Thanks guys. It doesn't happen every day but it is common. Hog hunting can sure put a dog out for a couple of weeks, and I'm not going to be sidelined when this happens. I decided years ago if I feed them they have to be able to produce pork, and they have to be breed worthy. I don't keep many dogs, so if I loose one I can breed the two I have and have more, or get one of their relatives that have been placed to breed to what I already have.
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I agree...we all should be striving for producing top performing dogs that produce consistently more of the same...it is hard to achieve consistency with scatter bred dogs...it is easy enough to produce a high percentage of good dogs when one lucks into a good line of dogs and one has culled hard for a few generations with these good dogs...a good breeder can get to the point of culling good dogs that are considered to be great dogs by some...what I mean by culling meaning not good enough to stay but good for someone else...at one time I had dogs like that...but don't have that now...now I only care for decent dogs and will slowly breed towards improvement...at my age I have to put away money and not spend like when I was a young man...I'll even take a help dog that brings something to the pack...what I thought were great dogs some would say they open on track (not good)...too long range...too much bottom...but I sure like it when I turn a few dogs like this in some big woods with just a few porkers in it and these dogs more often than not bay hogs...good dogs are good dogs no matter who owns them...
if more doggers took breeding seriously there would be a lot more good dogs out there...some of the best dog breeders spend weeks and/or months trying to decide which dogs to breed in there back yard/kennels...one can settle for ok or not be satisfied until they have made the best possible decision for making the right breeding...that is the first half of it...the second half is selecting and retaining the best pups for hunting and breeding...the cream will rise to the top...
