This morning is a first for my blog. I'm typing this as I sit on my front porch. The Lord has blessed us with an unusual July 5th morning. It's 10 AM and the temp is only 74 degrees. There's plenty of cloud cover and every now and then a few rain drop bounce around. My kids are playing on the steps and sidewalk (who ever thought of sidewalk chalk anyway?) I slept kinda late this morning so I didn't get up until about 8:30. First thing this morning I saw a half grown rabbit in the front yard. I slipped out and released two beagles in the area I saw the rabbit. I've had my breakfast and am just sitting out here listening to Princess and little Daisy hammering a rabbit. It's been over an hour now and they are sure enjoying this break in the weather. After the last week of dry hot weather it's great to hear a solid race. It's been a big commitment to purchase and payfor a piece of property like this but I expect it to really make a difference in bringing young dogs along.
Ladt Birds pups are doing great. Looks like wer gonna end up with nine of them!

Cheer up folks; we have rounded the corner. Even as I type this note the days are getting shorter and as sure as the dog days of summer still lie ahead, Autumn will be soon following.

It's been busy around Five Forks the last several days. I've ran dogs 5 of the last 7 days, (even had a couple two-a-days mixed in) and the puppies are starting to be born.

Amy and i were driving home last week and as we approached the house we counted five rabbits along the edge of the road from the start of our farm to the house. My place is set up near perfect for rabbits but my neighbors is too. Our place was part of a several hundred acre farm that belonged to one family. We have just 23 acres of it but the rest of the farm is still owned by the family and is in overgrown fields as well. It's just a great place for rabbits.

Lady Bird had her puppies. You can imagine how excited we were to see that she had whelped eleven! two of them didn't survive the night but she has nine the look great. They have made it forty eight hours now and in my experience any that live that long will do just fine. I don't believe in babying bitches in whelp (other than proper nutrition and housing.) If you get a bitch that you have to coddle to take car of puppies you have yourself a problem that Will be with you for a long time. C-sections are another thing. If a bitch requires one, she needs to be culled from breeding. Bitches that require a section produce puppies that have a high probability of requiring C-sections. In fact, it's my opinion, good solid bitches are the most important thing to strive for when endeavoring to improve any breed. Let's face it, you can choose from literally a hundred different males for a nominal cost. The bitch however, is something you must work for years to get! You may be able to save your self some time and trouble by purchasing a high quality bitch from someone, but you will be on your own to develop several like this.

Oh well, i suppose that enough rambling for the morning. I hope everyone has a great Independence Day. Take a minute sometime today 9or any day) to think about what Independence Day is all about. Let's pay attention not to allow our country and in fact our freedom to to be encroached upon so much as to be no better off than when the British ruled these colonies. Our for fathers created a wonderful thing for us, lets keep it.

My goodness it has been a long time since I update this blog. I had intended to start back next week.....July 1st...... but Ken's been on me to get back started so here i am.

The house is finally finished (at least mostly) and we are all moved in. I cant find anything and thier was a few times the first couple of days Amy panicked when she lost the kids. Sorry I dont have the final pictures on this pc but I'll get them up.

Rabbit season ended on a high note with a great late February hunt in Georgia. I've been trying to work on rabbit farming some. The fields on our farm have been laying fallow for several years and saplings are almost trees. I've got a bush hog that is rated for material up to 4" so It's working out pretty good. I hope in a few years I'll have it all beat back to stuff under waste high. I'd like to biuld a new barn/kennel later in the summer. Money's pretty tight now with work coming slow so I'll have to play it by ear.

I've really been enjoying some of the younger pups. Their young dogs now and I"m real happy with how they do.

Any way, we got lots of squash and tomatos coming in now. I've planted the pumkin patch with hopes of jac-o-lanterns come October. I also sowed a clearing in Brown Top Millet the first of the month. It's really jumped with al lthe water. I'll try to get some pictures of that up too.

Oh ya, I found a little fawn last week bush hogging. Hopefully it reunited with it's mother pretty quick. If I can figure out how to upload the short video I made I'll add it. Until next time.......

I know it's been over a month since I posted on my blog. For the faith full readers I am sorry I've been slack. My father passed away the evening before Thanksgiving and I've been working hard to get the house ready for inspection. I got my inspection last Monday....!
Ken and I went hunting today with Ronald Phillips and his son Dillon. The scenting was incredibly good as it has been the hall fall. After two full years of drought the rain this fall has reminded me just how well the little beagles can chase a rabbit. We got started about 8:30 this morning and the running was fast and furious. By 10:30 we had run and killed 5 rabbits. The spot we were running on was kinda small and we run the 6Th rabbit over on some deer hunters so we caught the dogs and moved a half mile down the road to another spot we like. Since the first six dogs had 5 rabbits shot in front of them this AM we swapped dogs and got the second pack out about 11.15. In short order the rabbit was up and running. The dogs run about an hour or so and Ken had some work to do on the phone so he and Dillon disappeared to a shady spot up on the hill to take care of Ken's business. Ronald and I tried to cut that tricky rabbit off for a while then we decided to take a rest in a shady spot our selves. The bunny run near us several times but not where either of us could take shot. Finally about 1:00 we decided we needed to eat lunch so we headed up to the truck to join Ken and Dillon for soda and Vienna sausages. We shot the bull and ate lunch until about 2:00 when Ronald said, "listen to those dog, they are stroking that rabbit." With that we decided we need to go shoot that rabbit. When we got back down to where the dogs were running Dillon was able to shoot the rabbit and wound him. Just as the dogs and Ronald were about to catch the bunny he ducked into a hole. Since no one was willing to dig it out, except Lady Bird and Bell, the rabbit was left in the hole. In just a few minutes we had another rabbit going. This rabbit didn't stay up but 5 minutes and rand straight into the creek bank. Ronald said he saw him swim across and go up in the bank. It didn't seem possible so quickly so I talked him into tallyhoing the dogs over the water to the creek bank. Sure enough they smelled the bunny and started digging and fighting their way into the bank. I like to never got Lady Bird out of that hole. The next rabbit came quick and was shot by Ronald in less than a half hour. Ronald told me he was going up by the truck to turn out a brace of dogs he wanted to work for the trial this weekend and left Ken and I to tend to the shooting duties. As the dogs running was sounding good I sat down on log to take a rest. Directly, I spy ed a spot on the ground that looked like a good spot to lay down. It didn't take long and I was taking a good nap in the afternoon sun. As I was about to doze off listening to the two separate races, I remember thinking just how far I had come with these little beagles. The next thing I remember I was jolted from a sound sleep by the sound of barking dogs very near me. I woke up confused and dazed and was able to just see the rabbit hopping off into the broom straw field. I think Ken was the one who finally shot that rabbit and eventually Ronald and Dillon walked back down and joined us. We shot a few more rabbits and finally darkness put an end to a great day of rabbit hunting.
I know most people hunt in a lot different way than we do but I don't know why. The next time you go hunting make sure you plan enough time to enjoy yourself. Sit down, rest, maybe even take a nap and let the dogs run. You'll enjoy it a bunch.

Just a quick note to say we are all still alive and doing well in the sunny south. The dogs are getting run and the new Purina Pro Plan is performing great. Just when I decided the new shredded formula was going to work out great, Purina has decided ( by all the customer demand) to start the Pro Plan Chicken and Rice formula back up. It will be in 37.5 lb bags and should be at your local stores before thanksgiving! I know many of you are are concerned with the high price of dog food, so am I. I have plenty of friends who are taking the risky step of using dog food that is not subject to the same test trials as Purina. I urge you, think long and hard about it. What is $2 dollars a bag or even $5 a bag if you kill your dogs. For those 0f you who compete in field trials, my gosh, you spend thousands of dollars traveling to a trial. You run your dogs all hours of the day and night, you try solo, you brace, you pack them, and you are worried over $2 a bag for dog food. That sounds risky to me......... If you have 5 or more dogs and want to be a member of the Purina Pro Club please call me or send me an email. I will get you set up. By having me introduce you to the club, you are assured of continual support and someone you can get a hold of if you need help. I sometimes get coupons and other merchandise I can pass on as well.

Wow, what a nightmare I had last night. I dreamed it was a cool cloudy day. I was running four of my females over on the back side of my property. They were really making some noise. They were making every turn like they were following a painted yellow line. Just pushing through the briars and weeds with that steady CHOP-CHOP-CHOP, as if to say you can run rabbit but you can't hide. The race had gone on for about an hour and I was starting to get worried for the rabbit. After all, many hours and more dollars go into making sure the rabbits on my place have adequate food and cover. I want the dogs to run them hard and steady but I don't want them to catch them. what I heard next was a terrible commotion. I could tell that something was wrong at the house the Mastiffs were raising all king of sand. That was quickly followed by the sound of a kennel full of beagles doing the same. I hot footed it over to the kennels where I found 2 guys in suits looking at my dogs. I ask them what they were doing and they told me they were from the new government department responsible for the redistribution of wealth. Seems they had learned I owned way too many high quality female beagles. They said President Oboma needed to make sure some other beaglers who didn't have any quality females got one. They were their to seize all but two of mine so they could get them to those who really needed them. I told them I had been working on those dogs since I was a teenager, I told them I had worked really hard to invest in proper kennels and training grounds so I could improve them. Their only reply was to tell me I should feel good that now others less fortunate who didn't know how to get such good females would now be able to own a good one. I awoke in a fit of rage............
I sure hope America sobers up before next Tuesday!

The southeast is coming off of a huge beagling weekend. Last Wednesday we finally had some rain, in fact we had 3 inches of rain, and scenting was nearly perfect this weekend. Cove Creek Beagle club in Pickens, South Carolina held thier annual AKC license trial and any one who is anyone in the south east beagle world was thier for the big competition. I saw many friends from South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina. They were all thier for the same reason, to show off thier prize beagles.
What made this weekend different from most is the incredbly good scenting conditions the dogs had to work with. Nearly every pack ran like it could see the rabbit.
On Saturday, I had the pleasure of being accompanied by my oldest daughter Ashlyn. Ashlyn was a real trooper and went out with me every time we went to the field. Ealry in the day Ashlyn told me, " daddy, I hope we win 1st, 2nd, or 3rd." The day went on and the competition got tougher. Ashlyn and I were both pleased when the dust settled to find out our own born and breed Lady Bird got the 3rd place award. It was good judging and and quality dogs that made it a good time. I don't think I heard a single complaint about the field trial. I know I had one happy little handler with me when we got home and Ashlyn showed off the the trophy we recieved. It was sure a good time, leaving both Ashlyn and myself ready to go back for more dog running.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

I've been thinking of all the new folks we have in the beagle world. I for one am very thank full for them. We sure can't have enough new blood in the sport. One of the byproducts of such rapid growth is just the proliferation of inexperience. It's no ones fault. People get involved and they are excited, eager for knowledge and information. The easiest place to get that is the internet. If you look around you will find plenty of folks telling all about how to do this or that. How a dog is supposed to do this or that. You've seen them. The problem is in many instances the person doing the telling don't know any more than those he is trying to tell. This is especially true if you look on the message boards. Sure you can find some nuggets of information but you have to really look.
What do I want to do about it? I want to help educate those who really want to learn. I plan to start holding weekend seminars right here at Five Forks Kennels. These will be at NO COST to the participants. All you'll need to do is find your way here.
I'd like to go over the things you want to talk about. It'll really be up to the folks attending. We can discuss what ever subjects you like, from kennel set-up, medicines, shotgun choices, and of course field performance of hounds. I'd even like to eventually get to the point where we can start training judges. Not the rules seminar type of training but actually following dogs. Maybe watch groups of dogs run, video the action and then come back inside and discuss what we saw and watch the video. I believe something like this will even be help full to many of our current judges as the trend has become to simply count picked checks and determine the winner by adding up which hound picked the most checks. The fact is, there's just more to determining quality than that. That's not to say judging dogs in this manner will not result in a judge getting pretty close to calling it right.
I'm also planning on a new section for the web site. I have one beagling's best studies of the AKC rule book working on a monthly column where he will discuss the particulars of some of the rules and concepts that give people the most trouble. We can also have him answer and discuss questions you send it.
So let me know what you think. I will start a list of those interested in the seminars and will get that in the works. Also, send in your rules questions and we can get the new section going as well.

You can tell dog running season is just around the corner. I'm thinking more and more about getting out with the dogs. I've been terribly busy this summer working on our new home. We've had the good fortune to be able to buy a piece of land large enough to build a twenty acre running enclosure as well as build a new home large enough for our family and the ocassional beagle guests. I'm becoming quite the carpenter. LOL
I did come in last week early enough to get out to the kennels with my 19 month old daughter Anna. We spent the whole afternoon at the kennel together. We gave shots, wormed dogs, cut toe nails, pretty much all the thing you have to do every so often. Anna of course had to handle every pup in the kennel. She's just drawn to the dogs. I wonder if it's b/c Amy spent so much time at the kennel when she was carrying Anna. Any way, it was fun to watch Anna sitting outside the kennels feeding dogs one morsel at a time. I can tell it's only a matter of time before she will be letting dogs out of their cages. It was great just me and my daughter sharing time with the beagles. How rewarding it is to see her enjoying something that has brought me so much peace and stability in a world that can put so many obstacles in our way.

This reminds me of another great time I had with my oldest daughter, Ashlyn. It was when Ashlyn was only six years old and we were running Daisy in the trials. Daisy had two wins and was good and ready to have win number 3 in the trophy case. I got Ashlyn up at 4:30 AM for the drive down to Poplar Branch Beagle Club. Ashlyn was way to small to keep up in the field so she just rode on my shoulders most of the day. We ran dogs all day. Daisy was really hot at this time and had looked like a million bucks all day. We finally got to the winners pack and Daisy was sure doing her thing. (I was mostly as I knew Ashlyn would get to accept a trophy. You see Ashlyn had never been to a trial before and I wanted her to like it.) The Gallery around me was already congratulating me on her third win when the Marhsal called out "yellow collar" and Daisy was eliminated sixth. To say the least I was disappointed but I never let on with Ashlyn. We got back to the club house and Ashlyn asked, 'Daddy did we win,"
"No, I told her, "we didn't win today, we got sixth." I felt terrible. We drove back home and had a great time together. We explored dirt roads and looked for potential hunting ground, all along I was wondering what went wrong with that winners pack. I know the other dogs were deserving and in no way want to take away from their accomplishments.
Later the next week Ashlyn brought home a paper she had written at school. It was a story about going to the field trial with her daddy! It was all about the fun she had and how she got to see the dogs run and ride on my shoulders. At the end the story read " And we even won sixth place!"
I couldn't help but cry when I read it. It really helped me see what was important. If your not including your children or grandchildren in your beagle life, give it a try. The very next week daisy got her 3rd win and became a champion. Which trial do you think I remember best?

If I could change one thing about our field trials, what would it be?
Judges would not take the loss of a rabbit so lightly! I believe it should be common practice to not allow the hounds who have taken part in a lost rabbit to place in the field trial.
Do you think that is harsh? If so, you have a lot lower standards than I do. Here's what needs to happen. If a pack of hounds looses a rabbit, and it's not due to outside interference, the judges should order up one or more hounds who in thier opinion is resposible for the loss. The pack would not be handled at a loss. If a rabbit is lost and the judges feel like no hound or hounds have caused the loss due to faultynees, judges should determine the hounds to be of inferior quality and not considered for advancement into second or subsequent series. Packs would be completed or "handled" while the hounds were running.
You wouldn't allow your hound hound to loose rabbits while you were rabbit hunting, don't allow it at field trials. The future of the breed depends on it.