Vests on strike dogs???

[liefalwepon]

I just wanted to hear why people choose to vest or not vest their strike dogs, seems like a lot of people don't vest them


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[Mike]

Nope... never have, never will. I don't want anything to slow them down, hinder their movement or cause them to run hot.

[BA-IV]

I can't see running a vest on a find dog. He needs to learn to back up at a young age and with the ways hogs run these days, a vest is going to slow a dog down when we are talking hours when it comes to a race.

[Judge peel]

I run vest on some and not on others just depends what dogs I am running. But some always get one some never get one. The key ain't the vest it's the dog some can't perform with a vest some can. I have had a vested dog run a hog 4 hr plus and not be a concern but I know what I am doing. It not just a vest thrown on a dog. Most dogs I seen get killed where looser dogs with no vest and bulldogs with no vest


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[Judge peel]

My  surroundings dictate the vest most of the time and what dog I put on the ground. 


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[justincorbell]

Nope... never have, never will. I don't want anything to slow them down, hinder their movement or cause them to run hot.

He pretty much beat me to it, for the reasons stated above + the fact that some of the spots we hunt the dogs end up having to swim now and again which goes back to hindering their movement. I would be sick to my stomach if I lost one of my dogs because he got hung up due to a vest.

[hyan]

I never ran vest per say just because of the heat and how far we would walk but in Australia they make these things called chest plates there not a full vest but still offer amazing protection I use rcds so that's why I use plates when I ran baying dogs a few got killed from pigs get ready to run and just slinging there head when I moved to rcds a normal vest was to hot and the bikini type vest they make are so thin they do nothing so I run chest plates cheaper to get a plate then a new dog that's what I have found out

[hoghunter71409]

I have a plott that is super rough; I could probably use him as a catch dog.  No matter what size, he is going to try to catch.  When I know I am getting ready to put on a big hog I vest him.  If it is in the summer, I will choose not to run him before I will run him without a vest.  I have other dogs that I can use, he don't have to be on every hog.

Yes, the vest may slow him down a bit but, I don't think the reason for a hog to get away from him has ever been his vest.  The hog would have out run him with or without the vest.

The vest has saved him before and it has saved me some vet bills.  My choice is to evaluate the situation and use the vest if I think it is going to protect my dog so he lives to hunt another day.

[Judge peel]

71409 true that


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[liefalwepon]

My  surroundings dictate the vest most of the time and what dog I put on the ground. 


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Judge do you train your dogs when they're young on a penned boar so they have respect and know how to avoid the cutters?

Do you vest some of your strike dogs because they're rougher or slower? How do you decide?


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[liefalwepon]

I guess by surroundings u meant swampy or brushy?


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[Judge peel]

Basicly I am a student of study of what my dogs are and are not this is more valuable then any breeding breed vest terrain what have you. I don't train in a pen I will use one to see what a dog will do one on one this is very valuable for pairing the dogs. Some of my dogs have more heart then brains they won't back up if there cut like a ninja opponent. So think it's tuff to run with out vest some think it demobilizes the dog. Some will be at a disadvantage if there is big water where I am hunting I my hold a dog back to see where they bay then turn in. But as a whole I don't hunt scared that's the worst you can do. Do what you have confidence in and go with it. A educated placement of a dog is what I am doing not a turn out of vested dogs     


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[liefalwepon]

Nope... never have, never will. I don't want anything to slow them down, hinder their movement or cause them to run hot.

Do you do any special training before you run them without vests? Are they loose baying dogs?


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[Mike]

Nope, just hunt the heck out of them. Most are loose baying dogs, I'll get a rough one every now and then.

[liefalwepon]

Do the rough ones seem to have shorter careers?


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[Judge peel]

Not for me maybe the other guys I have seen guys get dogs killed with out vest ain't seen one with a vest get killed. I have seen them get tor up bad with a vest but then I ask my self how many Spartans left there shield at home not many


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[liefalwepon]

Nope, just hunt the heck out of them. Most are loose baying dogs, I'll get a rough one every now and then.

What about you mike, do the rough ones have shorter careers?


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[Mike]

I lost one 3 year old that was rough... not sure if a vest would have saved him or not. There's a several older out of these dogs that are on the rough, but smart.

[Judge peel]

Boy that's the key mike if there smart bout it mine aren't they keep pushing harder if they get hit which I expect them to


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[justincorbell]

I personally believe if its a dogs time to go its his time no different than me or you. No doubt, vests CAN save a dogs life BUT they can kill em too. A few years ago my cousin lost a great cd when he turned him to a bay, the hog broke and swam the river, he found his dog in 4' deep water dead, poor dog managed to get hung up by his vest and I guess he couldnt get air, a stick had slid through his leg hole and hung him up. Only reason he found the dog was due to the orange vest.


Im not saying it happens all the time by any means because I know it doesnt BUT it can. In 10yrs I have lost 1 dog directly from a hog and I tend to run dogs on the rougher side of things. They get cut down here and there but so far I have been able to put em back together every time.

Like Judge and others have said, pay attention to your dogs and react accordingly. every situation is different.