EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

To some of you new guys .

Just because a dog wont work in a bay pen don't mean he wont work in the woods !

I run across this allot on the phone!  One of the best dat blame find dogs I ever seen would not even look at a hog in a bay pen !  Don't be so judgmental ! It may cost you a hell of a dog !

and some just ain't got it in em last dog i got. couldn't get him to walk in the woods put him in a pen and he stepped on a rock and ran back to me haha and on top of that only barked from a distance. about 20 yards

That is very true best dog I have seen would not work in a bay pen but u put him in woods never stoped

 X2 cant tell anything about a dog in a bay pen. I got a hound thats straight catch in a baypen but in the woods she dont hardley put teeth on one.

The only time I take a dog to my pen is when he is learning what a hog is .   Once he is on fire he never goes back .  Other than that a pen is useless to me .

sometimes if a dog don't look at a hog in the pen it could be a cull for sure...other times it can be one heck of a hog dog...seen both types...more than likely the latter have been over trained in the pen at one time or another and/or they learned the difference between the woods and the pen.

Depends on the size of the pen some people have 300 acre pen.

My thoughts are all over the place on this. The first dog I payed good money for was 10 months old. I bought him to hunt and he did a fine job, struck his own hog first time I hunted him with my pack. Turned out to be jam up in the pen and I retired him from the woods. I have seen seasoned hunting dogs, first time in pen not do anything or just bay from a distance. I have seen seasoned hunting dogs go straight in and catch. I have seen pups (4 to 6 months) never get tight in a pen no matter how much they were worked end up being fine woods dogs.
I think a lot of hunters just don't introduce their dogs to hogs in a pen properly... But that's a whole different thread!

Thank you for posting this. You GD bunch of stu____________________________________!! I can't stand nothing more than reading or hearing someone say I picked up this dog took it straight to the bay pen and he didn't do nothin. _______ is a lying piece of crap & a dog jockey.

Some of these lil turds need to get out of the play pen and into the woods.

Yes there are some dog jockeys, but do you really not know dogs? I've got one gyp who would make some ------- their pants with envy but you try going in to a bay if she don't know you she's liable to leave you and the hog to get aquanted. Maybe you picked a crapy dog, but give it some time to adjust to you before you go trashing someone in public.

and like some mentioned, some bay tight and are catchy in the pen but can be loose baying in the woods.

The pen is good for teaching a  pup to bay a hog and at least they learn that that is what we want...I also like the pen for a young dog that is already hunting to get in there and learn how to bay and "STOP" a hog, and the pen gives the dog experience and confidence. It is a great tool when done right...

KevinN

Thats a very good comment for sure .  I think a lot of it is a person has got to have a feel for a dog and how he is and how he working.  Now I know there is a lot of people think they have that feel but sometimes I really wonder.  You know a dog can be ruined in a pen and then again a dog can find his stride in a pen and it is a great tool for getting a young dog to going. I think a lot of people take it to the extremes n some cases and then again some people don't know what to much is and what to less is .  Its a tool that I use to get my first looks at my dogs a sort of a gauge .  A feel for a dog and his working is something a person is born with .   I know some great great old dog men that will tell you a man with a feel for a dog is way way ahead of the game.  

i think bay pens are the most overrated way of training a dog... alot of times i think the owner is just to lazy to lay down a track and make the dog work so they throw him in a bay pen... imo a man should never buy a dog on seeing him work in a pen unless he wants just a pen dog... i put my best dog in a pen the other day trying to train a cd and he wouldnt do a dang thing... dont try to make a woods dog by using a bay pen if you ask me

Dang T-Bob, let us know how you really feel. :D

I couldn't agree more though. I hate hearing ppl say well I bought this dog yesterday afternoon, and took him to the woods ( or pen) last night and he wouldn't do crap. Well no wonder man the dog just got handed to a person it's never seen and taken miles and miles from home to a new place. Dropped in the woods with dogs, and ppl it doesn't know of course it's not gonna show out its still shell shocked from everything. I say if your gonna buy a dog, go hunt it pay for it in the woods. Take it home and put it in the kennel for a week or two at least, and let it get to know you and your dogs before expecting it to work for you.

Let me clarify a bit why I take such offence to this attitude. A very good friend of mine had young pit cur cross and he GAVE it to a young man who found him on here. The lil turd loaded this dog and another that my friend gave him ( that's 2 free dogs ) and headed straight back to shiner. He then immediately
Put the dog ( who by the way was  only maybe 9 months old) ( and was givin as started) in his pen and when it didn't live up to his hopes and dreams, he called and cursed out my bud as well as cursing the dog. He continued to curse and be a general buttmunch over the whole ordeal & to my knowledge, still is a lil buttmunch!!!!

I don't nessarily agree with bashing people, I do think there should be some way to warn fellow doggers about traders or people just continuously selling sh!t dogs without running them in the ground. I personally bought a dog on trail, got a trail agreement and still got screwed cause when I called him back to tell him his dog wasn't what he said he changed his number. Was there more precautions I could have taken maybe, but I got stuck with a dog that wasn't worth the money I payed. On that note, I did not and will not put him on blast but I think there should be a way that other people can be warned to be cautious about this person. JMO

i say it should be handled man to man and no over the phone or internet.

x2

Good one tx!  I dont think most of the ones making these claims have ever hunted behind a good dog or would even know it if they did!    Whats the old saying "you cannot fix stupid!"   Im not saying this applies to all but it does to some.

Couldn't agree more the best dog I have would bay in the bay pen and he is going on six now and he still ain't good in the pen but he is grate in the woods.