Well if he is going to be a running catch dog I would consider him not a very good one, too much barking because of the hound, and that bite and bark and bite will give you guys in OHIO runnings hogs before you ever get alot of hunting time. Why not just bay them? then shoot or catch whats the point of chasing them? If you are a hound guy that likes to liten to dogs in a chase I guess it would be good. Our goal here is to get em bayed, get em caught and then go get another or go home. WE don't like to make a long chase.
IF That was my own personal dog, I would not put a vest, on him I wan't him to earn to respect a hog, bay when it needs baying, if its standing still Bay it, if it runs try to stop it. when it stops DON"T harrass it until it runs again bay it till the handler gets there to catch or shoot it. Thats what hunting is to me.
Yes a bad hog to teach them pups to respect and quit harrassing it. The pups look good but are harrassing the hog and then mock hunts to get them to trailing finding and baying- NO Biting- until its time to catch it, catching means COMMITTED, latched on and not turning loose, no regripping, anything in between is a problem dog that causes headaches for me the hunter and passes on bad habits to other dogs.
Yes I do own a dog that will bay and catch solid, but if he played and nipped the hog in between making the committment of catching I would cull him. My other dogs bay, or catch not messing up my or breaking my bays.
Ugly, I hope you have considered that I am not going out in the Ohio woods with just those two pups. I have Two bay dogs and a catch dog. Those are the first pups we have trained and they are 6 months old and been in a baypen 5 weeks. Ohio Feral hogs run and run and run and run. I have never heard from the dog hunters I know here of a pig ever stopping to challenge a dog. Could it happen... sure. Some guys here use 3/4 pointer and 1/4 pit so there dog can run for miles to catch a pig. We have been using dogs for 3 months and a running catch dog will be an effective dog here, why? We are in southern Ohio. We have about 500 hogs in a 50 square mile national forrest with mountains and briars. This aint Texas and short range cur dogs will not work here. These pigs are deep in the brush with thickets and mountains. We dont have massive 20000 acre tracts of flat range with about 100000 hogs. I do hear what your saying, these pups prolly wont work in texas. But the good thing is at 6 months they absolutely know the smell and taste of a pig and thats all they know. They are half hound which means they will go deeper than a cur. I have hunted here with guys that bought dogs from florida, texas and georgia. Florida dogs dont work here. Georgia dogs dont work here. A deep going Catahoula might. But we need nose and a dog with an unrelenting drive to catch a hog and the grit to stand toe to toe. I do have a question; You keep giving me a criteria for my pups that sounds like a finished bay dog, What do your pups do at six months? Did the first pups you ever trained meet the same criteria that your holding for mine? We need a hound as a strong foundation in our pack and if that means having an open mouth dog.... so what. A caught pig is a caught pig. Let me finish with this, I need help learning hog dogging, I ask for it, I take advice, Please understand I am not where your at, I am taking baby steps. But I dont have alot of help here. Just this forum and LSHD forum. I dont have ten buddies with bay pens and mean hogs. I have the only bay pen in my county. The farmers here sell 90% of their hogs to 4H and dont want them tore up. So do I lay down and die?
