your food down and say “steady” and 
they will never attempt to touch it. 
HEN you can do this you have 
your dog under control. In other 
words, if you can make a dog obey you 
at the most critical or important time 
of his life, and his most eager one, feed 
time, you can make him obey you any 
other time, with this one exception, and 
I must insert it here, else further on 
you will say, this bird is backtracking. 
You can’t call or steady a good hound 
from or on a hot trail and if you can 
or do, you haven’t a good hound. This 
is one time that he is deaf, dumb and 
blind to any or all your entreaties, and 
from my viewpoint, breed all you can of 
this type or kind. 
When the pups are about four months 
old, begin to take them out in the fields 
and woods. Don’t go far.. Go out a 
short distance to a good location and 
sit down or walk slowly around; say 
nothing; don’t even call unless you are 
absolutely certain that your dogs 
have become confused or lost tem- 
porarily. Just keep your dogs in 
sight and when they have become 
tired and had a good romp, turn 
towards home and let them keep 
coming until they are all ready to 
make the trip back. If you do have 
a dog that feels he shouldn’t come 
at the proper time, have a lead and 
snap it to his collar, in this way he 
also makes a good “decoy” for the 
others to follow. 
I never take less than two dogs out 
at a time and I have taken as high as. 
eighteen in one pack and brought them 
all back. 
I will not attempt to say which is the 
best method of calling a hound, by 
shouting, by using a whistle, or whis- 
tling or using a horn—I prefer the horn 
for some unknown reason—some in- 
herited trait or one of those unexplain- 
able theories—the hound also prefers a 
horn or bugle. One blast and he is up 
and ready for action like a cavalry 
horse at the sound of “charge.” 
OUNDS love a horn or bugle, the 
associations that it brings to their 
mind cannot but demonstrate its impor- 
tance upon you. For this reason I use 
a horn, and I believe in painting as vivid 
a scene with all the natural settings 
that I can command to place before my 
hounds, that they cherish the life I 
have picked out for them. From time 
back to the Tudors, hounds have heard 
the horn. It was large and went over 
the “Whipper In’s” shoulder in the 
early days. Something of the style of 
the large base horn carried in the band 
of to-day, and was of a long deep tone 
and penetrated to the bowels of the 
earth. 
Page 655 
Do you wonder that deep down in 
their very nature comes the recollection 
to them, from far off ancestors, from 
the first blast of your horn, that they 
have heard their call “to charge”; they 
will come in miles and miles to a horn 
after the chase, where all other methods 
fail. 
Hounds soon learn the language of 
your horn. Short, sharp, quick blasts 
will call them to the trail of a jumped 
rabbit; the long blast will call them’ 
from a lost or holed rabbit when they 
cease tonguing, and you desire to go 
on in another direction. Intermittent 
long blasts will call them when they 
are out of sight and sound or ear shot. 
Of course if a dog appears to be lost 
the only resort is the gun shot, which 
I will explain in another paragraph. 
The horn, to me, is more important 



Mike, a@ fine beagle, owned by 
E George Hull .* 
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than the long lash whip so,many love to 
carry. B 
CONTINUE taking ..your dogs out 
until they .became® woods-wise and 
fearless, that will be determined by the 
distance they range away and the time 
they remain away, and they speedily 
gain confidence. When they are about 
six months of age, very seldom before 
and more times later, you will notice 
that they will begin to show signs of 
trailing and making game and soon 
some little fellow will explode into a 
bark or some hot scent he has found 
and you leap forward with pride to 
see which one has developed the long 
looked-for sign, giving vent to his 
feelings. At last he knows what he is 
out for. 
Some advise you to take an older dog, 
a trained dog, along with the pups. 
That is all well when the pups get so 
they can travel and are unafraid to 
follow, but if the pups are unable to 
keep up or are timid in the brush, and 
leave the old dog to return to you, they 
soon learn to leave a trail and come in 
and it forms a habit. Where.you take 
out only pups, every one is on an equal 
footing. 
AFTER the pups have found and 
voiced on their game and begun 
to trail a little, it does no harm to put 
down asure and safe hound. The better 
the hound the better the results. Some 
advocate an old slow hound. Why? 
Pray tell? An old hound is most al- 
ways a “babbler” and gets jealous be- 
cause he can’t keep up and barks on 
the track of the other dogs. The pups 
get confused and can easily outstrip 
an old dog and to my mind an old dog 
is a nuisance. Take out a real one, 
one that is a “dew flicker.” Let him 
take the pups over the course. If they 
stay with him he will teach them some- 
thing, if it’s only speed. If they stay 
they will soon be in his company at 
least, if not in his class; and class 
will come soon enough if he is bred 
right. 
From the time they commence to 
take notice they should be given 
every opportunity of exercising 
their natural instincts. This is 
their school and it is just as im- 
portant as any school education; 
no dog will develop without oppor- 
tunity. A beagle, while young, 
must learn to solve all the prob- 
lems that “molly cottontail’ pre- 
sents him with. 
I have not the space or words to im- 
press you with the importance of this 
early education. Let it be early, well 
done and complete. Don’t neglect it if 
you want real hunting beagles. 
EVER find or kick out game for 
your dogs. If they are not in sight 
and you jump a rabbit, “mark” your 
rabbit and call in your dogs—quick, 
short blasts on your horn, or if you call, 
call quick and excitedly. “Here, Take 
’em,” “Take ’em,” they soon learn what 
you have for them. Then point out the 
trail where the rabbit just ran and they 
will “hit it” and go away with it. This 
also teaches your dog control. Always 
teach him when you call there is some- 
thing for him to do. Never fool him 
and he will never fool you. Throw your 
hounds entirely upon their own respon- 
siblity and resources. Better let them 
miss a rabbit than to berate them for 
not seeing or smelling, and try to show 
them you have some rabbit ability; if 
you can stand the pressure let them 
absolutely alone. 
Never fool your dogs or drop them 
upon a kicked out rabbit so they can 
see the rabbit for a “sight chase.” It 
(Continued on page 691) 
