Hounds to the hunt

As I have mentioned before, we have hounds, and since having knee surgery, it has been my habit  to take them to the off leash dog park near our home early in the morning.The rationale for this is simple: there are fresher scents on the ground in the morning. Hounds are scent dogs. if you do not know what the significance of that is, I will enlighten you: their sense of smell is considered almost 10,000 times more developed than that of a human. in fact, their sense of smell is better than their eyesight. Hounds were bred, originally, to follow the scent of the prey and sound the alarm for the hunters that were higher up visually, usually on horseback with guns so that they could shoot the prey that the hounds had flushed.. For the modern day hound owner, at least those of us who are non-hunting suburban dwellers, this is problematic at best. I neither ride horses or hunt, so my hounds behaviour is at best entertaining and at worst, down right frustrating and annoying. Why? because, when a hound has caught the scent of game, be it rabbit, deer,raccoon, or whatever, nothing and I mean nothing, will get them off their quest. Nose to the ground, they will sing out their find to the others following the trail wherever it goes.
Small game rarely travels in a straight line from one spot to another, so without looking where they are going, the hounds follow the trail back and forth around never once seeing the progress or the fact  that they  have covered the same ground 20 times without stopping.there is no point calling them to come when they have the scent. Apparently, their sense of smell is directly related to their ability to obey and their hearing is selective. (not unlike some of their owners!)
so why would i be encouraging this behaviour and why would I get out of bed early, just to experience it? Simple, these hounds will run themselves silly, tiring themselves out, noses to the ground, without me walking a step. I sit on the bench, enjoy the coffee and the morning, confident that by the time we leave they will be exhausted for the rest of the day with their tongues lazily lolly gagging from their jaws.
It occurred to me, as I watched them, that some people's behaviour is comparable to my hounds. the remain single minded  on following their path twisting and turning, never looking up to see if the goal is there or if they have gone in circles.
Max loves to tell the story  of how, when walking the dogs in the winter, they flushed a deer. it was no more than 10 feet from them, but Mango, the oldest, supposed deer hound, never noticed the deer. Instead, snout firmly planted in place, she moved back and forth, yelling about where the deer had been.
We have all known that person; whether as a co-worker, relative, in-law or friend, they are the ones who never focus on the future or look up at what is right in front of them. Instead, the keep going in circles following an old path, without ever catching what they were really looking for. the complaints about their failure to capture their prize or reach their goals are louder than the baying of my hound pack on the bunny trail. Yet, if they would just look up, follow the straight path or listen to those around them, they would stand a much better chance of achieving what they really wanted.
those of us who are closer to terriers and bulldogs in personality, frequently butt heads with the scent hounds in our lives. We are the "eyes on the ball, never give up" sorts. we see that ball flying through the air and we run towards it, catching it sometimes mid flight, before it ever hits the ground.
When I was younger, I always thought that if I was a dog, I would be a beagle. Inspired by Charles Shultz's Snoopy, I envisioned myself as the playful dog that hunted the red baron, pretended to be a vulture, and licked unsuspecting, annoying people. But, as the mother of a child with special needs, there is no place for a  hound that never lifts its head off the ground, yelling and going in circles. That personality might fly with rich divorcees or Yuppie hockey moms, but this job, my job, the job of successfully raising a physically challenged child who is also gifted, it calls for a mongrel; hopefully, one with a bit of terrier, mastiff, border collie and sometimes even pit bull.
 this life requires that your eyes are always up and focused on the horizon, thinking about what is coming next and at times, being prepared to fight with all you have to protect or assist your young.  of all the moms of kids with special needs that i have had the Honor to know in my life, there hasn't been a beagle in the bunch and we are darn proud of it. After all, we would be of little or no value to our kids if we were always going in circles.

Maybe that is why I own hounds. Their ridiculous and sometimes pointless antics entertain me and show me that though it might have been easier, with less pressure to be the one that never looks up and just tells the guy on the horse where to shoot; it is much more fun to be the one that has the ability to catch the ball mid air while never taking your eyes off it!