How to train a beagle for hunting

[andre66]

Hi guys,
we have a 10 week old female who is primarily a family pet but we would like her to be trained to hunt rabbits. It seems to make sense to train her to do what she was bred for so i am wondering if there are any gun clubs in the fraser valley that have any kind of training along these lines.
I have no experience in hunting but would love to learn along with my son and dog. We thought perhaps we should see what was out there for training hunting dogs before we put her in puppy obedience class, don't want her to learn things that may be detrimental to any training that is hunting related.
This would also give me a reason to buy a shotgun, so any suggestions are welcome
Thanks
Andre

[houndogger]

Now I have never had any experience with beagles for rabbits, but I would do the obedience training first. Nothing worse then a dog hell bent to hunt but one you can't call in. I would not get to excited for the first 6 months. Just do the obedience and let it be a pup and enjoy it. Then I would go shoot a rabbit and do some drags with it to start off with. If it has come from a home that has good hunting dogs down the line alot of it will just come natural.

Have fun and keep us posted

later Dave

[islandarcher]

I have the sweetest beagle puppy ever. She is cute as all get out and I love her to death. That said, she is one stubborn pup! Basic obedience is a must. Sit, stay, come, and leave it are necessary before more complex, specalized training can take place. I am training Missy for blood trailing, but have found that she is very easily distracted (4 months old), and quickly looses intrest with all the other tempting smells around. Keep training fun, and short enough to hold their attention without boring them. Join the beagle club of BC, they may be able to point you in the right direction.
Good luck and have fun, I know I am
Murray

[308BAR]

From all I've seen you better have the beagle on a leash because once they catch a scent they're gone.

[Barracuda]

get the basic obediance down first then think about trailing.
Yes you can train a beagle in obediance , Years ago I knew of a beagle that was every bit as obediant as a birdogs and was one heck of a scent hound .
remember to always make it fun and to end a session on a positive note.

[bcbound]

We have a two year old male beagle. He's got excellent field lines, my husband has been out with him a bit, and it is awesome to see him picking up the scent and trailing it. That is without doing a lot for training yet. It would be great to have some fieldtraining out here! Maybe worth looking into?!

[huntcoop]

I wish you the best of luck, I've owned 2 and still have 1.

[Spokerider]

As others have stated.......

Obedince training, bonding, walks in the woods to let the pup explore and discover it's nose, expose it to truck rides, lawnmowers, motorcyles, horses, vaccume cleaner, tools, loud noises, etc [ whatever you have in your daily routine ], grooming, claw trimming, etc.

Socializing the dog to other people and dogs is important too. A pup is in it's "formative years", and the experiences [ good or bad ] that they get exposed to will have lasting effects on thier lives / character. For this reason, try to keep your pup from to many negative experiences, like: being attacked by an aggressive older dog, being lost in the woods, getting it's butt kicked by a coon, developing fears of any of the things as above, you get the idea........

As for teaching it to hunt? Well, that's the last thing you need to worry about for a pup. Again, as others have said, if it's been bred right and hunting is in it's blood, it'll start hunting all on it's own, no instruction necessary.....:smile: