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Toby - My New Hunting Buddy

by David Lockard :: Featured: November, 2003

I lost my dog last year to old age and failing health. I find that I get attached to my dogs even though the hunt is no longer within their ability. I know of hunters that will only hunt dogs that are in their prime, retiring them when they can no longer make the team. I love to hunt but I admit to going soft on my dogs because of the relationship that develops between us. I known and admire dog owners that maintain a pack of prime hunting dogs. It is a joy to see such a pack in action, but I am simply a sentimental old hunter that tries to limit his kennel to one or two hounds. When one has begun to loose its prime I consider finding another puppy to take up where the first dog is failing.

That is not how I conducted my dog ownership with my last dog though. I had been considering giving up dogs for quiet awhile. My children are all grown and leaving home. Mom and I discussed how things would change with their leaving. Travel, leisure, visiting the kids and grandchildren all sounded like good fun and it will be if it ever works out that way. In reality little has changed except the part about visiting the kids and grandchildren. The kids are gone but I found that I don’t have as much incentive to go to many of the places that I did in the past since the reason we were going was because of the kids. A person can not stop going places and doing things however, you simply must find new reasons and new things to do, so I bought a beagle.

When I was a kid I had a dog for the joy of ownership and companionship. When I got married I remember that joy and wanted to pass along those moments to my kids. I feel that dog ownership is very good way to teach kids responsibility and care for Gods creatures and learn about our connections to others in this world.

What I realized was that I needed to create new reasons to get out and do things again and a hunting dog can do that. A dog will help you make new friends, and sometimes some enemies. They will get you to go for walks, teach you to play again, they will like you when others don’t and beg you to go rabbit hunting. I have come full circle and bought my new puppy for the joy and companionship just like when I was a kid. My sister drove this point home when she told me, “You can’t blame this one on the kids.”

Toby was born on the first of May but I have been preparing for him for about a year. Everyone wants the best dog for their money and hopes for an all round champion. Of course there is no such thing as an ideal dog and talking to a few friends I found that we do not all agree on what makes a good dog. I told a friend that I was looking for a 13 inch beagle and their reaction was that 15 inch was the only way to go. My friend was from the mid west and claimed that the 13 inch dogs were simply too slow. Having had a 15 inch beagle I was certain that I wanted a 13 inch dog because my last beagle would hesitate when he came to thick brush, which is common on my hunting grounds, choosing to go around rather than flush the rabbits from their hiding place. My Midwest friend who had more open grass lands wanted a faster dog that could run threw the grass rather then flounder in it.

The common recommendation for acquiring a new beagle for hunting is to get a puppy from dogs that you have hunted over. This is a good recommendation but it is one that I found difficult to fulfill in my busy life. Some of us are fortunate enough to do this but most of us are not.

In spite of the fact that I write about beagles frequently I am a lot like you in that I have a limited amount of time that I can dedicate to finding a beagle. Also I am not the expert that I may be perceived to be. It is for this reason that I chose to not fool myself by pretended to know more then I do and instead choose to defer my choices to others that know more about beagles than I.

The local beagle club had an individual that had champion beagles that he provided for stud service. I contacted him and told him what I was looking for a hunting dog. My initial conversation with him went something like this. “I am looking for a beagle puppy.” My friend Dan asked, “Do you want a dog for trial, show, or a gun dog?” “Hunting” I said. “Do you want a male or female?” “Male” I replied. “Do you want puppy, started, or finished?” He asked. This question concerns the following: A puppy is just as you would expect, an untrained puppy which has no training at all. Started would be a dog that is not totally trained but has been started on rabbits. A finished dog is one that has been totally trained to hunt and all the new owner needs to do is take the dog out on the hunt.

Each of these levels of training involves an increase price and will involve the purchase of an older dog. I was interested in a puppy. I am not a trainer of champions but I have always enjoyed the process of teaching them. I therefore was interested in an untrained puppy. The other advantage to getting a puppy is that it will be bonded to you and will be more a part of your family which brings up another issue.

I was out in the field one day and had brought Toby along. A fellow hunter was admiring him and loving up my dog when he started to apologize for doing so. He said that you should not make a pet out of your beagle if you want to have a good hunting dog. I told him that, that was not a concern of mine and that I have already made him into a pet. Personally I want Toby to be socialized to the world at large so that I can trust him with children and strangers and be able to travel with ease. It is for that reason that Toby has been getting around meeting and greeting the world. We are working on his hunting skills also and I don’t believe his being a pet has affect this ability, as long as I don’t baby him to the point that he looses his incentive to press forward with the hunt.

I was out in my backyard working with Toby. It was hot and humid and I decided to lie in a hammock that had been suspended between two trees. It is something that I have not done in ages but it just looked to inviting on such a hot day. I was lying there looking at the puffy clouds and my mind went back to childhood days. After a little rest and relaxation something bumped me in the butt, and then it happened again. Toby had enough of inactivity and was jumping up and bumping me with his nose. My sister was right this dog can’t be blamed on the kids. This dog is for this kid, the rabbit hunter.