Monday, August 27, 2007


Thanks to all the people who came and joined us for the 2007 World Beagle Extravaganza. It was great seeing old friends and meeting a few new ones to boot. I met another man named Jeff Griffith. That's something you don't do everyday. I'm not sure the beagling world is ready for two of them :)
After things broke up at the club house; Doug, Bill and Chance Thomas, Jeff and Jacob Griffith, Preacher (Jeff Griffith), Gary Morman and his buddy Brad, Johny Finley, and I went to Doug's place to run dogs. I think we mixed and matched 5 or 6 different packs of dogs. It sure was a good time. It was the kind of day you hate to see end. Good people just enjoying dogs together. I hope we can do it again real soon.
For those of you who missed it, plan on being here next year.
PS. Preacher, please get permission to stay out and run dogs a little longer next year!!!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Isn't the internet a wonderful tool? There is so much information available for anyone who cares to sit and research it. When it comes to dogs you can get almost any knowledge you need about the health and well being of your dog. If you could get to needed medicines you could almost be your own vet for anything that didn't need surgery.
When it comes to a dogs performance, especially beagles, the internet is not the place to learn proper operating procedure. Have you ever considered how much time it actually takes to get a dog to it's full potential. How many dogs would a man need to follow to truly understand all the things he is looking at. Years ago hounds men used to poke fun at the tailgate hunters who would say "listen to old blue, he got that one." The man would say it so much he had everyone believing Old Blue was a super dog. The modern version of these dog running sessions (cause people don't actually go run their dogs every day anymore) is the internet discussion forums. Seems the person with the biggest mouth (or strongest fingers) is the one that is heard. This tends to mislead the newcomers to our sport. I always wonder how people have time to be on those boards all the time.
When I was coming up we ran dogs nearly every day. I sure used my share of flashlight batteries following my dogs or anyone else's who would allow me to follow. I can remember running my dogs at two in the morning worrying that someone was going to call the police. I guess what I am trying to say is take what you read in these discussion forums for what they are, peanut gallery bull sessions. You can learn a lot. For sure there is some really useful knowledge that can be gained. The drawback is, if you haven't put your time in and wore out a bunch of pairs of boots, you will not likely be able to tell the difference. Hope your running is good.
PRAY FOR RAIN!