It is very rewarding to have a well trained dog.It looks like yours is doing a great job.
Bill

Here's a video of the dog working on a practise line (about 700 meters long)

  http://s534.photobucket.com/albums/ee349/maxence101/?action=view¤t=chaserautaf.mp4  

Better than me at recovering an arrow...

  http://s534.photobucket.com/albums/ee349/maxence101/?action=view¤t=chaserautravailrecoupe.mp4

Bladepeek,  Interdigital hoof scent is the scent you could not remember.  I bought John Jeanneney's book on tracking dogs, It has been a wealth of information and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in training a blood trailing dog.  He covers a lot of breeds besides teckels too.  Frenchy, sounds like you are having a blast,  I am supposed to receive a wire haired dachsund or teckel pup later this year,  cant wait to get started.  Good Hunting!

Been training Bird dogs for some time. I would think a Beagle would make an excellent deer tracking dog. If you aren't planning to rabbit hunt go for it!

Word of caution though. Dogs are smart, if you are walking out your blood track the dogs may be following your track with the success. Find some way to take your scent out of the equation. I learned this from years of field trailing some smart critters. I could tell you how I planted birds without human scent but I'd have to kill ya! Haha. It can be done.

My beagle has found several deer for us. One in particular we would have never found without him. He was never trained, just did it as though it was the easiest thing. He would however give up if he lost interest and that was not something you could fix. He's gone now but those tracking episodes are lifelong memories.

QuoteOriginally posted by KentuckyTJ:

Word of caution though. Dogs are smart, if you are walking out your blood track the dogs may be following your track with the success. Find some way to take your scent out of the equation. I learned this from years of field trailing some smart critters. I could tell you how I planted birds without human scent but I'd have to kill ya! Haha. It can be done.

Point taken                
It's probably truer when the line has been laid for a few hours.
But when you work on a trail that is 20 or 24 hours old (especially after a night of pouring rain) it must be difficult for a dog to detect  the human scent.
Better to follow the blood then, don't you think ?

QuoteOriginally posted by KentuckyTJ:
 I could tell you how I planted birds without human scent but I'd have to kill ya! Haha. It can be done.

C'mon    

QuoteOriginally posted by Paul Shirek:
My beagle has found several deer for us. One in particular we would have never found without him. He was never trained, just did it as though it was the easiest thing. He would however give up if he lost interest and that was not something you could fix. He's gone now but those tracking episodes are lifelong memories.

Any chance of a photo ?  

There are a few folks that run deer with beagles, instead of hounds. They run slower due to the shorter legs, and are easier to keep up with. Of course, deer hunting with dogs isn't common outside of the southern states I'd imagine.

QuoteOriginally posted by Frenchy:
 

QuoteOriginally posted by KentuckyTJ:

Word of caution though. Dogs are smart, if you are walking out your blood track the dogs may be following your track with the success. Find some way to take your scent out of the equation. I learned this from years of field trailing some smart critters. I could tell you how I planted birds without human scent but I'd have to kill ya! Haha. It can be done.

Point taken        
It's probably more true when the line has been laid for a few hours.
But when you work on a trail that is 20 or 24 hours old (especially after a night of pouring rain)it must be more difficult for a dog to dectect the human scent particules.
Better to follow the blood then,don't you think ? [/b]

You just don't want them to associate your human scent (from laying out your training tracks) with the reward at the end of the trail. If they get to doing that they may not follow a real deer scent trail in the woods as it won't have that human scent along with it.

This is just something that I have figured out was happening while training other breeds I'm sure beagles are smarter than that though.

My beagle passed the blood tracking test, and he is now certified.
The line was 1000 meters long and 20 hours old.
The dog did a great job, although I was not very good at reading his body language.I should have trusted him more during the test since he was on the right track almost all the time!
I really need to work on this              
I was quite moved when the dog reached the end of the blood trail.
On the picture I carry a roll of toilet paper to mark the blood.
Pointless! I haven't seen a single drop during the whole tracking.       :eek:      


In order to be a licensed blood tracker I need to attend a training course which will be held next Saturday.

At the end of the line

 Chaser and I following the blood

So, when your dog is on the trail, he(she)is "unleashed" by the look of things. If you used a long lead, would that help keep them "on track"?
Do you use a lead for training?

Tom, dogs must be leashed during the test; it is obligatory.
It seems that the lead does not appear in the pictures, for some reason.    

Can see you good folks love your dogs! Makes my day! Never had beagles but just about everything else in hunt dogs! No question the connection & excitement when your dog scores! Best friends make good times.