Whats the youngest finished dog you have seen?

[Bump]

A dog that you can count on to consistently produce hogs and bay ahead of the other dogs most of the time is gonna be about 4 years old IMO...    You can catch hogs with 1, 2 and 3 year old dogs but that sure enough dependable dog day in and day out is gonna be at least 4...

I agree with all of this except the age...to me...if the dogs consistantly produces hogs....the age doesnt matter. I think the term finished is more of a marketing tool than an actual meaning.

I dont know about the bulldogs teeth but from my vet....a dogs teeth do not "set". According to him.....once a dog has his adult teeth/canines...they are ready.

[uglydog]

This is one of those "funny" subjects to me, becuase as Kevin and many others state" Finished" is when they are done and can do no more for one reason or the other, dead or too bad shape to go anymore.
Most times I agree with this most times because two many times people call a dog that can afind a hog "Finished"
it needs to find alot of hogs to be finished in my Book, thats interpetation too, some people been hunting a year or two and think They have Caught "alot" of hogs, same difference, under 50 hogs is not alot of hogs. counting the pigs in the belly of a sow, don't count, and squealers are pigs not hogs.

You know any animal is always learning(including the human animal), but that does not always mean improving, so they don't quite learning until they are done.

So when they quit improving, maybe they are degressing? not doing as well as they did when they were in their prime? maybe because of injuries, arthritis, old age, cataracts or just got lazy? They may still be learning but not neccesarily getting any better than they were at a younger age? 

They very Best, Top Notch, finished to the top of their game, is what I would consider "Finished" dog to be, and then here is the kicker to that how will you know hat dog is at the top of their game, until it is past? It is now in their History.

Example: my husbands dog Sherry, OLD as dirt, still going sometimes, age has gotten the best of her, she is slow, she is grouchy does not want any young dogs near her while hunting, limps, got tumors, Eyes have signs of catracts, THE NOSE STILL WORKS better than it ever was, she can still find the ones the younger faster dogs dogs miss, if the hog will stand and bay for her she will find and bay it, and stay bayed until youcome get her, she is worn out to come back on her own now, she needs to catch a ride. I would say she is finished but not at her Best, those days are long gone.

Another example- My ugly Roo, 7.5 years Old, limps after the first hog or the first race, been consisteantly finding hogs since she was a year, I try to keep her close until she gets on something so she lasts longer into a hunt, She can and will rig it saves her legs. I like hunting her alot because she is good about getting the job done. However If I say she is Trash Broke, which 99% she is, but that one percent will come out to make a liar out of me. Is she finished? Well, I would say yes, her nose will get better but her speed and agility and temperment will only decline with time as it already has. I remember somebody telling me I should breed for longer lived dogs, well yes you breed better genetics, and sometimes it will work but dogs that get hurt, get rode hard and put up wet, as I call it with the way hog dogs sometimes the injuries contribute to health problems and shorten the overall longevity of the dog also. It don't mmatter how loose the dogs bays, it is no insurance the dog won't get get hurt or a fatality. To me a hog dog has to do what it has to do to get the job done, in order to be considered a hog dog, wether its started, getting warm, done, or finished.

[DangerZone]

finished = dead ??     finished = best it will ever be?  finished = needs no more training, ready to hunt?    finished = done sucking on it's moma's tit?       We need a hog dog dictionary to standerdize the vocabulary.....   

[-JB-]

I have seen a few that by 1 yr. of age were very good hog dogs and by 2 were pretty much finsished.

I say at 1 yr. I am just comparing their talent to other decent hog dogs. But at 2 yrs these dogs were very good and actually continued to get better with age as they aquired more experience.

To me hog dogs at 10 months should be showing lots of potential and at 14 months are doing real good and at 18 months are not finished but close and at 2 yrs are about finished. To me this is how a well bred hunting dog progresses. They should continue to improve until 3 or 4 yrs of age.

Catch dogs could be 1 yr or 2 yrs depending on the dog.

totaly agree, a dog in my book beter be finished by 2 or find another home

[BIG BEN]

totaly agree, a dog in my book beter be finished by 2 or find another home
[/quote]
 Thats pretty rough, You must have very fast starting dogs and they must not be cur dogs.

[clinton]

This is just my thought, there is no such thing as a finished strike dog, and the reason i say this is because if ur dog has hunted his whole life on black land, sand, are rock mountains, then they have never been introduced to the other planes. And ever though they might pick it up fast They will be a slight bet slower lining things out. Not saying a good dog cant do it but they wont be as fast as the place they were trained on, just my thought, u can always teach a 90 year old man sumthn new i belive its the same with a dog

[Coady Curbow]

If a dog is still progressing, then he or she is not finished.  A finished dog is at his or her peak.  They bring their A-game every time they hit the ground.  You can send a finished dog to check pups and if they open, then it is a hog.  I have never seen a dog that I would call finished that wasn't 3 or 3 and a half.  Most of the time my definition of finished and others' definitions don't mean the same thing.

[Reuben]

Well, looks like the big question that keeps popping up on this thread and probably could easily be a different subject is "When is the dog considered to be finished, if ever"?

I thought about it for a long while and this is what I think about that.

First we have different levels of finished dogs based on individual talent.

Second, dogs mature at different ages depending on breed, strain and size of dog. It seems the larger the dog the slower maturing, this is the norm but not always true.

A finished dog according to what I have read here on this thread is a dog that is mature and a straight hog dog and does not trash. Some folks here believe that 3 to four years is the difinition of mature.

Others say that as long as the dog is learning it is not finished. I can not agree with that because then there would not be such a thing as finished hunting dogs.

If the above is the criteria for a finished hog dog then I would rather have a started dog that is 1.5 yrs old that is trash broke that hunts hard, has a good winding nose, cold nosed for tracking,  but likes hotter tracks and can find a hog if there is one to be found in the woods. It will be a pleasure to hunt behind this kind of dog and it will be exciting to see him progress until he reaches his peak, exciting to see this dog out strike the mature experienced (Finished) hog dogs.  We hope that these dogs die in there sleep at an old age or die at a very old age doing what they do best, baying and catching hogs... because it is hard having to put one down of this caliber at the end of the road...

Where can I find one of these?

[dub]

Finished dog means a dog trader is trying to get more money! I have done had too much hard earned money stole from me by dog traders. So you can have those finished dogs. I will take puppies and either they work or don't work. They are finished when they die. You can call my dogs culls because I don't sell dogs. I have never seen a respectable kennel ever call a dog finished because it is too lose of a term. Just tell me what the has done and what you think he can do. I have a simple mind and need things told to me plain and clear so my simple mind can understand. My simple mind tells me that people that have told me they had a finished dog were lying thieves. If that offends you then you must have ripped me off. Maybe there is an honest person out there that says the word finished but it is like buying a car and they say it was owned by a little old lady that only drove it to church on Sundays. Yup there are some out there but I will assume they are lying and walk away.

[LionandBoarHunter]

x 2 again my internet hog huntin friend

i know where there are quit a few but not for sale

[Reuben]

x 2 again my internet hog huntin friend

i know where there are quit a few but not for sale

The truly good ones usually are not for sale....

[Purebreedcolt]

I see it as dogs are animals and as such are prone to mistakes(trash etc) there for there is no such thing as finished dang good dogs but never as good as they can get ALWAYS room for improvement.

[Coady Curbow]

Most of us who have hunted long, have been with that once in a lifetime dog.  I hunted with a friend that had a dog that was a "machine" for several years.  I can find hogs, but that dog will always be a bench mark until I find one as good or better.  Bo was a finished dog.

[bayhard]

in my eyes there is no such thing as a finished dog i have a dog thats over 6 now and each time he hits the woods he hunts harder then the last time but as far as a cur dog goes the wellest rounded dog i have had was a 18 month old bmc he would strick bay and catch on comand now a cd about a year old

[coyote hunter]

yellafella had a dog that i considered finished  100%   he was lost to a big boar in the woods   he could do it all all by himself   thats 1 tuff dog to beat   mine may not be "finished" but hes huntin everytime in or out of the truck  always nose in the air or on the groiund and if he opens up hes face to face with a hog  he improves every time out   ill say hes a completely trained hogdog with room for improvement in his his performance   i bought him at 16 months old and been finding hogs ever since