, it is good to remember that the general abilities of hounds usually improve every year until their 4th season. Their scenting abilities, on the other hand, may continue to improve every year with experience. As they become older, they become more mature and better able to handle difficult checks or unfavorable scenting conditions.
There are many ways in which a hound can run a line in a manner that does not suit you:
Backtracking
I doubt if we will ever know for sure how it is possible for a hound, in the space of a few feet and sometimes immediately, to know in which direction the animal was going. Some pups, when they are learning to track, are so happy to be finding scent that they do not seem to care much about the direction the animal has taken. I do not worry about it too much at first. With a little experience, they come to know that the scent gradually gets fainter tracking back, and they will soon learn to track correctly. Other pups seem to do it correctly from the start. Although it happens to them only on a rare occasion, even the best dogs may backtrack a little at times, and for short lengths, when the scent gets too old or on a particularly difficult day. I would not worry about it much, unless it happens to your hound regularly and it impedes the progress of the hunt. If a hound backtracks to that extent, I doubt very much that there is anything useful one can do to alleviate the problem.
Trailing too fast or too slow
Some hunters like a fast hound: one that gets the job done quickly and does not serenade a hare too long in the same area. Fast hounds however, particularly if they lack experience and maturity, tend to overshoot the line quite a bit and quite often. This can give them an advantage at times, if they are lucky enough to reconnect ahead. Quite often though, they have wasted much time ahead and have lost the line; or they have to come back to a line that is now older and harder to follow. Other hunters like a slow hound: one that sticks to the line and moves slowly but carefully on the track. Slow hounds however, can be infuriatingly careful and obsessive on the track. It may take forever for the hare to be circled back to you, although a hare that is not pushed hard will generally make a smaller circle. His pace in front of the dog may, however, be considerably slower, and this may provide you with an opportunity for an easy shot. On the other hand, the hare has more time to think, more opportunity to play tricks, and more time to listen. You may not be able to approach him so easily. A hound that follows the line too carefully will usually not have the ambition to search effectively.
It is all a matter of individual preference. Personally, I would prefer a medium-fast hound that does
not gamble too much on the line and follows it accurately. While for certain types of hunting I would admire
a hound that can follow a very old track slowly and accurately, I would have little respect for a hound that
is so lacking in olfactory abilities, that he can only make slow progress on a fresh line.
There are some things you can and should teach your hound. Every hound must be taught the meaning of No! and Come! I call them the Cardinal commands. While no command should ever be ignored, some commands imply more urgency than others and should always be obeyed, no matter what. If the need arises, you may also have to teach your hound not to chase unwanted game.
The Cardinal Commands: No! and Come!
The command No! also implied when you shout your dog's name in a sharp voice, is meant to stop the dog from doing something undesirable like peeing on the floor or eating food from the cat's dish or running after a car. A reprimand and mild correction is usually required at the beginning, to make the pup understand that the behaviour is not acceptable and that there will be consequences if it is not obeyed immediately. Physical correction is unnecessary once the pup has understood the meaning of the command and is willing to comply. Recidivists, however, should be corrected a bit more forcefully if the unwanted action continues to occur over time. Those dogs are indicating, by their lack of compliance, that the punishment was too mild to be a deterrent. There is nothing complicated about teaching this command and it is well understood by the dog.
The command Come! also implied when you shout your dog's name sharply from a distance, is meant to make the dog come quickly to your side. If you have no way of coercing your pup to come to you, you cannot reprimand him or apply a mild correction. If your dog runs away and hides, you have no way of enforcing your commands and your authority and ability to teach him anything is compromised. This command is extremely important for any hunting dog and especially important for a hound. A hound is away from you most of the time. He must always be willing to come to you no matter what, even if he knows a correction is to follow. This is probably the most important command of all and it is often the most difficult to teach and enforce. You must start when the dog is young. There will come a time, soon after you acquire your pup, when he will ignore you or will simply refuse to come to you. What do you do? You call him again, or you change the tone in your voice to indicate that you are very happy and will likely play with him. In other words, you beg him to be nice and come. This is a grave error on your part. He may comply, if he wishes. He is in control! If all he is to become is a house pet, this will have little importance or consequence; but if your pup is to become a working hound, he must obey this command quickly every time. There is no play involved and no reward. The pup will soon learn, for example, when you want to bring him back to the kennel while he would rather stay outside. He may run in the other direction. He may also balk at coming to you when you intend to put him back in his cage, in the kitchen, to spend the night. You may be able to catch or corner him now, in the house, but in a few weeks, there is no way you will be able to do so outside. You must teach him now, that he must come. When he refuses to come, go to him and restrain him forcefully. [This must be done with a certain amount of tact. When you grab them, or pull on their ears for the first few times, young pups have a tendency to bite back at you as if you were one of their siblings. This is nothing to worry about. They do not know any better until you teach them that you are an authority figure. Once the lesson has been learnt, they accept this without problem and submit easily.] Until then, place your left hand around your pup's jaw and muzzle or his neck to assert your authority and prevent biting. Grab him by the ear with your right hand, tug on it rhythmically (be very gentle at first) a few times while backing up and forcing him to follow you. Stop at 2 steps back, let go of him, quickly take one more step back, kneel down, and then pat him profusely for having come, although perhaps not on his own accord. He must get the impression that you are implacable and yet gentle. Ignore his cries. There is little pain involved. These are mostly cries of surprise and indignation. Remember that this is nothing compared to what his siblings put him through every day. Remember always that puppies are fragile emotionally: use the least force necessary to get the job done, but use force; you want to establish your authority. You will probably have to repeat this a few times, but once he has learnt the lesson, it will stick. You will quickly notice that he rushes to you whenever you call him. His demeanor may denote submission and apprehension at first, but this will soon disappear. Always receive him warmly when he comes to you. Kneel down, craddle him and pat him profusely every time. There is no danger that even forceful ear pulling would ever produce a reaction of fear in a mature hunting dog of normal temperament.
As soon as your puppy understands the meaning of Come! or comes back immediately when you call his name, introduce him to the sound of the horn. Take your horn with you every time you go in the woods for a walk. When he is a certain distance away, blow a long steady note on your horn and call his name immediately after. Soon, you will only have to blow your horn and your hound will run back to you. This is good preparation for later, when he is far away, perhaps still chasing a hare, and not so keen on listening. At least, he will understand what you wish him to do and he will expect consequences if he does not obey. In such a case, you will have two solutions to coerce him to obey: you could intercept him on the line and administer a correction for not coming. (this solution used to be the only choice available in the past, and it worked well, but the corrections sometimes had to be severe enough that the hound would not deem it worthwhile to disobey again). The modern solution is to tickle him gently with the shock collar. It will usually be so distracting and so annoying that he will prefer to obey. Press the button (momentary shock only and low level) while you blow your horn. Increase the level a bit if you need to do so. He will soon expect the level to rise if he does not obey immediately. He will know why he is being punished, and therefore, there is no danger that you will discourage him from chasing hares. Give him time to come back, and stop pressing the button as soon as you know he is heading your way. I always wait for a check to recall my dogs. It is the decent thing to do. If a reliable dog does not respond to your repeated recalls, go looking for him.
Using the Horn
There are three sounds I make with my horn:
A loud, sustained and forceful sound--(Tuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!) It is the recall. It means come back to me now!
A short quick burst-- (tut-tut) I use this discrete sound to let the dogs know that I am now near them. They may still think that I am a km away, where they were first released.
A series of quick outbursts--( tut-tut-tut-tut-tuhhhht tut-tut-tut-tut-tuhhhht tut-tut-tut-tut-tuhhhht )
I always insist that the hounds stay patiently near the truck until all have been outfitted with their bells
and collars. It takes a while. This sound is a signal for them to start hunting. They wait for it anxiously and
take off with great enthusiasm when I finally blow my horn.
Teaching your hound pup about gunfire
Hounds in the woods are in general a little more aloof than Pointers. It is a good thing: they are not stolen too easily. They are usually quite right to be aware of the many dangers that are ever present in the woods, when they are far from the protection of their owner. They must be introduced gradually to gunfire. If you live in the country, and the laws permit, you could use a starter pistol at the beginning. Fire it, at first, at 100 yards from the kennel, just before you take your pup out to go in the woods. Do this every time, but gradually decrease the distance. If you live in the city, wait until you are in the woods. Go at 100 yards from your vehicle and fire a shot. Let the pup see you from his cage. Come back immediately and let him out. Soon, your pup will jump with joy at the sound of the pistol and will welcome it. When he has become accustomed to the shot, fire the pistol occasionally in the woods while he is chasing a hare. Switch to a shotgun fired from afar at the beginning of the hunting season. Decrease the distance until you are finally within 50 yards from the pup in full chase. He will not be surprised when you finally fire at the hare.
You must be aware that shooting towards the ground, at a quarry that is usually not very far ahead of
your hounds, presents a real danger for them. You must be vigilant and choose to shoot only when the hare
is clear and you can see well beyond the shot, or you are absolutely certain that the hounds are far behind
and not at all in the direction of the shot. I have found the dog bell useful for this purpose: I always
know by the sound of the bell that a hound is nearby, even if, for some reason, he is not baying and may
be off the track at the moment. You can never be too careful.
The Cardinal Sin: CHASING UNWANTED GAME
There is no greater sin, for a hound, than to chase an animal his owner does not want him to chase. This is especially true if the law also prohibits the pursuit of this particular species of animal with the help of a hound. In New Brunswick, it is illegal to hunt deer, bear and moose with a hound or even to allow a hound to pursue these species. The hound could legally be shot on sight by a Game Warden or illegally, by many a hunter who would be so inclined.
The worst nightmare of a hound owner, who hunts hare, is to have his hound take off after unwanted game and travel long distances in the pursuit of such animals. The animal is never harmed, as hounds are not likely to catch up with it and if they do, they will probably regret it. Moose and bear that are forced to stand will easily kill a hound. Unless it is pursued in deep snow with a heavy hard crust, such as we have in March only, hounds can never even get close to a deer. The hound is the animal in grave danger when he chases an unwanted species. Apart from the danger of being shot, he will likely either be lost or stolen, or hit by a car on the way home. At the very least, the hunter faces hours of torment, wondering what has happened to his hound and searching for him for hours and even days. Sometimes, the hound is never found.
What can you do to prevent your hound from chasing unwanted game?
You can take your young hound in the woods early and regularly, where there are plenty of hare, to get
him habituated to hunting only hare. If this is done regularly from the time he is 4 months old,
he will be much less inclined to chase anything else later on.
A young hound is likely to develop a strong desire for chasing the first animal that he was able to chase
regularly. Make sure it is a hare!
At the beginning, your young pup will still be lacking in confidence, and if he encounters a deer or moose
or bear, he may be frightened and decide right there and then that hare are more fun and less frightening.
Be on the lookout for those species, warn your hound, act scared or angry, and leave the scene whenever you
are aware of their presence. This is no guaranty however. All hounds, big or small, slow or fast, are born
with the desire to run after anything that flees in front of them. If they are born with the instinct to
chase anything, it follows that they must be taught not to chase certain species, if they ever attempt to
do so. A stern correction when the hound is caught in the act is often sufficient to cure the problem.
Nowadays, the shock collar provides an alternative solution. My young hounds wear such a collar at all times
while they are hunting. This ensures that they are always under my control. I reserve the strongest
punishment (highest level and continuous mode for a few seconds) for this offense. You must be absolutely
certain that your hound is actually after this animal, before you administer such a harsh punishment.
I remember one instance, years ago when one of my hounds had pursued a hare quickly for a long distance
and without even a small check. I had begun to wonder if he was really chasing a hare. I climbed on a
high mound near the trail, and soon, the chase came near me. As the hound was approaching, I saw a fox
come around the mound. He stopped when he saw me, looked back, continued unhurried and disappeared some
distance ahead. The hound was now coming towards me. It would have been reasonable to assume that he was
after the fox. Yes, but it would have been quite wrong. He was hot on the trail of a hare that zoomed by
me about 15 yards down from the mound. The hound was exactly on the line and later, never even acknowledged
the track of the fox. Be very sure before you administer a correction! Many of my hounds never chased
anything but a hare. Some have chased other animals occasionally, for a hundred yards, out of surprise and high spirit,
but returned immediately on their own.
During all my years of hunting with hounds, it happened to me only on two occasions, each time with an
adolescent hound. I caught both hounds in the act and it never happened again. Be prepared! If you can
afford it, always outfit your young untested hounds with a shock collar and a tracking collar. This is what they are for.
I, personally, would never do without them when hunting with a hound. In addition to the above, my dogs
always wear a bell. I like the sound of the bell, and it lets me know where the hounds are and what they
are doing when they are nearby. In addition, it lets ignorant hunters, and there are many of them, know
before they shoot, that this is not a stray dog or a howling coyote. I also have a beeper locator on
my ® Dogtra 2002 Track & Beep shock collar. It has given me complete satisfaction. I use it occasionally
when I do not hear either the hound's bell or his voice. When the hounds are far and I cannot hear their
voices, I use the wonderfully portable ® Tracker Maxima with the Supra Lite collars to get an idea of
where to go and find them. This technology is worth its weight in gold. You do not absolutely need it,
generations before us did without it. However, it will give you peace of mind and you will be able to
really enjoy your hounds without worry.
HUNTING WITH MORE THAN ONE HOUND
Very few hunting men or women who hunt with a hound can leave it at that. Soon, they acquire a second pup and often many more. It is logical to think that if your good hound does well by himself, it will be wonderful to have another hound help him recover the line more quickly at the checks and follow the line more smoothly on those bad scenting days. Perhaps your new pup will shine where your older hound is weak, and they will complement each other. There are so many qualities required of a hound that this is quite likely to come true. The music from a pack of hounds is certainly more exciting than that of a single hound. It is interesting to listen to the chase and be able to tell, from the voice of the hounds, which one got the strike, or which one recovered the check. It is also good insurance: should something unfortunate happen to your only hound, you are out of luck for a while. It is easier to get a young pup started if you already have an older trained hound to find a hare for him. It is easier but more dangerous to do so: your young hound will quickly become more dependant on the old hound to do the job and may even develop bad habits in order to keep up. Do the right thing: spend the time to hunt him alone at first and let him find and run his own hare. Let him learn on his own and allow him to develop his talents. You will run him with others soon enough.
You would think that the more hounds, the better the chase, and that with a whole pack of hounds, the hare would not stand a chance. Unbelievably, this is not so. I have seen more than 30 of the best Beagles in the US and Canada chase hares together at a Championship Trial. The hares still managed to fool the hounds and there were numerous checks and restarts, possibly on different hares. Hunting with a single hound has some obvious advantages if you have been fortunate enough to get a good hound. It is easier to keep track of a single hound than it is to keep track of several hounds. Your hound is never rushed: he does not have to compete and can do a good job at his own pace. It will probably take him longer to find a hare. The checks will probably be more frequent and more difficult to solve. The pace of the chase will also be slow by comparison. Overall, however, you should still have a good time and see a few hares each day.
Hunting with several hounds is generally more interesting, more exciting and more productive. The chases are usually considerably smoother and faster. The hound music alone, when a pack is in full cry, is thrilling and unforgettable. Hounds love to hunt together and often develop bonds with each other. They soon find their special place in the pack and learn the strenghts and weaknesses of the other hounds. They may rally quickly at the first cry of a trusted hound but completely ignore the babbling of another who is less reliable . Some hounds are efficient at finding game, some are better at running the line. Some have cold noses and shine when it is difficult for others to find a hare. Some hounds are precise on the line, while others like to run the sides and intercept the line if the hare has veered in their direction. This is extremely logical and efficient. Some hounds stick close to the check area and come back to the point of loss, while others skirt and circle ahead to reconnect with the line. This saves many chases and is an example of team work at it's best. It is interesting to note that, after a short period of adjustment, these same hounds will revert to hunting more precisely whenever they are hunted alone. All this makes the experience of hunting with a pack extremely rewarding. However, if you hunt alone, it is sometimes more complicated to hunt with a pack. Hares often travel in company, and you may temporarily end up with a split pack and two different chases. Hounds that pack well and are used to hunting together soon realize that something is wrong and that the usual lead dogs are missing. They will likely abandon the second chase at the first check. If you hunt with a friend, you can send him after the second group to bring them back more quickly. Hunting with a pack is more complex than hunting with a single hound. Numerous scenarios can possibly develop. If you have a hound that is much older and slower than the rest of the pack, he may decide to quit the chase if he is not in the lead and go looking for his own hare. It is time to hunt him alone or with some young pups. If you have a hound that cannot quite keep pace with others, he may develop the bad habit of running the line silently at a check, just to get a head start on the others. The least ambitious of your hounds may also decide to hang about and wait for the reliable strike dog to get the job done before he joins the chase. These shortcomings quickly become ennoying. Such hounds do not belong in your pack. A good pack is a cohesive pack. Your hounds must all be eager to hunt and matched for speed and abilities. The best way to achieve this is to get several pups from the same litter, or at least from the same breeding or the same line. Hunt them individually at first, when they are young. Thereafter, always hunt them together. Your hounds will soon get to know each other very well. If your hounds have the same pace and complement each other's qualities and faults, you have a beautiful thing. Here in Canada, we expect each hound to be able to do it all and do it well. It is a tall order.
The French do not expect each dog to do it all: they aim to have a good pack. They see in an individual hound, a measure of how much he can contribute to a pack. They say that to have a good pack, you need at least one strike hound (the hound that searches well and can reliably find a hare). You also need one lead hound, (the hound that can take the lead on the line and motivate the others) and one line hound (the hound that follows the line more carefully and brings back the others when they have overshot the line). You must also have one road hound (usually an old hound or one that has a very fine nose. This hound can recover the line under very difficult conditions, such as on paved roads or plowed fields which are frequently encountered over there. This type of hound however, often does not distinguish well between the track and the backtrack ). They also say that it is usually the 4 and 5 year old hounds that make the pack. It takes that long for hounds to reach their full potential. All the hunt tests are conducted with a pack of 6 hounds, considered a minimum to run the European hare adequately.
Here in Canada, the woods are thick and our snowshoe hare runs more erratically. It is surely more
difficult to hunt. One would think that many more hounds would be required to do the job adequately. When I started hunting hare in N.B.
they were plentiful, and I used to think that a pack of 3 hounds was sufficient. Having since hunted regularly with
a cohesive pack of 5-6 hounds that are used to each other and pack well, I would consider it to be the minimum number
necessary for a smooth run and adequate finds on the most difficult of all quarries. As of 2007, the hare population
is low in my area and a pack of 6 hounds is most definitely needed. Personally, I would not hunt with more than 6 hounds however,
as I like to keep a close tab on all my hounds.
If your pack is well matched and you hunt them frequently together, your hounds will develop a strong bond with you and with each other.
I have actually seen one of my hounds go back and look for a hound that had not yet come back for several minutes after a recall. She escorted him
back to me. I have also seen them wait very deliberately for a hound to come back before heading out to search for a new hare.
It is exciting and rewarding to hunt with a group of hounds that works well together. I highly recommend it.
Avoiding cars
I used to stand near the road with my dog on a leash and have my daughter drive her car slowly towards us. I would utter this sound, and soon the dog would be on alert. My son in law would then lean out of the window and throw a handful of gravel towards the dog as the car was going by. I would then rush to the ditch with the dog to teach him to hide at the sight of cars. It worked well. The dog of course would hide behind me. My legs were soon blue from bruises after 2 -3 passes, but the dog, with his fur coat and thick skin was certainly not hurt. There were times when I questioned my son in law's marksmanship and was astonished at the devotion he developed for the job. Nevertheless, the dog soon learnt to be afraid of cars. It may have been unconventional, and the neighbours sure had some good stories to tell. Perhaps you can find a better way to get the job done. At any rate, it must be done.
Avoiding porcupines
Nothing can ruin an outing as quickly as an encounter with a porcupine. This can be a serious matter:
porcupine quills do not generally cause infection; they remain intact in your dog's muscles. They travel
with every movement and may end up in a vital organ after several weeks or even months have elapsed.
If you are lucky enough to find a dead porcupine on the road, take it home with you and place it in the grass
somewhere in plain view. Approach it with your dog on a tight leash and utter the warning. Then drag him
towards the porcupine. He may approach the critter with confidence. Force his nose, if you can, on some
of the quills or take a few quills and poke his nose. He will learn that this critter is unpleasant. Then,
take him away. The lesson has been learnt; remove the quill. It is unpleasant and a lot of work, but it is
a lot easier than dealing with the consequence of not having done so.
Avoiding Conibear traps
This is a mortal danger, and your dog needs to know how to avoid them. They are often placed in a pail with bait inside. As the dog reaches for the bait, the trap closes around his neck. You only have a few minutes to get your wits about you and get him out if you can. I always carry two 2' pieces of small nylon ropes with me with a securely fastened noose at one end. You use these ropes to tighten the arms of the trap together and release the pressure on the dog's neck.
Believe me; it is much better to be responsible and teach him not to ever go near one. You will need a large pail. Fasten a rat trap to the top and bottom, inside the pail, and rig something that will create noise and slap the dog when he reaches for the bait. It is best in that instance to remain completely silent, at a distance. Make sure it works, that it surprises him and that it hurts, otherwise, you will have taught your dog to look for food in traps in the woods. It is again very unpleasant to administer but you must be responsible; it must be done! For most of these things, you could also use a shock collar, but it is not as effective, as it is contrived, and the punishment does not seem to originate from the danger itself.
Avoiding Snares
Snares are impossible to see and therefore impossible to teach a dog to avoid. Snares, nowadays, are deadlier than they ever were. The laws, to accomodate Animal Rights proponents, have been amended to ensure the quick death of the trapped animals. They now require each snare (fox,coyote)to have a metal mechanism that prevents the noose from slipping. The pressure remains constant. The more the animal pulls, and the tighter the sustained force on his neck or on his limb. Short of cutting the steel cable, there is now no way to free your dog. It helps if the dog is used to a leash. I always use a leash with a slip knot that tightens around the dog's neck when he pulls and relaxes as soon as he stops. The dog will know that pulling is not productive and will hopefully stand still until you arrive. I always carry electrical tape and strong wide rubber bands with me when I am in the woods. You can imagine that the dog will be in some distress if he has been caught in a snare and may attempt to bite you as you try to free him. First, you must cut the cable from the tree to which it is usually anchored. Use a pair of shears with a pointed tip. This will stop the cable from tightening any further. The next step is to muzzle the dog and restrain him. The final step is to cut the wire from around his limb or neck. This may be difficult, as you will have to insert the tip of the pliers under the tight cable and possibly cut the skin. Be prepared: there is nothing worse than being totally helpless in an emergency.
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