Good post. I personally would call a dog under 2 years old a pup. When we work pups, starting at 8wks is just basically exposing them to different environments, sounds and having them become socially sound. Gradually turning play in to practice, like ball drive and correcting their bite skill. Pre training starts until around 7 -8 months, which is when I believe you can determine if the pup has the drive to become a working dog or not. At a year old, you should make your decision, and have a good trainable dog to work with.
I like what you said about exposure/ pre-training.......... I tend to get a bit jumpy with my pups and start em on hogs earlier than most but I make sure it is controlled to eliminate any issues that may arise. It may not be a big a part of what makes a hogdog a hogdog but I sometimes feel folks don't put quite enough emphasis on the exposure/discipline side of things, to us the world is a huge place, imagine what its like for a pup that has never left its yard and had the chance to experience things for him/herself. We live in a small semi- rural primarily farming community, almost every evening my little girl wants to go for a ride on our buggy so I kill 2 birds with one stone, I keep the baby happy but I also toss a couple young dogs in the bed and let em ride along. I think it helps them out quite a bit honestly, by the time they are ready to hit the big woods they know how to act when clipped in the bed of the buggy and they have been exposed to just about every critter that they may run into while in a hunting scenario from donkeys and cows to goats and chickens and everything in between. I have noticed a difference in the pups that I have done this with versus the ones that I did not do it with, its nice to tote a pup to the woods and not have to deal with him acting like a pup raising hell and fightin the clip all day.
Glad to see this thread getting some action, look forward to reading more.
