JJWI
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Jan 2005
Location: Edgar, Wis
Posts: 132 |
I have been dealing with hounds for pretty close to 20 years now, and have dealt with dogs from second crosses by either owning one or watched one trained through out it's life. From Beagles, Bear dogs, Coon hounds to Bird dogs them most common item why the second crosses don't turn out are the people that get them.
Most often the case when the cross is made, everyone who takes a pup from that knows the lines being crossed or know the parents first hand and want to add that to their kennel. They get the pup started and put it in the timber and get it developed in to a let's say an above average hound. A lot of people see that dog and know what it's litter mates have done and they will see what they like and what they would like to see improved on it. They are not interested in getting a pup just like the previous ones, they want to improve on it, which results in breeding to a dog out of what they are hunting or have an idea of what line would cross well with this dog. Why have a dog just like the guy down the road, were you can try to strengthen its weaknesses and have something that may be better?
It would be interesting if you could look back and see who got pups from the first litter versus the second, and see how they were brought up and trained. More often than not, I have seen, the owners of the second litter have the mentality that "the first litter turned out, so this one should too" But these guys don't get the pups in the timber or work with them enough to give them a fair chance at making it. Too often when I had pups out of first cross and ran in to some one that had one from a second one, the answer I usually get when asked how the pup was doing is "I haven't had time to get them out yet" and a couple months down the road you hear how they had to cull it because it didn't turn out as good as expected. Well, a pup isn't going to learn anything sitting on a chain.
To get real results that you are seeking, you would have to either have a select group of people to raise and train both litters to get realistic results. Or raise and train both litters yourself and make your own evaluation on your findings.
I know you want to base your findings on the number of titled dogs in each litter to eliminate the dealing with an opinion. But I don't think titled dogs are going to give you an accurate results. Case in point, I am currently own and am working with a pup out of a second cross from a proven first cross. I believe total number of pups between the combined litters was 10. Out of those 10 pups, probably only 2 will be put in the hunts (if they turn out) and both are from that second litter. From what I have heard from the some of the owners of pups out of the first litter, the ones they have or know of would make it in the night hunts. For some reason be it health, family obligations or no interest in competition, the dogs don't get in the hunts. And these guys are very knowledgable houndsmen that have finished Night Champions and Grand Night Champions. So if my pup and the littermate female out of this second cross earn titles, does that make the second cross better than the first, even if the pups in that first litter were capable of earning titles also? Just way to many variables to draw a concrete conclusion to this question.
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07-26-2013 09:52 PM
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