156 THE AMERICAN HUNTING DOG 



bitch at present that I would like to break of this 

 habit if there is a way to do it. She is eighteen 

 months old and a fine hunter. 



Geoege W. Hodes. 



Ans. — Regarding the training of your hound 

 not to bark on night trails, we do not think it can 

 be done, as it is in the hound blood, and it is very 

 doubtful whether you can train out an instinct of 

 this character. It would simply break the dog's 

 spirit through continuous lickings, the reason for 

 which he is not likely to understand. He is apt 

 to consider that you are whipping him for follow- 

 ing the trail itself, and quit hunting altogether. 



A cross of shepherd dog in a hound will make 

 him run mute. It is the only way to get a mute 

 trailer that I know of. 



OVERRUNNING THE SCENT 



We hunt rabbits with two dogs, one a foxhound 

 and beagle and the other is supposed to be the 

 same, though I doubt it. Well, the point is, they 

 start a rabbit and run a short distance and lose 

 him through overrunning. They seem to go per- 

 fectly crazy, and the first turn the rabbit makes 

 they go on by sometimes three or four hundred 

 feet before they find out they are off trail. They 



