Training?
What do any of the folks out there use to train your young hounds????

training
I found that RABBITS work best!

Jim, its nice to see you on the board. Your answer is exactly what I would have expected from Jim Rogers. Bob

Well let me see... for Dagger I used Dan Wells and Jim Rogers. I could never get my dogs to chase me so I had to have someone else do the dirty work. I'm trying my best to get QT up and running, but lack of rabbits is always hard for me here in Michigan. Dan has a special place for new pups and Jim has a ton of rabbits and knows how to turn an average dog into a world champion. Thanks again you two for getting my dog on the right track. I cannot tell you how many times I've had that dog run great and it all started with you two. I guess that is enough man crush for today. In my non experienced humble opinion starting a dog has alot to do with exposure to scent and game, but I'm not the expert. Chris

jim,dead ones, live ones,tame ones..Let me rephrase this...What techniques do people use to train there young hounds? Live game artifical scents,rolling cages etc. Jim can you eloborate a little on that?

Nothing but wild rabbits for me. I've taken this pup I have now out in the field every other day since he was 12 weeks old. I just get him into places where there is lots of rabbit or hare sign(droppings, runways, etc...) and let him nose around. I pick areas where I know he can't start on a deer like blowdowns in the swamps. Now that there is snow on the ground I'm less picky about places since I can see what he's putting his nose into. If I jump one I'll walk him across the line so that he can pick up on it rather than my pointing it out. It's working. A couple weeks ago at 7.5 months old he sounded off on and started running his first hare. Just this morning I was at the local restaurant and secured permission to hunt a fellas farm. He says that there is a good population of cottontails in some of his Christmas tree stands. So I'll give it a try this afternoon or in the morning. I'm still trying to shoot that first one for the pup to get a mouthfull. After that there will be no more shooting unless he brings it back around.

training
Frank: Sorry, I couldn't resist for my tongue-in-cheek friend from the east........ We like to start pups with scent on a drag rag. 2. Take them to the field. This is fun time and adventure time. Either pups only or if your taking seasoned dogs for training take only one pup at a time.Taking more than one will create play and usually with a veteran dog that doesn't want to play and the pup ends up getting dog whupped. 3. Once they have packed and opened it is time to SOLO only so that the pup can develop confidence. 4. on occasion we will call a dog to come in. We prefer to teach a dog to down. Couple reasons. It is easier to down a dog running a track than to get a hound to stop on the track and come to you. Ideally we want to end the session with the dog tracking rabbit. This way he takes back to the kennel rabbit scent in his nose and anxious to go again another time. 5. Do not run pups for an extended period of time. Pups tend to fatigue easier. When they fatigue they lose interest. Probably one of the most neglected things we all do is lack of conditioning. We prefer roading harness with drag chains for this purpose. 6. Jump and hunt pretty much must be instinctive, but you can do things to improve check area work. We use a 30 foot drag rope so that when we get to a check area, we can get control of the dog and start with short circles in the area and gradually give the dog more rope to expand the area if needed. 7. Site chases are exciting for a brief moment. To many will find a young dog giving chase and stop hunting soon as they lose sight. 8. We introduce rabbits by putting them in a small pen 2' X 4' and letting the pups run around the outside of the pen.

I love it Jim, short and sweet. I am real interested in this discussion. I have 3, 1 year old hounds as of today. Happy Birthday Remington, Socks, and Daisy. I also have one thats 16 months all need started. Two that is showing a very good search instinct and one that is showing some but not as good. But it's not his fault my wife has completely spoiled him. Jim, what do you put on the rag? Do you leave it in a hutch or use an artificial or bottled scent?

Jim, I always enjoy the banter...I believe I have been cautious as not to offend to many..and sometimes the banter is taken out of context or just doesn't sound correct in print...I have been trying the Nice approach , I believe...musta bumped my head or something!!! great info.......Lets keep er going!!!!

Great info Jim another version of a drag rag we use when pups are young is simply to put liquid scent on a stuffed toy and play fetch, this introduces the pup to the scent and teaches them that it is fun and games time when they smell it. Finally a use for that Tickle Me Elmo that was a must have gift that never gets played with

whoops hit the submit button too soon, we also use any rabbit we shoot to lay scent trails once we get home, I have not tried it yet with rabbits but i use rolling cages alot with my coon hounds, with mixed sucess, I have had some hounds that refused to pay any attention to a caged coon, but would tree every coon that hit the ground when hunting. Never have figured that one out. By the way Frank your being Nice offends me

Nightshift So you use a bottled scent with success for starting pups?

training
We use bottled scent. Harmon Rabbit Scent out of KY is real popular. You can find it at most supply stores including cabelas. The good ones are pure rabbit urine and the cheaper ones are diluted. I prefer a rag, I tried the stuffed toy and found that it tended to soak into the toy more and not leave as much scent. Whatever works for you. Trial and error will let you know how much to use. Remember that a rabbits stride is a great distance from foot print to foot print. In other words after the pup shows interest in the scent , leave some blank spaces so that he will look for the next step.

yes i have had good luck with bottled scent, I normally use Western Rivers, from Tennessee. as Jim stated it does require more scent using stuffed animals, but i have found pups are more likely to play with a stuffed animal than just a rag. as they get older i use rags to lay scent trails though. plus Droop and already had one vet visit for a sock that he ate

Thanks, I ordered some today to try.