EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

Have couple acres fenced in with hog for pups 3 to 6'months i keep hog in trap to bark at . once 5/6 months old turn hog loose in pen to find and bay hog . Anyone have any diff ways or tips of raising successful pups ? lets hear it...

I have adopted a couple from Mr. Reuben, mainly his scent and trailing training/conditioning techniques. I believe he uses liver, I tweaked it a bit and wait til I kill a hog, I'll feed the pups scraps off the hog for a few days and get them to where they love it. I save the ears and tail off the hog and will tie em to a piece of rope and drag it from just outside of my pen back into the woods behind my house and wait a bit then let the pups go, you would be suprised at how well some use their noses at 10-12wks old. I will do this a few times, each time I will drag the trail a bit farther and wait a bit longer before letting the puppies out. After i've done this a couple times I don't mess with em much more until they are ready to go to the woods. I have 4 off the ground kennels that I keep the pups in until they are 8-10weeks old then I put em on the ground in a 1/2 acre fenced pen. I will wait til I or someone I know traps a little shoat 20 or so pounds and then drop it in with the puppies......the show is usually hilarious........puppies charge piglet, piglet fights back and the game of puppy/ pig tag commences hahaha. After they have been introduced to a small pig i generally wait til they are big enough to go to the woods then just start running em with the big dogs. I have found out over the years that 99% of the time a dog either has it or he doesn't, bottom line.......when they can keep up I put em in the woods and let em do their thing, they either work or they don't. the ones that work go and the ones that don't, well you know what happens to them.

Same as Justin for most part. It IS fun to watch, lol.

Justin...I used the ear or a hock to drag around and that is better...but over the years I just learned that liver works great just to teach the pups to wind and trail...but really it is to see who has the natural ability...I just feed them a few hog ears and meaty hog bones as pups to get them to like hog...I do use hunger as an incentive as well...

Also take pups without grown dogs to woods when 4-5 months old and turn em loose to see who has that natural inclination to want to go make a round in the woods...I look for natural in case I want to breed one of the pups on down the road...

and like Justin is doing...don't have to do it 3 or 4 times a week of 3 months...just 4 or 5 times and that will do in most cases...because either they have it or they don't...about the way I see it...

but as a young man I staged hunts which also included rig hunting where the pups winded off the back of the truck...just let your imagination be your guide...  :) just don't over do it and burn the pups out...make it fun for them...