Commonly referred to by other beaglers as the "Junkyard Dawg" because of his aggressive running style (and lack of pedigreed credentials), Rowdy runs a rabbit with one sole purpose - to catch and kill it. One of my favorite stories is of a trial in Park City, KY. The pack had split and Rowdy was on the original rabbit alone - the judges following him. He ran the rabbit down and caught it, but wouldn't turn it loose. Instead, he honored in to the rest of the pack on their rabbit - his rabbit in his mouth and trying to bark with that loud , urgent squall-bawl of his.
We bought Rowdy from a man in Tennessee who ran Big Pack. We went to watch his dogs run one day and in the pack of 20 or so dogs was this young, striking bluetick, cutting his way through the pack on the line. While the other hounds were buzzing around him like helicopters, Rowdy never left the line. We asked the gentleman if he would sell Rowdy to us and he said he would - Rowdy ran TOO MUCH line to suit him - ha! ha! So in June of 2000, we brought home what we thought was a promising 18-month-old hound. We entered Rowdy in the fall trials. He finished third in his first trial that September and with 5 trials had made Rabbit Champion. In January 2001, he picked up two wins as a champion, back-to-back weekends. We were ready to enter him in the ARHA Little Pack World Hunt. Rowdy managed to place 9th in the World that year in a class of over 250 champions and we were elated! We came home to seek more information about Rowdy's breeding and history.
With the help of his former owner, we traced Rowdy back to the breeder and was informed that he'd just turned two-years old the month before the World Hunt! We backed him out of heavy trialing when we discovered how young he was, but by the time he was 2-1/2, Rowdy had 4 wins toward the 5 necessary to make Grand Rabbit Champion. |
