In the past, dogs that were competitive or lacked independence almost always got worse with age. Now a number of young dogs with the same faults improve with age. Is this caused by genetics or better training?
By Ralph Gillum, BraceBeagling Columnist
April 19, 2003


I believe both are involved. I doubt that the genes that cause lack of independence and competitiveness have mutated or been modified. What has occurred in the past decade or two is that we are breeding calmer, flatter, slower and easier tracking hounds. We have been continually concentrating the genes for these traits in our brace beagles. Perhaps part of the explanation is that these concentrations of genes now exert more control over some of our dogs than do the genes for bracemate problems. A number of those pups with the extra genes for calm tracking that start with bracemate problems soon lose their puppy hyperactivity and settle down. As they gain experience, they learn that they cannot track a rabbit the way they are genetically programmed to and be influenced to any great degree by their bracemate. You could say that this is just something they learned with good training but perhaps all that concentration of genes for slow accurate tracking just simply overpowers or overrides the influence of the genes for competition. You could think of this as the battle of the genes. It is as if they are fighting for control with the competitive genes winning the battle during the puppy high jinks period and the genes for flat tracking winning after the pups settle down.

Today, as in the past, we have some pups that start up with some hustle and sometimes running body scent rather than tracking footprints. In the past, if pups started strong or hustly they almost always got even more so as they matured. However, today we have some pups that start up, then calm down, soften up and almost wilt after they have been put up in the kennel and not run for a few weeks. I believe this phenomenon is caused by a recessive gene I call the “back off” gene. As these pups are worked, they slowly pick up some intensity but not back to their puppy levels. This period of calmness could aid in allowing the slow tracking genes to exert their influence and overpower the pup’s genetic tendency to be influenced by or to compete with their bracemate.

Another theory is that dogs eventually go back to the way they started as pups. Some pups start reacting to a bracemate right in the starting pen. Others start independent and noncompetitive but start reacting to a bracemate later. Perhaps the pups that start independent and develop their bracemate problems later are the ones that will have the competitive genes in a weak enough collection that the genes for slow methodical tracking can overcome them when the pups back off and mature.

I believe that some pups that lack independence when they start, with experience, switch from trying to stay up with their bracemate to dog tracking. This seems to happen more often with dogs that lack good line control and already have some tendency to tongue on dog tracks. Perhaps they learn over time that dogging is one way to stay in contact with scent and get from jump to jump without pulling over scent to get to their bracemate. In this case, after training and experience, the genes for line control and dog tracking overpower the genes that cause lack of independence.

Training methods have probably improved over the years. I believe most beaglers run their dogs less now while developing and conditioning them. With the somewhat shorter runs of today, a dog with limited experience and conditioning can occasionally win a trial just based on their inborn traits. Also, with fewer breeders breeding fewer litters and with litter size now being smaller and pups being more difficult to raise, there is more incentive to develop every pup that shows any possibility. With a variety of training techniques now commonly known, undoubtedly training does have some influence on this situation.

At this time it is impossible to do more than speculate on the causes for these behavioral changes. However, we do know that if you breed individuals that have exhibited bracemate or other faults, the offspring can be expected to display the same faults and require the same corrective training and development. Therefore, the best breeding stock are those individuals, strains or families that are as free of any fault producing genes as possible.