Monday, September 29, 2008




It's with sadness on my heart I have to report the death of FC Tate's Lady Bear. Brad Carter called us just after daylight this morning to tell me the dreaded news. Lady Bear was such an outstanding hound it seems remiss to just say she was a great one. Lady bear was impressive in competition and deadly to Mr bunny when we were gun huting. I am a better breeder from seeing Lady Bear's offspring, I am a better hunter from shooting rabbits in front of Lady Bear, I am a better judge from following her many hours in the field. I have a bigger heart for making room for this outstanding little beagle in my faithfull breast. Having not even been around her for over a year I can tell you she is still missed as if she were here yesterday. Good bye Lady Bear. http://www.rabbithuntingbeagles.com/Pages/Beagles/Beagles.asp?pid=64&f=B2&fbid1=55&fbid2=56&FilteredFor=Rabbit+Hunting+Beagles

Saturday, September 20, 2008








AS promised I am adding to my blog. September is over half way through and you tell the days are getting shorter. The crisp feel of the morning air makes it clear to all those who love the great outdoors, fall is drawing near. All summer I haven't really trained or conditioned dogs much. The main reason is I have been feverishly busy working on the new Five Forks canine athletics training facility. We purchased 22.5 acres back in May that we can devote to improving the strain of beagles that has been our lifes toil. The first thing that has to be completed is a home for my family. After many nails were driven the house is finally in th dry. I almost have the plumbing complete thanks to Chad Cape and I have been pulling the wire this last week. Robert Oliver is due over next week to get the HVAC roughed in. It won't be long until I can start work on the kennels and running enclosure. I plant o enclose a dab over 20 acres. This shoud work nicely for our program. I'll post a few pics of the house at the bottom ( I tried but couldn't so they are up top) of tonights post so you can see my work.
On the beagle front, the dogs have been getting worked some the last couple weeks. I've been to run dogs several times the last week or so and Ken has taken them 6 or 7
times. Daisy's latest litter is out of the starting pen and I really like one of them. Ken named her Black Eye Susan. We have onother little male out of Star and a Money female that we just got started that looks really good as well. Ken reports that our older group of 09 derbies all look wonderfull. Anthony Smith saw them run and commented that we must have been running them a lot. Little did he know they had been layed up all summer. Luckily the cool air has us as well as the dogs eager to be out in the field. By the time hunting season gets hear we will all be ready. I haven't forgot about the puppy articles I just need some time. In the mean time I hope you will visit some out our sponsors sites. Thier a lot to learn in side thier pages as well.Click here for JeffersPet.com



Thursday, September 18, 2008

It's September and that means fleas are at their peak. If you have not done your due detergents this summer chances are the fleas are starting to show up.Flea & Tick Control is something that doesn't require a lot of effort if you just plan ahead. Both JeffersPet.com and Drs. Foster & Smith - The Trusted Name for Dog Products both are great places to order the supplies you need. While the dips work great for the adult dogs in the kennel, they are not labeled for puppies. You will find several products for puppies just remember not to use too much.
As I mentioned before you will have much more success dealing with fleas before they become a problem. Take a look around at Jeffers or Foster & Smiths. They have been in the dog supply business for many years. They know what products to sale, the ones that work and which ones to leave to the discount stores. I've added links to both sites for your convenience. Just remember to check back soon.
For SUPER low prices on your favorite pet supplies CLICK HERE

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

If you have had a beagle that gets out of the kennel, you will appreciate this video. The little dog is probably heck on a rabbit, she sure has brains.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-3EyMPzMoo
I hope to start working on my blog a little more. What I plan to start doing is listing some of the basic necessities every kennel needs. I find it interesting how many questions i get bout treating dogs for various illness's. Simple things we all have to learn. We do things to raise puppies that are second nature. Many people try to raise beagle litters with poor results. They do quiet well until the pups are weaned. After weaning is when the mother dog gets a break and we need to take some basic steps to insure the pups continue to grow and prosper.
Stay tuned and I will start to go over some of these details. Hopefully you want have to learn the hard way, like I did.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Beagle test
No matter what type of dog you have, heart worm prevention is critical to his care. They're several drugs available from your vet that will handle heart worms. The problem with these drugs is they tend to be on the expensive side. Ivermectin is something kennel owners and hunters have been using for many years. We used to have to get very precise dosages in order to be sure we didn't over dose. Then we had to give a tape worm expeller to get rid of tape worms. Now Horse Wormers are available from JeffersEquine.com that combine Ivermectin and Praziquantel in one. This makes parasite managment so much simpler. We use the Zyrmectin Gold . I give each adult beagle about a pea size squeeze. Another way to look at it is to use just a little less zyrmectin gold than you would put toothpaste on your toothbrush. We have found a squeeze of zyrmectin gold each month will keep your dogs healthy and in great shape. This is just on thing we have found that makes rasing a kennel of dogs much easier and less expensive. I will try to share other things as I can remember or as I get questions. Sometimes it's easy to forget the simple things that people want to learn about. Let me know if I can help you in any way. I am not a Veterinarian and recommend you talk to your vet before setting on a parasite control program.

Sunday, September 14, 2008









I thought I would share the pictures of a few of our females. Take a look at our web site www.rabbithuntingbeagles.com to see pedigrees and more information.
Sometimes I think I'm the only one who thinks like I do. Maybe I am.
Hurrucane Ike has just entered Texas a couple days ago and all the talk in these parts (and I expect many others) is about the price of automobile fuel. Around here it was about $3.40 before the storm and just ahead of landfall the price rose to the $4.30 range. Everyone is jumping up and down about the evil oil companies and the greedy station owners who have raised thier prices. No one wants to say what the real problem is...we waste enough fuel to run most countries. Beagling is the sport I love. The fact is, however, it is fuel intensive. People from many states come to meet and run beagles together. It's a great time. We love it. The fact remains, it takes a lot of fuel to get all those pick up trucks full of dogs and men from state to state. In the grand scheme of things is it needed? Probably not.
I'm not advocating we should stop running dogs. I'm just pointing out how ridicilous it is for someone who travels around the country running dogs to complain about the price of gas.
We beaglers are not the only culprits who waste fuel. Look at all the people who make 3 and 4 trips to town each week. Can they not combine these trips? How often do kids have to be driven to school when a bus comes right by the house? What about those college football games on Saturday? Most of those stadiums hold 80,000 people and they seem to be full. I still see boats headed to the lakes in droves.
I'm not saying we should stop any of these things. It's our way of life. I'm simply pointing out gas is not too expensive or we would not be buying it for liesure!
Now, we sure have a problem, as all this liesure we are enjoying is runing our country in the ground. As T Boone Pickens explains, it's the biggest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind. I'm sure hoping people more intelligent than I are hard at work developing more fuel efficient trucks. i hope they will soon have batteries capable of getting us where we want to go. Batteries that can be charged with electricity generated in our own communities.
Oh well enough about that. I just want everyon to stop and think. Use the brain God gave us, before jumping on the bandwagon of complaining. Seems most people want less government until it's the part of goverment that help thier pocket book!

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

It seems it has gotten to popular to discuss the Hall of Fame lately. I’ve never given it much thought. I expect most beaglers who run their dogs and strive to constantly get better dogs seldom have time to think about it. I see those ballots in my magazine every year. I believe we’ve been getting Hound and Hunting magazine for 18 years and I’ve never even sent a ballot in. All the discussion made me want to see what it was all about.
As it turns out it’s an honorary club sanctioned by the magazine Hounds and Hunting. Simple enough, they can do it anyway they want. They own it; they can do what ever they want. They don’t have to answer to anyone. They are in the business of selling ads in a magazine. Basically they are using corporate philanthropy to sponsor this program for the readers of the magazine.
Since lots of folks have been happy to share how they would run the Hall of Fame if they were to sponsor one (of course most are content to just complain about the one we have) OI thought I would offer some guidelines I think should be used to help select members.
My understanding is the HOF is to recognize those who have been instrumental to the SPO or gundog movement. People are quick to point out those who have had success at the field trials but I think they miss the point. To have a field trial you first have to have a sponsoring club. This is the place to look for the pillars of the sport. If you want to see who is instrumental, if not essential to our sport you only have to visit the local club. It takes many man hours and lots of money to have a successful and sustainable beagle club. Some beagle clubs don’t even own collars to hold an SPO trail much less the precious land it takes to hold one. Any club that has been in existence for very long and does not have permanent running grounds to do the very thing that brings them together is suspect in my opinion. Maybe there is good reason for the situation but more often than not it indicates members are not willing to make the kind of commitment it takes to create a successful and sustainable beagle club.
Any person who is considered for the HOF fame should be one who is instrumental and essential at the club level. Evidence of growth toward making his or her home club successful and sustainable should be easy to se
Next is age and experience. My first thought is for the HOF members to be deceased but that would rob those most deserving from the accolades they’ve earned. If it were up to me I would put two age and experience clauses in the selection process. The person would have needed to be 55 years old and been involved in organized beagling for a minimum of 20 years. I suppose you could start their clock the first time they placed in a licensed trial or judges their first trial. Some verifiable method could be employed.
Third the person should be known for the promotion of beagling at the regional level or national level. This would include service at the association and federation levels.
The person should be active in helping new people enter the sport of beagling. The new inductee would be well known as one who is eager to see the sport grow and demonstrated such for a number of years.
Finally the inductee should be revered as an honest and upright member of the beagling community.
To sum it up Here is a quick list:
1) Instrumental and essential to a successful and sustainable beagle club.
2) 55 years of age
3) 20 years of experience in organized beagling
4) Active at the regional or national level
5) Longevity with respect to bringing in new beaglers and expanding the sport.
6) Revered as honest and upright member of the beagling community

Well thier's my shot at it. You may would do it different. Now get of your computer and go wear a hole in you boots. Beagling is about following dogs not internet sites.