FROM THE HIGH PLATEAU OF THE ALLEGHENY
and
THE WORLD HEADQUARTERS OF THE BIG WOODS HARE HUNTERS of the ALLEGHENY
"MY LIFE ON THE ALLEGHENY"
Published in the March 2019 issue of the american beagler magazine the article is presented here for your reading pleasure with authority of the author.
MY LIFE ON THE ALLEGHENY!
From the High Plateau of the Allegheny of
Western Pennsylvania
Writing and
photography by the
High HareMan
Of the Allegheny
High Plateau
Joe Ewing
This past summer my little beagle, Aero, whelped a litter of
the most beautiful beagle puppies I’ve ever seen. I’m a backyard breeder and
proud of it. I raise puppies only when I or a beagling friend is in need of a
new hound. I do not breed beagles just for the sake of breeding. I’m proud of
the puppies I raise and I’ve had good success. I enjoy it. I try to be very
selective in my breeding program. I sell or give away my surplus and I know
I’ve made many hunters and families happy over the years. I give fellow
beaglers preferred consideration. I want to see my puppies owned by real
beaglers and grow up to be real rabbit hounds.
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| Aero & litter only a few days old. Music is on the heating pad, 3rd from the right. |
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| Aero and her litter only nine days old. |
I’ve worked hard on my breeding program to assure
high-quality genetics will be passed along and concentrated in every dog I
sell. When the last puppy departed my kennel for its new home, I wished I had more
perfectly healthy puppies to sell so I could make even more families and
hunters happy. I guarantee every
puppy I sell for life. Each and every puppy
will always have a home in my kennel. That's a sacred pledge I make to the
puppy the day it’s born. If the new owner can't keep it or no longer wants it, I’ll
gladly take it back. I’ll willingly refund every penny they paid. That’s the
promise I give to the buyer with every handshake.
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| Aero's litter finishing up on their very first meal. Music is second from the top. |
I wish I could raise more puppies but I can’t for the life of
me figure out how to do it without going completely bankrupt. It makes me happy
when I sell a puppy. I see nothing wrong with being a capitalist. It would be
nice to be a winning capitalist though. I wish I could sell more puppies and
make some money. I almost broke even this year. Whelping puppies is only the half
of it. Next comes the expense of feeding, training, raising, housing, hunting,
trialing and on and on. Little wonder I’m poor. The best part of it is, I now have
a beautiful female beagle to raise and train named Muzette Mountain Music.
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| Music, just a few days old. |
On the High Plateau of the Allegheny the wild snowshoe hare runs best when the cold winds blow and the snowpack deepens.
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| Music at nearly four weeks old. |
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| Meet the sire. James Creek Beagles Sidney Crosby. |
My beagles are hunting dogs. I try to breed and raise them to
withstand the extreme conditions found on the High Plateau of the Allegheny. I
train only intelligent battle worthy athletes. The operative word here is
“try.” They must be able to withstand some of the most inhospitable weather conditions
and terrain in the world. On the High Plateau of the Allegheny the wild
snowshoe hare runs best when the cold winds blow and the snowpack deepens. My
hounds must maintain a thick winter coat, a good layer of fat, strong muscles,
exceptional heart and lungs and a deep desire to run the varying hare. They
must be able to track hare at temperatures at minus-25 degrees or lower. No
weak or timid need apply. The more cerebral the better. A sluggish thinking
hound could never survive on his own on the High Plateau. Not all the beagles I
raise measure up.
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| Author's granddaughter, Alayna, with lemon and white puppy many years ago. |
I’m not saying I’ve always had the greatest of success.
Genetic imperfections have suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The unfortunate fact is, despite
my best efforts, some conditions and diseases are simply hereditary. These
imperfect beagles will never be allowed to breed in my kennel or anybody else’s
if I can help it.
There is not one person on this earth who can guarantee a
puppy will make even a fair hunting dog and especially a hare hound. High prices
and long lists of quality ancestors are far from a guarantee. Some of the best
hare hounds I’ve reared have been grade dogs. Making a puppy into a quality
hunting dog is like investing my money in the stock market. It takes a long
time to know if my investments are paying off or worse. Long hours of field
training and hard work might turn out well, but other times, not so well. After
spending countless hours in the field with a young dog the unthinkable sometimes
happens. An accident or a terminal illness will dash all hopes and dreams. Unbiased
reflection on my hound’s progress will prove challenging. The guy who said,
“that dog won’t learn a thing sitting in the kennel” had it right.
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| One of my first litters. Blacky, Bailey and Patch turned out to great hare hounds. |
Raising beagles is my very impassioned hobby. I do my utmost to take care of every aspect of my beagle’s lives. My beagles rely on me for everything from food to vaccine. I consult with my veterinarian only on an as needed basis. Like I mentioned before, I can’t figure out how to do it without going bankrupt. Staying away from the veterinarian’s office as much as possible is my way of beginning.
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| Patch whelped only two puppies. Lucky was born naturally but Gracie had to be taken by caesarean delivery. |
Feed may be one of my most confusing and exasperating aspects
of taking care of my beagles. I’m not even going to mention expensive. There
are volumes of unfiltered internet and magazine articles floating around everywhere
about the best food to feed. The pet food stores are packed with row after row
and shelve after shelve of various brands of dog foods. All of these foods
contain clever marketing slogans and fancy packaging intended to convince me
they are the best. TV commercials pray on my emotions. Years ago, I followed the
advice to feed nothing less than 27 percent protein and 15 percent fat to my
highly active hounds. I currently feed 30 percent protein and 20 percent fat.
The advice paid off. My Speckles hound passed away this year at the ripe old age of one month shy of 16 years, a long life for a hunting beagle.
Just contemplate for one moment, almost 16 years of chasing cottontail and hare
in all kinds of weather and on all kinds of terrain. She was even lost for seven
days one time. Speckles was both tough and smart. Did I ever breed her? No.
Years ago, I read in this magazine or one like it, a series
of articles authored by the well-known beagler, George Blane. Blane was a
highly respected old-time dog breeder of fame and notoriety. When Blane wrote I
listened. In a May 1991 issue, Blane went into great detail about vaccinations
and how to administer vaccines to both dogs and puppies. Even though I knew dog
owners who gave their own shots, I’d never tried it myself. I found everything
he wrote to be thought-provoking and fascinating. The coup de grâce was when Blane wrote, “There is no
reason whatsoever for any of us to have to carry our hounds to the vet for
vaccinations. It is so easy and effective for each of us to do it ourselves.”
In that same article
Blane talked about internal parasites and the use of “Ivermectin”. He wrote about
Ivermectin, “the greatest discovery in
canine health that I am personally aware of. Pretty high praise, huh?” High
praise indeed! Blane wrote in detail about heartworms, tape worms, external
parasites and how to combat them. He wrote in plain down to earth words even I
could understand. His series was outstanding and I couldn’t get enough. I could
see from Blane’s writing he wasn’t pretending to be something he wasn’t. He was
a beagler of experience. I saved many of those articles and I refer to them
often. I have been living Blane’s choruses ever since.
In November of 1995,
after a writing hiatus, George Blane broke the news to the world, if not to the
world at least to me, about a product called, “Valbazen®”. In January of 1996,
in a supplemental article, Blane went into even more detail about Valbazen®. I
soon became hooked on the product. I’ve been using Valbazen® in my adult hounds
and especially my puppies ever since. I attribute great success in raising
healthy puppies to this product. I suppose there are other products out there
which are just as good, but, most of them are available only from my vet and they
are costly.
In the
words of the late John Yates, founder of the American Sporting Dog
Alliance, “My life is filled with love and joy and beauty, and I owe
most of it to my dogs. They have helped to keep me sane when sanity was not a
given. They have given me courage on the days when all I wanted to do was lie
down and quit. They have given me strength to endure on the days when all I
wanted to do is run away and hide. I owe them my life.” Note: The
American Sporting Dog Alliance was created by John Yates. John died September 15, 2009. The American Sporting Dog Alliance
represented owners, breeders and professionals who work with breeds of dogs
that are used for hunting. John
wrote extensively on the topic of dog owner rights.
I take great pride in my
puppies and in my beagles. It’s difficult, sometimes frustrating work, but I
love it. Next comes the challenge of making Music into a hard-working snowshoe
hare hound which I will do before another litter is considered.
I’ve cherished my time
chasing snowshoe hare with the beagles I’ve raised over these many years. I’ve
enjoyed witnessing their progress through the whole process whether I own them
or not. One of greatest pleasures in my life is listening to the beagles I’ve
whelped, raised and trained as they pound a hot hare track in one of the
greatest places in the world, the High Plateau of the Allegheny.
Included with the above article was a companion piece called "Valbazen".
The article is included here with added information.
I've included dosage information at the end of this article which was not included in the magazine article.
VALBAZEN®
What
is Valbazen? Valbazen is a registered trademark of Zoetis Animal Health (formerly Pfizer
Animal Health). Valbazen is a broad
spectrum dewormer containing 11.36% albendazole (a.k.a. albendasolum). It’s claimed to control more internal parasites than any
other product on the market in both humans and animals. Valbazen is effective against all major roundworms, liver flukes,
lungworms and tapeworms in cattle. Albendazole is an effective treatment for
the most common type of
tapeworms only. It is not effective for Taenia
pisiformis tapeworms. It is sold at many animal supply houses
without a prescription.
Ivermectin, another
product for parasites in dogs, is commonly used for the control of heartworm
and a variety of different diseases and parasitic infections and is found in
many commercial products (Heartguard®). Valbazen
has no effect on heartworms and Ivermectin
has no effect on tapeworms. As a general rule,
there is no wormer out there that gets them all.
Valbazen and
Ivermectin have reportedly been used
effectively as a treatment for Coccidiosis
or Giardia in puppies.
Here is what I do for my beagles, it works for me, but might
not work for everyone. First of all, Valbazen is not recommended in dogs. Any use of a
product that is not clearly defined on the label directions is called “off
labeling” and should be avoided and used only under supervision of a
qualified veterinary professional. Valbazen
is very effect on tapeworms and on many types of intestinal parasites in dogs,
however, there are claims of side effects in dogs. The
information presented here is not meant to replace your vet's advice or
prescribed medications. The information contained here is only my opinion. There
is no substitute for a good Vet. Visit yours regularly.
I’ve been using Valbazen
in my fight against tapeworm infestations in my beagles since 1995. Almost twenty-four
years of constant and continuous combat and I’ve never experienced any side
effects. My beagles are constantly exposed to internal parasites in the field
so I use Valbazen as a preventative
or prophylactic medicine in my adult hounds year-round. I’ve used Valbazen in numerous litters of puppies.
I’ve used Ivermectin
in the past; however, I live far enough north and have never heard of or
experienced heartworm in my neighborhood so I discontinued using it. Ivermectin is powerful stuff! Some hounds-men
combine Ivermectin and Valbazen; however, I caution against
combining the two because of widely differing dosage amounts.
Ivermectin reportedly
is used to treat various other parasite-related conditions like demodectic and
sarcoptic mange, and ear mites. Although I can’t prove it, I believe Valbazen is also effective on many other
types of conditions not mentioned.
I carefully avoid overdosing. More is
not better. Higher
dosages tend to have high risks of complications and potential side effects. I give Valbazen orally, not under the skin (subcutaneously). I treat each hound not more than once every 30 days as a
prophylactic. If and when I see worm segments, I treat that beagle two days in
a row. I’ve never had to treat more than two days. Valbazen is claimed
to be effective treatment for common tapeworms only. It is not effective for Taenia pisiformis tapeworms, although I’m
not sure of this claim either.
I do not give Valbazen
to pregnant or lactating females. It is best to have potential mothers clear of
intestinal parasites before breeding. If the potential mother is infested, she
will pass the worms and illnesses to her puppies and this is not good.
I worm my puppies with Valbazen at two weeks of age and again every two weeks until the
puppies are 12 weeks old. The dosage is given by weight. I invested in a scale and
I weigh my puppies painstakingly before worming.
Coccidiosis and Giardia are parasitic diseases of the intestinal tract. These diseases spread from one animal
to another by contact with infected feces or ingestion of infected tissue.
Diarrhea, which may become bloody in severe cases, is the main symptom. Most
animals infected with coccidia show
no symptoms, but young or immunocompromised (sick) animals may suffer severe
symptoms and death.
I’ve never experienced either of these parasitic killers in my kennel although I did lose an eight-week-old puppy
I’d purchased from a breeder. After I brought the puppy home, the otherwise healthy-looking
puppy became sick with bloody diarrhea and quickly died. This was before I
became aware of Valbazen. I have no
doubts Valbazen could have saved the
puppy we had temporarily named Poopsy. I’ve lost many night’s sleeps thinking
about the puppy which took its last breath in my wife’s arms.
Valbazen costs approximately $50.00
for a 500ml bottle with shipping and handling. At this price it’s very cost
effective per dose. There are so many tapeworm medications on the market it
boggles my mind. Whether they are as effective or more effective than Valbazen I have no idea. I do know they
cost considerably more.
This information is what I’ve learned over the years
and what I’ve gleaned from the internet and other sources about Valbazen. This product is one of the ways
I’ve been able to kennel multiple beagles and raise numerous puppies without
going completely bankrupt. I’m in no way recommending the product. Just thought
you might like to know.
Thanks for listening. Happy beagling.
The following information was not included in the magazine article.
The information presented here is not meant to replace your vet's advice or prescribed medications.
Like I said, I've been using Valbazen for almost 25 years with no side effects or ill effects of any kind. I give the amounts recommended by George Blane.
I use Valbazen as a preventative or prophylactic medicine in my adult hounds year-round. I give each hound 3.0cc/ml Valbazen orally every thirty days or 1.0cc per 10 pounds of body weight. I never give any more often than thirty days or more than 3.0cc. I will go past thirty days but never more often. If I see worm segments in the dogs stool I will then give 3.0cc/ml two days in a row. I've never had to give more often than two days and I would never attempt to give more than three days in a row. If the worms persist you may need to buy something stronger. I use a 3ml syringe which can be purchased locally. I carefully avoid overdosing. More is not better. Higher dosages tend to have high risks of complications and potential side effects.
In puppies I start using Valbazen when the puppies are two weeks old. At 2 weeks old I give each puppy 0.2cc. orally. That is 2/10s of a cc not any more. The only way I know to measure 2/10cc or ml is by using a 1ml diabetic syringe. A bag full of syringes can be purchased at Walmart for around $10. Ten syringes can be purchased for $6. This should be enough syringes to last a lifetime. Or, any diabetic should be willing to give up a syringe. Make sure the needle is disposed of properly.
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| 1ml syringes from Walmart. |
At four weeks of age I give each puppy 2/10cc (0.2ml).
At six weeks of age I weigh each puppy and give no more than 0.1cc/ml per pound. Example: If the puppies weighs 3.5 pounds I will give that puppy 0.3ml/cc Valbazen.
I do the same at 8 weeks, 10 weeks, 12 weeks and 14 weeks (0.1cc/ml per pound). I then start the puppy on his monthly routine. I still do not give more than 1.0cc per ten (10) pounds.
