Winding…

I really enjoy a good wind dog. They seem to make things look easier and I agree that they will find more hogs if they will wind a hog or wind the sign. Slightly off topic but I think it kind of ties in to the topic if we are talking pups and young dogs, I also agree with some of your other posts in regards to selecting natural ability with pups.

After my Ranger dog was killed a few weeks ago I went back and read some of my notes in my journal from when he was a pup. I kept a journal on the progress of him, and two other littermates that I kept and raised. I often took them to the creek by the house and would turn them loose and just sit and observe them. Even from a 10-12 week old pup, I had notes about Ranger trying to wind, and when I would play around and put out chicken for them to find (until they were 9-10 months old they were on 100% raw diet and ate chicken as part of their meal everyday), he was the first pup to hit on it by winding. Interestingly, I often noted that while he was the first to hit on it, he was not the first to actually find it. After the 3 pups would eat the chicken, he was the last pup that was still there searching the area for more, even though the other two pups had already left and went off somewhere else. At 12 weeks old both him and his brother Red were independent and would wander off by themselves.

Now this is very interesting to me because I had forgotten about some of these notes, but after ranger was killed and I went back and read them I realized that a lot of those mannerisms carried over as they got older. Ranger and Red were both independent and once they hit a mile they would normally separate if they had gone out together, and they would each go out for their own pig. Ranger was a good wind dog and ran head up winding the track. This was something that he displayed as a trait when he was a puppy. He also had a lot of bottom and after he was about 9-10 months old I can’t think of any time that he didn’t put a hog at the end of a run except for one boar that we lost after a few broken bays, but this was the hunt where ranger was cut down already by a hog that we killed right before starting the second boar, and after it broke a few times I got ranger out and realized he had been partially castrated and was needing some vet attention in a few places. If he went out on something it was just a matter of time before he bayed it, which seems to also have been displayed as pup by him staying and searching for the chicken even after the other pups had gone on to something else. I think he had a natural inclination and drive to search hard and find what he was looking for.

Obviously this is a case study of only a few pups that I have watched, but I am keeping these same journal notes on pups I am raising now, because I think that these characteristics that we see in puppies can and do affect how they turn out as older dogs.

As a side note for anyone that is raising their first couple puppies, I hated ranger as a puppy. I thought he was weird and quirky, was ugly, and didn’t think he would make a dog. He proved me wrong and ended up being the best dog I’ve ran behind for his age, and was on his way to make a very good dog. So I also learned to give pups time and opportunity before judging them too harshly or giving favoritism. The female pup that I favored, actually ended up being the worst one out of the 3.

Good post Reuben, I reading everyone’s thoughts on these discussions.

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