well...I am starting to see some good topics...the kind I like... like this one...
EXPECTATIONS...my expectations of the dogs I have right now are set quite a bit lower than my old line of dogs because I don't really have a choice at the moment...but I will talk in the present tense about my old pack/line of dogs that I hope to breed back up one day not too far off in the future...
I like having the confidence that my dogs can hunt with any top ranked hog dog and look as good...What I consider great dogs some folks wouldn't want because of the never quit kind of dogs I like...Jesse Paul hunts the type I like...
If I see fresh sign I guarantee the dogs will find the hog...if it is a big place and a hog is in it the dogs will probably find it...but part of making these dogs excel has to do with proper handling and guidance... like knowing the place and hunting where the hogs could be and hunting cross wind or into the wind...and giving the dogs every opportunity to line out the track by stopping the 4 wheeler and waiting for them to strike or come back...this teaches the dogs to work colder tracks...
I like the dogs to track a fair distance to bay or jump the hog and then run the hog as far as needed to stop and bring it to bay...Like Wilbanks said...In the summer the dogs might get out ran because of the heat...Winter time is a different story...I like quite a bit of grit which is a fault of mine but I like it...one dog of this type can stop many hogs and 3-5 can break a bay in the thick briars but caught hog in the open country...
I expect the dogs to go deep in a thick thick briar patch to locate and bay a hog...not to quit in these briars and look elsewhere unless I call the dogs out...
I like a medium to colder nose but a dog that prefers a hotter track...I encourage the dogs to take a colder track and work it out...
I like a dog that runs the track fast with his head up and looking and listening for the hog...I like a long range winding dog...and one that makes a quarter mile circle to the left and comes by and looping back to the right side...If I don't move the dogs will keep going to find a pig but as long as I keep moving they will keep hunting with me...
I don't like a dog that wants to keep reminding the other dogs that he is the boss (aggression), I don't like a dog that hunts way out there for himself and I don't care for a dog that doesn't pack up...
BUT I BELIEVE AN HONEST DOG MAN EVALUATES HIS EXPECTATIONS ON A REGULAR BASIS...if a certain dog is not hunted for a while and it quits because it is over heating then this is not the dogs fault...just one example of evaluating expectations...the dog is out of shape because it is not hunted enough or because it is over weight...
I like for a dog to open 2 or 3 times when it locates a good track to draw in the pack and then shut up until the hog is bayed...
