Outdoors - Rabbit dogs

   My son, Damon, and grandson, Zane, enjoy rabbit hunting. Rabbit hunting is much more enjoyable and successful with a good rabbit dog. In the past, they have used Zane’s dog, Karl, who is half beagle and half fox terrier. At times, they have also borrowed my dog, Jag, in their pursuit of rabbits. I would call the rabbit hunting skills of Karl and Jag marginal at best. They will go out and run around in the brush and weeds but tend to lose track of the rabbit shortly after spotting it. If they get on the scent trail, most times they will track it backwards. Knowing where the rabbit has been, is not especially helpful.

   This year, the intrepid rabbit hunters decided to improve their chances of success by upgrading their rabbit dogs. They purchased two beagle puppies. Beagles have been bred for several hundred years to hunt rabbits. With training and their natural instinct, a beagle can be an excellent hunting dog.

   The new pups have been named Buster and Bruiser. There are few things in this world cuter than a beagle puppy. With their long ears dragging on the ground as they search for interesting smells and their happy, white-tipped tails constantly wagging, they look like they know what they are doing as they sweep back and forth across the lawn. They hunt together, working as a team until they get distracted. One will then pounce on the other and they go from hunting to wrestling and playing. At four months old, little has been expected of the pups other than basic training in come, sit and stay. Daily adventures to the far reaches of the lawn are more to familiarize them with new places and different smells rather than to get them to hunt. Sunday afternoon was their first official hunt.

   Most dogs, given the opportunity, will hunt. The hard part in training them to only hunt the specific game the owner is after. It is frustrating if a coyote hound decides to hunt deer, or a rabbit dog decides to hunt field mice. Teaching them what to hunt takes time and patience. Damon and Zane headed out with a pack of dogs hoping to get a rabbit so the pups would learn that rabbits are the objective. Karl and Jag were in the lead, followed by Damon and Zane, with Buster and Bruiser following along behind. Their ears flopped and tails wagged as they ran happily along, trying to keep up. My wife and I watched from the porch as the guys sent the pack of dogs into the tall grass on the side of the dam. The dogs worked up and down the dam, checking every square inch for the sign of a rabbit. Buster and Bruiser were still hunting hard when they emerged from the tall grass on the other side of the dam and started along the edge of the lake. They worked the edge of the lake for a half mile or so before turning back to hunt toward the house. At one point, we could hear a high-pitched cry. I thought it might be one of the dogs on a rabbit but turned out one of the pups was tired and was trying to convince someone to carry him. When the group got back to the house, everybody got a cold drink and the pups collapsed in the yard for a nap.

   Fifteen or twenty minutes was all it took to revive the little hunters. They jumped up, started wrestling, and headed out across the lawn on a new hunting adventure. It might take a little time, but I am sure, these two will make good rabbit dogs.