EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

Im going to build a baypen to train my pups next month and was wondering the best shape and size and the best way to use it. I was thinking round in shape so the hogs cant hang in the corner, and about 30 feet in diameter with hog paneling or plywood. and I was going to toss an experienced dog in with one pup at a time and if it went well maybe toss all the pups in together to give them that pack confidence. how long should I leave them in for, a few minutes. I guess its good to take them out while they are still fired up. I have a hundred pound sow, and a 150 lb boar, and some ten lb piglets. I also have a domestic pig thats around 40 lbs. I really want to use the piglets when they get around 50 lbs. Any advice would be appreciated, no one I know has done this before.

Biggest thing is don't let the pup get bored always pull him out while he is fired up and keep him wanting more


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A lot of folks don't like a  bay pen. I do. Especially for young dogs and keeping older dogs focused if not much hunting is going on. Sounds like you have the right idea. If you use cattle panels, I would go 1 and a half high. Or maybe run some 2x8's along the top. Them hogs can jump pretty high. I know a guy that set up a big trap and had a camera on it. He used cattle panels. He would go check the trap , have pictures of hogs but an empty trap. He wouldn't believe me when I told him they were jumping out. He swore up and down  they were getting the door open. Anyway, as far as how long to leave them in, I always like to pull a dog out when he's still fired up. I don't like to ever let them get bored. And I'm sure you know but don't wreck a pups confidence with a rough hog. It'd be like putting a coon on top of a hound pups head. He may not ever want to see a coon the rest of his life.They need it to be fun. encourage them. Also if you participate in Bay pen events. I like to make all kinds of racket, play the radio real loud, clap my hands and try to distract the dog until he don't pay any attention to anything but the hog. I probably just told you the obvious stuff you already know, but that's just my 2 cents worth.  Good luck and post some pictures of your pen.

Hanson posted while i was typing,  yes make the dogs go to bed hungry for more pork!!!!!!

I agree with whats been said...only thing I will add is after the pups has plenty of confidence to make sure that he also learns to respect a hog...learning respect in the woods could be the last thing he might learn...

I start them out very young riding on a 4 wheeler. I train mine in the woods. I only run one to two dogs at a time. After the youngster has been on a few I try to let it run solo and work things out on it's own as much as possible. I like my dogs to be independent and not have to rely on another dog to find & stop hogs for them.

How would I do that? by letting him in the pen with the hog alone after hes does well with the older dog?

I usually don't speak  for others,  but I think he means when he's comfortable around some "gentle" hogs and learns what a hog is and starts having fun with it, show him one that won't put up with any cap from a dog. Not a giant mean one, but maybe a good sow that will slap a dog around a little. It just let's the dog know that there's a risk to it and he / she needs to be careful and focused.

Crap. .. not cap !!! Dang auto correct on my phone !!!

Many years ago I started my pups on shoats...it wasn't long before they were getting very catchy...first time in the woods my best pup almost didn't make it out..

If they are baying and not catching then it will be ok...

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After a couple of times, I want my pups baying by theirself. I have no use for a dog that needs company to bay.

great input, definitely some stuff I hadnt considered. how big is a hog that is considered a shoat? I dont know which of my pigs is rougher than the others but I guess Ill start them out on the domestic and go up in size from there... how often would you train them in the pen and for how many months?

How old are your dogs? To me a shoat is anything up to 40 or 50 pounds. But the true definition of a shoat is much smaller than that. If there old enough and big enough to get catchy they may be rough on your domestic hogs. If that turns out to be the case they may need to be introduced to one of the wild ones. What kind of dogs are they?

I started my pups out with a little racing stripe pig at about 3 months old. I'd put them in a small pen with it for 5 minutes a day every 3rd day. They at first seemed to make friends with it, then they started getting bigger and playing rougher and that little 10 pound piglet big one of the pups on the ear, and the baying began. It took a couple times of that pig getting aggressive and then they'd start baying. To where at about 6 months they bayed a 40 pound boar hog right away. Sadly I only have 1 of the 4 pups left. 1 went coyote on me and the other 2 didn't make the cut. The pup I still have is 8 months and the first 100 pounder she saw she was in a pen with my older gyp. Well that older gyp went In and caught that hog and right as my pup went in to catch, that older dog came off and that sow sent my pup flying sky high. I was sure I had just ruined a dog, thought she'd never want to see a hog again. She made one big loop and got right back to baying in that sows face. She has been on one hog in the woods and did pretty well for me, but she has a long way to go.
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The ring necked dog is the one pup I have left

they are pit x mtn cur. they are about seven months now. Id post some pics if I could figure out how...

I have six pups from the litter all of them show potential and four of them are really something. It looks like a square pen works too. How small is too small when it comes to a training pen?

my pen isn't bigger than 1000 sq ft. But mine is also just a repurposed cattle feeding pen. Now my uncle has a 10 acre pen that's a big triangle wooded swamp land and he keeps anywhere from 5 to 20 hogs in there at a time. That's a real training pen not just a little bay pen like mine. Dogs actually have to go find the pig first

A 7 month old pit cross might already be pretty gritty on a pig. You'll just have to see. I had to create a photo bucket account (real easy) to upload pictures.