Winged bird

Yes, nothing beats experience in the field. Some of the old houndsman I learned from used to say you've got to take your dog to school. Watching a beagle run a rabbit when you can watch the rabbit on a snow background is a great learning experience to how a dog follows scent. A running rabbit makes a sudden turn and a dog running the track too fast will overrun it and then have trouble going back and finding that spot if their speed takes them too far away from the spot where he lost it. In the beagle world, they call it line control. The better beagles have a good nose but better line control. They figure out quickly they over run that spot where the rabbit turns and come right back to that spot and keep scenting until they figure out the direction the rabbit turned. I've believe same holds true for a bird dog tracking a wounded bird. Great line control comes from experience but also breeding some beagles never have it after hundreds of hunts and some figure it out quick. That's why you see guys run beagles in packs. some dogs have great line control aand find a sudden turn in the track fast , some dogs are great jump dogs and some have great nose and can take a cold track until it heats up.
 
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