Seasoned hunters, let's be real about pups.

[TexasHogDogs]

One other thing as far as it goes with me.  When I use a shocking system I use a shocking system .  I do not put it on one are two when I go to break one of my young dogs I put it on HIGH I want the biggest shock I can get out of it no bumping this are that not slight bumping thats all BS .  When you go to drill something into a dogs head you do it right the first time and then there is no second guessing from him he knows why he got shocked he damn sure felt the burn from the shocking system and he does not want anything to do with it any more.  If you gonna teach him teach him with real rod not a flys swatter .  Its just like a kid if you only schold him and slap his hand I can promise you he is going to try you again but if you bust his ass right the first time he is gonna have big time second third and fourth thoughts about messing up again .   Bumping aint gonna teach a real hard headed , hard bred, high prey drive  hunt oriendted dog a thing except to try it again because this is what he is bred for you the owner the trainer got to manage him and show him and direct all that burning desire in the right direction and get it instilled in him what he is hunting and hunting only once you do that you got yourself a real hog dog .

Aw I guess bumping a dog and bumping a dog might be some peoples way and it may take ten times but why put the dog threw that when it can all be taught and learned in one are two sessions !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  and done with authority !

[WayOutWest]

Silverton, your Dad was a wise man. That statement " A man's ego is a terrible burden for a dog to carry" is so true. I have seen too many times where a man opened his mouth and then his dog let him down and the man then makes a fool of himself because his dog is just a dog.

[magnuml]

i've got an old male here that at 18 months old people wondered why i hadn't culled that dog , and at 2 1/2 years old wonder what i would take for it  lol you just have to be patient and quit trying to beat the rest the world to the end of the race . F.Y.I.  we ain't gonna run out of hogs . i give my gyps till a year or 18 months to show me what they got and if i like a male dogs personality 18 months to two years old is not out of line with me . like t-bob said you have got to have fun at this or you will never be satisfied and will wind up with nothing but heartaches and headaches . when i decided to start killin hogs i bought a few pups and it was two years before i felt confident enough in me and the dogs to hit the woods . relax and enjoy this sport .

I like how you put things, Real and easy for people to understand. Hopefully some with listen to you and enjoy the sport and watching the dogs progression. We all can get tied up and get impatient or expect too much. Well put and agreed.

[reatj81]

Great post!
Pups are pups,  should show intrest, but don't expect them to be able to stay focused.   I like to show a pup a pig at 5-6 months two three times, I  a pen-- controlled setup  for just a few minutes, and get them out before they loose intrest.  Always keep them wanting more.   If this is the first time I have loaded the dogs in the truck and hauled them, if they are timmed at all I will only unload them and tie them, pet them and assure them they are ok.. You can't get a scared dog to do anything!  The pen allows me to see a pups natural baying style... I like to leave pups loose on yard as long as possible... Start roming too far, baying neighbors cows, or start leaving & hunting!   I have roping calves at the house and allow them to bay the calves, this helps them learn baying and pressure.   It also allows me to put a little handle on them,  get out, come etc.  teaching them get out, really helps on the trashing that a pup does.   By the time these pups are old enough--- mature enough to hunt I have stoped the calf baying all together.   This will let me take them threw cows with no trashing.  And if a deer or something jumps infront of them, usually a quick get out stops the race in its tracks.  The maturity of a pup decides on when I start hunting them,  if I don't feel they are mentally or physically able to keep up with older dogs for a good race they aren't ready to hunt.   Example kept two litter mates started hunting the female at 9 mo but never two days in a row, always wanted her fresh.  Didn't hunt the male until a year old.   He found a sow having pigs his first hunt, and never slowed down,  she probally had 20 hunts by a year old, and had found 5-6 by her self.   Neither pup ever trashed to my knowledge!   I always try to keep them fresh, keep them wanting more..I also try to set up easy hunts when I have a pup, dropping them in fresh sign, so they know what they are hunting for when they get out of the box.  I have dropped them 4/500 yards down wind from where the hogs were, so they had to follow there instincts, to find them, but the sent was there to keep them focused.   If they ever don't hunt, much I will lay them up for a couple weeks up to a couple of months,  I think it really increases a pups desire, when they have to stay home and don't get to go a few hunts.  They can be culled at any point, but not with a lot of thought, and knowing that I have given them plenty of opportunity to develop.  I will often sell a young dog, not beacuse they won't find or stop a hog, but they may not be the type dog I'm wanting, or maby have too many at the time, and something has to go.    The pair of dogs in the example are now 27 months old, both have found lots of hogs, but in my eyes are no where finished, they will only get better as time passes, and they mature,  they may be closer to finished than most dogs will ever be but, they will only get better, and as long as they keep improving they are not finished.  (being able to find and catch hogs with a dog doesn't mean they are finished.)   Hope I didn't stray too far off topic!!

[halfbreed]

no you were rite on topic reat . you just explained my dog raising and technique to a tee . use to be anyway,  since i've left the farm to take care of mom,  i am not able to raise pups in this manner and sure do miss it . city boys have it rough and from experiance of the last two years not being able to let the pups free range is a whole differant ball game lol . it takes alot longer and alot more patience to get the pups where they need to be when having to keep them penned up till time to work . i used to be able to let them run and bay all they wanted. i would start putting them up , only when the cows started paying attention to them .

[cscott]

This is a good read for me it makes me think of thing I'm doing right and wrong.  I just got some pups a few months ago and all they are young or just getting started so I use a bay pen to try to show them what they are after. Because I don't have any older dogs to show them the ropes. So it makes it kind of slow sometimes.

[rdjustham]

Ill show a 6 month old a pig under controlled situation.. usually with the hog hobbled so the pup dont get wrecked.  but if it barks at one GREAT.. If it dont, thats ok too.  i expect a one year old to run with the big dogs to an extent, but not necesarilly be finding hogs on its own everytime out, but sure better bay one in a pen of in the woods if the big dogs find one.  By two it should be huntin and findin pigs pretty regular (not necesarily finished though).

[Reuben]

Great post!
Pups are pups,  should show intrest, but don't expect them to be able to stay focused.   I like to show a pup a pig at 5-6 months two three times, I  a pen-- controlled setup  for just a few minutes, and get them out before they loose intrest.  Always keep them wanting more.   If this is the first time I have loaded the dogs in the truck and hauled them, if they are timmed at all I will only unload them and tie them, pet them and assure them they are ok.. You can't get a scared dog to do anything!  The pen allows me to see a pups natural baying style... I like to leave pups loose on yard as long as possible... Start roming too far, baying neighbors cows, or start leaving & hunting!   I have roping calves at the house and allow them to bay the calves, this helps them learn baying and pressure.   It also allows me to put a little handle on them,  get out, come etc.  teaching them get out, really helps on the trashing that a pup does.   By the time these pups are old enough--- mature enough to hunt I have stoped the calf baying all together.   This will let me take them threw cows with no trashing.  And if a deer or something jumps infront of them, usually a quick get out stops the race in its tracks.  The maturity of a pup decides on when I start hunting them,  if I don't feel they are mentally or physically able to keep up with older dogs for a good race they aren't ready to hunt.   Example kept two litter mates started hunting the female at 9 mo but never two days in a row, always wanted her fresh.  Didn't hunt the male until a year old.   He found a sow having pigs his first hunt, and never slowed down,  she probally had 20 hunts by a year old, and had found 5-6 by her self.   Neither pup ever trashed to my knowledge!   I always try to keep them fresh, keep them wanting more..I also try to set up easy hunts when I have a pup, dropping them in fresh sign, so they know what they are hunting for when they get out of the box.  I have dropped them 4/500 yards down wind from where the hogs were, so they had to follow there instincts, to find them, but the sent was there to keep them focused.   If they ever don't hunt, much I will lay them up for a couple weeks up to a couple of months,  I think it really increases a pups desire, when they have to stay home and don't get to go a few hunts.  They can be culled at any point, but not with a lot of thought, and knowing that I have given them plenty of opportunity to develop.  I will often sell a young dog, not beacuse they won't find or stop a hog, but they may not be the type dog I'm wanting, or maby have too many at the time, and something has to go.    The pair of dogs in the example are now 27 months old, both have found lots of hogs, but in my eyes are no where finished, they will only get better as time passes, and they mature,  they may be closer to finished than most dogs will ever be but, they will only get better, and as long as they keep improving they are not finished.  (being able to find and catch hogs with a dog doesn't mean they are finished.)   Hope I didn't stray too far off topic!!

reatj81...good advice...

[TColt]

patience is a virtue

[halfbreed]

ha ha  patience is a  [ lost  ] virtue ] in america  lol

[t-dog]

I'm getting in here late on this subject. There's been lots of good reading. Patience is surely important in raising good dogs, but so is willingness to do your part. Reat and I hunt together and raise the same family of dogs. He is fortunate enough that he can allow his pups to run loose for a pretty good while before having to pen them. I don't have that ability because I live too close to the highway. That forces me to take pups to the woods and sit for a couple hours a couple times a week. This is to allow them to get familiar with all the sites, sounds, and obsticles of the woods. I do this before they ever know what a hog is. Each time you go out, they will venture a little further out. Then I start them in the bay pen. When they get to the point that they run from the kennel to the baypen without visiting other dogs or running off elsewhere then I stop pen work and start taking hogs to the woods for simulated hunts. Each trip gets a little harder as long as they handle it well. By the time I start hunting them on real hunts, they think they are already hog dogs. I say all this to say that all this is alot of work and most of the people I have been around just aren't willing to do it after a day at work or get out of bed early enough before the heat sets in. An old "DOG MAN" once told me "you don't make a good dog, you simply afford him the right opportunities, but you can rruin a good dog". I have always tried to remember that. You can't expect the dog to learn anything looking through the kennel or on the end of a chain.

[Reuben]

I'm getting in here late on this subject. There's been lots of good reading. Patience is surely important in raising good dogs, but so is willingness to do your part. Reat and I hunt together and raise the same family of dogs. He is fortunate enough that he can allow his pups to run loose for a pretty good while before having to pen them. I don't have that ability because I live too close to the highway. That forces me to take pups to the woods and sit for a couple hours a couple times a week. This is to allow them to get familiar with all the sites, sounds, and obsticles of the woods. I do this before they ever know what a hog is. Each time you go out, they will venture a little further out. Then I start them in the bay pen. When they get to the point that they run from the kennel to the baypen without visiting other dogs or running off elsewhere then I stop pen work and start taking hogs to the woods for simulated hunts. Each trip gets a little harder as long as they handle it well. By the time I start hunting them on real hunts, they think they are already hog dogs. I say all this to say that all this is alot of work and most of the people I have been around just aren't willing to do it after a day at work or get out of bed early enough before the heat sets in. An old "DOG MAN" once told me "you don't make a good dog, you simply afford him the right opportunities, but you can rruin a good dog". I have always tried to remember that. You can't expect the dog to learn anything looking through the kennel or on the end of a chain.

praise the lawd...T-dog is wiser beyond his years...this is a good way of doing it...When I was a young man that is how my brother and I trained the pups...one big advantage here is that you can actually see and learn which pup is the natural for range and independence...very valuable information in evaluating breeding potential... The cream will rise to the top...

[TColt]

An old "DOG MAN" once told me "you don't make a good dog, you simply afford him the right opportunities, but you can rruin a good dog". I have always tried to remember that. You can't expect the dog to learn anything looking through the kennel or on the end of a chain.

Thats about as good as it can be said.

[cward]

If y'all had a pup out of the bullchit breed then ya'll any of you would know is caught hog. Sales advertising paid for by bullchit breed incorporated.