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I was just wondering what trait do you think is the most desired and hardest to keep when breeding for a beardog?

(balance) of all desired traits .

I agree. Balance is key. Some of those "one trick ponies" that have speed, or nose, or grit - at the end of the day come home empty handed because they lacked something somewhere. The dog that is under the tree, day in and day out, no matter the circumstances is the real deal, and has all the tools it needs. I think "the total package" is the hardest thing to breed true.

You both are very right but is there one thing that a majority of hounds fall short on i know different places add a whole lot to it but i see alot of breads cant catch a little running bear they dont have the speed or endurance. Jmo

i think most bear hunters arent going to keep and breed to bearhounds without some kind of speed.no bearhunter likes to get outrun.the dogs doing the catching are usually the ones breeding. they cant bite them if they cant catch them.there are alot of dogs out there that are just plain scared of a bear or a dud. that is probably the biggest deciding factor overall on what gets them removed from the pack/breeding program.it still goes back to keeping balance and adding what your line is missing though . i have seen houndsman do extremely well with dogs that individually are unbalanced, but added something to the pack to balance very well for catching bear .

The toughest thing to find in a bear dog is one with a wicked cold nose that can jump tough fall cold traveling tracks and then stick on rough bear by itself until you can get help in to them. Speed is nice, but around here you don't need it for the bears you want to catch in the fall.

The toughest thing to find in a track dog is one that will cold trail down the blacktop.

Relentless track pressure