ruining a dog?

I think all dogs are different so different things will work/not work for each particular dog. My advice would be to put them on chains a little ways away from a pig at least until they are older and get things in the woods figured out.

And if your lacy is baying, don't put her in the pen very much. She needs to work to FIND pigs that she can bay. If you got pigs you can put in a bay pen. Drag them off a ways and make the dogs trail them. Your not supposed to find the dogs pigs, they are supposed to find you pigs. Once they get that down, you can work on them knowing what a penned hog is ect.

Lacys mature very slowly and need to see a lot of hogs. She may not really start coming around till three years old or later. Usually not the best dog for someone just getting started (weather you are or not, I don't know) because they take a lot of patients. But once she comes into her own, it will be worth the wait! For the first couple years, she may be nothin more than a decent help dog.

Don't feed the dogs crappy food, it ends up being more expensive anyways. If they "don't like" the good food, they will end up liking it when they get hungry.

I wouldn't feed at all right before a hunt. Dogs digestive system works different the people's. They are not getting any of the nutrition you feed them right before the hunt, especially from crappy food. I would try and give them extra food 24 hours before the hunt. In your case, extra eggs for the fat content which is good energy.

I'll give you an example of what I do. Say I'm gonna hunt a full weekend. I will feed Friday mornin heavy. Hunt all day sat, feed 1/3 ration (1 cup for my lacy) sat night after done hunting, hunt all day Sunday, feed heavy Sunday night. When I say feed heavy, that may be 1/3-2/3 of extra rations. For my lacy who gets 3 cups on a regular off day, she would get 4 or 5 cups after long hunts. Does she get sucked down a bit on this program? Yes, but she puts it right back on with a couple days off and has no problem goin 40+ miles a day for two days in a row.

This is what I have found out that works best for me. Play around with trying different things till you find what works best for you and your pack. Just get them in the woods in piggy areas as much as possible!