Dody

by Joe West

ALESKA'S INDIO by FC LITTLE IRELAND'S SCOTTY x BEECH FORK'S DOTTY. Call name Dody.
ALESKA'S INDIO, call name Dody by FC LITTLE IRELAND'S SCOTTY x BEECH FORKS DOTTY, is a hound that I owned who's superiority in the field has burned her memory into my mind forever. She was one of those hounds who could succeed where others could not. Her shear ability led me to believe that if she couldn't run the rabbit it could not be run.

It was hard to put a speed on Dody because she had such a wide range of gears. While at times she appeared slow she always kept the rabbit up and moving and when she hit the high scent few hounds could stay with her fast yet accurate pace. Her one fault was that she was too independent at times and would stick to the line and many times would not hark up to her pack mates if in her opinion they were going too fast for the conditions. Most times she would tear a pack up from behind when they bobbled the line but there were occasions when this fault hurt her.

There was only one time that Dody let me down and that was in Virginia running with Mike Wingfield and his fine hounds. On this day Dody did not hark up to the pack and when she did she was not a factor in the race. I had a few other of my hounds in the pack who Dody regularly ran with but for some reason she had an off day. That was the only time however and every other day of her life she was a fine steady serviceable rabbit hound.

I took Dody to a couple of SPO trials up here in NY. On one such occasion the pack was running hit or miss and over running badly and Dody was ignoring them. She'd come from behind when they messed up and straighten them out unless they bumped another rabbit. While the gallery watched from the hill side with a marked line Dody proved herself the slower yet superior hound by running right through the checks of her pack mates. When the cast was finished a discussion broke out between the two judges with Dody as the topic of the discussion. The first judge was arguing that Dody was the best hound at the trial while the second judge agreed he argued that she "did not have the foot to compete". The second judge won the argument and I was putting Dody in the truck thinking that was that. Then something happened that made me most proud of both Dody and my fellow Beaglers. I had never been to this particular club before and I didn't know anyone there; yet some members of the gallery who I had never met before sought out some officials to complain that Dody was not being brought back to winners pack. They argued that she was the best hound at the trial and deserved to be brought back. That was the way I saw it too but I was not the judge and respected their opinion; however with these complete strangers standing up for her I knew she impressed them with her performance and I thought that this was just as rewarding as if she had won the trial.

Dody was an extremely well made hound and many were the hound that I have seen fall by the way side due to shear exhaustion after running with her for three or four days in a row. Even at the age of 10, she was still running while other hounds were dropping out after a few days of hard running, due to fatigue. Her desire combined with her conformation allowed her to run tirelessly. I had never seen her quit for any reason.

On one occasion we were running a pack of my own hounds for a person who was interested in seeing them run. I was running some of my best broke hounds and of course Dody was in the pack. For two days the pack pounded rabbits under average conditions. They all made a good showing of themselves and I was quite pleased with all of their performances. On the third morning conditions had improved considerably and Dody caught the high scent. She treated us to one of the most spectacular days of running I had ever seen. Dody was seemingly glued to the line. Her foot speed picked up to the point where the other hounds were having trouble just staying with her. These were hounds who during the two previous days had no trouble out-footing her. She took the lead and never looked back. Fast and accurate she left nothing for the other hounds to do but go along for the ride. Checks were nearly non-existent and she ran many of her rabbits with no checks at all.

Nothing the rabbits did seemed to phase her; it was almost as if she knew what they were gonna do before they did it and the result was she ran as if the line were a blazed trail before her. The rabbits were making a few circles and then hightailing it out for a large circle clear out of hearing in an attempt to out foot her. Nothing worked and she accounted for every rabbit of the day with virtually no help from her pack mates. There was nothing they COULD do, she left nothing undone. Hounds started dropping out of the pack in search of their own rabbits. They realized that they were badly outclassed and if they wanted to get any work done at all they could not do it with Dody in the pack; so they all left to run their own rabbit in a pack while Dody continued to run hers solo. The result was that Dody still ran as she had with the pack behind her and the rest of the pack now on their own rabbit did not run as well as Dody. Proof that she was by far the better hound on that day. Dody just continued to pound her rabbit all over the country side with out checks, she was in complete control of the line at all times never straying off of it for any reason. Going as fast as the conditions allowed, which was flat out, ..

Dody would run flat out fast and then trot then walk and then run flat out again as the conditions dictated all in the same run so as to keep constant contact and control of the line. The result of her constant changing of gears where and when necessary resulted in much more progress on the line than was attained by other hounds who lacked her range of speed. For example the hounds who would not gear down when the conditions in that part of the course dictated that they do so resulted in a check for them while Dody, although slower, would actually accomplish more and end up in the lead again when she failed to check where her pack mates did and she kept the line going. On the other hand hounds who would not increase foot where the conditions allowed were left behind.

She was one to remember and she taught me plenty about hound ability, speed and conditions. With her, speed was not an issue conditions were; because speed was dictated by the existing conditions. Her foot speed was as varied as the conditions of the day and never again will I look for a certain speed in a hound but rather I will look for the intelligent hound who adjusts speed to suit the existing conditions. So positive and controlled were her actions that she rarely failed. She was easily over looked because she made everything that she did look effortless. Nothing seemed difficult to her and as a result she sometimes looked like she was not working real hard but in reality she was accomplishing where other more flashy looking hounds failed. That is the way with good ones in my experience; they just make the difficult appear easy.

Dody has passed away but has left a legacy in her progeny that will live forever. Her young daughter Natalie is showing the intelligence of her dam and with her I am hopeful to get a hound near as good as Dody to pass those gifts to future generations and maybe if luck is with me another, as good or better as Dody herself. I'll never forget her.