Tips for training a bay pen dog

I really enjoyed this thread Julie, especially seeing different peoples opinions. I agreed with several parts of their responses. Yes, I do believe that a great dog has to be bred that way but I also believe that if you don't work and train that dog right it will never reach its full potential. Just like in the woods it takes alot of work and time to have a great pen dog. I think that for some dogs all the time and training you can put in them will never make them great. So for me they either have it or they don't, but if they do have it, your job as a handler is to bring out the best in the dog. Its not just knowing your dog either, you need to quickly assess the hog when it comes out, determine how to handle your dog on that hog to showcase it at its best, and know how hard and how far you can push your dog. For alot of people they think its just turning a dog loose and watching, ask Gilbert if there's not a big difference in the way the dogs are handled from the people consistantly taking home trophies. I enjoy both the woods and the pen but they really have become as different as a rodeo is to earning a living on a ranch. I think your dog lacks confidence by herself in the 1-dog. I watched her at tnt and she shows a strong desire to work the whole hog. Set up hogs are getting rarer all the time in the bay pen so thats a plus for a dog like yours. I would recommend not practicing her for a set time, just don't go over 4 min. Remember if you make a bay off thats normally what you have to go. Gilbert has my number, you can get it from him if you have any questions you think Autry or I might be able to answer. GOOD LUCK--Kelley