"Better than what I got"

Well, hunting time is important but I got a dog back from my brother that was 2 years old and he was a back yard dog since he was 10 weeks old. I already had him baying shoats and trailing short drags as a pup. My Brother was going to make a blood trailing dog out of him but never started training.

At 2 years of age I put him in a bay pen twice in one week and took him to the woods and he was striking hogs from then on. He was as good as my other dogs within a month or two.

My opinion is that we can't train long range winding ability or cold trailing if the dog is not inclined to do so. We can't train hunting range or the ability to strike and find hogs. I believe that thru repetition and training we can bring out the best in a dog and his ability is dependant mostly by genetics.