Beagle Pup's First Run in Training Pen

As I keyed the microphone on the earpiece to my radio to tell my son that the two 11 month old pups were barking on the coyote I was reminded that it was the first ever coyote track they ever smelled. Being their first time as with all dogs I have trained over the last 50 years, they did have some losses.

Being in a training pen, they did have the opportunities to chase several other ones also. Both the male and the female were able to sight chase a coyote for at least 200 yards on several occasions. That in itself really added to their drive and desire to catch the coyote. With three other dogs in the pen, we had two and three chases going at the same time.

As their paths crossed and the tracks all got confusing to us as observers, one can only imagine what the dogs had to put up with. In the next three hours, I could see that the young male was faster on the track than his sister. However, she did not over run it as much as him because she was more of a tracker.

When all was done for the day, the two young dogs were impressive for their first trip. The next day when I went to check on them in the morning, all was well except for the young male. He was lying flat on his side and could not even lift his head.

According to the GPS he had run a little over 15 miles in 2 and half hours. He had not been out of the pen to run any game at all for 2 months and I suspected he might have over done it trying to keep up with his father, which was in better shape due to hunting 2-3 days a week.

I remembered when they were loading in the truck he and his dad were on the same leash and the pup tried to jump onto the tailgate and could not get the whole way up because of the short hook up on the double snaps. Because of this, I was worried about some kind back injury. Trying to lift him in any way made him cry with pain.

Upon calling different hounds men, the overall conclusion was a muscle problem. I was told he needed recharged with electrolytes. Working at Lion Country Supply, I bought a bottle of Pet-A-Lyte. The first dose was administered right down his throat with a syringe. A few hours later could lift his head so I mixed it in his bowl with moist canned dog food.

By the next day, he could get up on his front feet but when I helped him get on all four his back legs would give out and he would fall over. Three doses a day in canned dog food for the next two days and he was out in the dog run walking around. That was two weeks ago and now you would not even know he had that problem.

I train hard and I hunt even harder. Pet-A-Lyte is a part of my dogs? well-being. After hunting and training, they get Pet-A-Lyte so I do not have to worry about my dog's get up and go.