March 28, 2024, 08:40:21 am *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: WILD BOAR USA....FOR ALL YOUR HOG HUNTING NEEDS
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: Great hunting dogs don’t have bad days…  (Read 754 times)
Reuben
Internet Hog Hunting Specialist
**********
Offline Offline

Posts: 9461


View Profile
« on: June 12, 2022, 02:32:33 pm »

Great hunting dogs don’t have bad days…sometimes they have better days…

A great hunting dog looks good in any company…even when coming across another top dog…there shouldn’t be much difference between the two…
Logged

Training dogs is not about quantity, it's more about timing, the right situations, and proper guidance...After that it's up to the dog...
A hunting dog is born not made...
BA-IV
Hog Doom
*********
Offline Offline

Posts: 3563


View Profile
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2022, 03:05:39 pm »

Great hunting dogs don’t have bad days…sometimes they have better days…

A great hunting dog looks good in any company…even when coming across another top dog…there shouldn’t be much difference between the two…

It’s all relevant to the places you hunt on a regular basis and what you consider a great dog.

Everybody thinks they have the hardest running, no dog can make em bay type hogs no matter what.
Logged
Reuben
Internet Hog Hunting Specialist
**********
Offline Offline

Posts: 9461


View Profile
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2022, 05:01:28 pm »

It is like relativity or individual perception…that is true…
That explains why there are so many culls…
Just like there are those that say a hunting dog is never finished…some agree and some don’t…
Logged

Training dogs is not about quantity, it's more about timing, the right situations, and proper guidance...After that it's up to the dog...
A hunting dog is born not made...
The Old Man
Alpha Dog
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 806


View Profile
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2022, 05:02:04 pm »

All dogs fail, failing equals a bad day, whether they just plain get outrun in real tough terrain, strike a track they can't finish, terrible scent conditions or any of a myraid of possibilities. It is how often one has the bad days and what we will tolerate that makes or breaks them.
Logged
The Old Man
Alpha Dog
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 806


View Profile
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2022, 05:05:03 pm »

All dogs have an apex or a peak in their career as well, if for no other reason other than age catching up to them physically.
Logged
Reuben
Internet Hog Hunting Specialist
**********
Offline Offline

Posts: 9461


View Profile
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2022, 06:20:06 pm »

All dogs have an apex or a peak in their career as well, if for no other reason other than age catching up to them physically.

I agree…
Logged

Training dogs is not about quantity, it's more about timing, the right situations, and proper guidance...After that it's up to the dog...
A hunting dog is born not made...
Reuben
Internet Hog Hunting Specialist
**********
Offline Offline

Posts: 9461


View Profile
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2022, 06:35:00 pm »

All dogs fail, failing equals a bad day, whether they just plain get outrun in real tough terrain, strike a track they can't finish, terrible scent conditions or any of a myraid of possibilities. It is how often one has the bad days and what we will tolerate that makes or breaks them.

If I see it this way then no doubt…great dogs will have bad days…

I see it in another way per example…

A great professional running back might have a bad game for a reason or reasons…but we know he is a great running back…he did the best that could of been done by any professional running back…we can single out a game here and there and say ole so and so could have done better than the great running back….but when looking or comparing all running backs in the NFL in that particular year there will be a few that tend to do better than others regardless of conditions…

I see hunting dogs in the same way…
Logged

Training dogs is not about quantity, it's more about timing, the right situations, and proper guidance...After that it's up to the dog...
A hunting dog is born not made...
t-dog
Lord of the Hogs
********
Offline Offline

Posts: 2777


View Profile
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2022, 10:11:39 pm »

So this is an interesting topic to me and I agree with most everything said so far. MY OPINION is that for a dog to fit my opinion of GREAT, he/she has a list of criteria they have to possess, (hunt, heart, brains, bottom, nose, grit, etc.). The second part of that is that they have to be the same dog every time I take them to the woods. It’s not saying that they won’t get beat for one reason or another or even reasons that are out of their control. When I load them up though, I know before I get where I’m going what I have in the box. I know that no matter what happens, I’m gonna get the best that dog has because that’s the only way that dog knows how to perform. I have hunted with what I consider a hand full of GREAT dogs and just when I thought I’d seen them do it all, they would pull another rabbit out of the hat it seemed. Father Time for sure catches us all, but man some of these ole dogs sure give him a hell of a run for his money.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Logged
Reuben
Internet Hog Hunting Specialist
**********
Offline Offline

Posts: 9461


View Profile
« Reply #8 on: June 13, 2022, 04:44:34 am »

So this is an interesting topic to me and I agree with most everything said so far. MY OPINION is that for a dog to fit my opinion of GREAT, he/she has a list of criteria they have to possess, (hunt, heart, brains, bottom, nose, grit, etc.). The second part of that is that they have to be the same dog every time I take them to the woods. It’s not saying that they won’t get beat for one reason or another or even reasons that are out of their control. When I load them up though, I know before I get where I’m going what I have in the box. I know that no matter what happens, I’m gonna get the best that dog has because that’s the only way that dog knows how to perform. I have hunted with what I consider a hand full of GREAT dogs and just when I thought I’d seen them do it all, they would pull another rabbit out of the hat it seemed. Father Time for sure catches us all, but man some of these ole dogs sure give him a hell of a run for his money.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Excellent post T-dog…I feel the same…
Logged

Training dogs is not about quantity, it's more about timing, the right situations, and proper guidance...After that it's up to the dog...
A hunting dog is born not made...
Austesus
Boar Slayer
*******
Offline Offline

Posts: 1055


On the quest to be a dog man.


View Profile
« Reply #9 on: June 14, 2022, 12:18:40 pm »

Thomas you forgot the most important part, watching a really great dog will ruin you forever!! Haha. I’ve only seen a few, never owned one. I’ve owned a few that I could confidently say were good. My Ranger dog was the best I’ve ever seen for his age, and I think he would have been a good dog in most company. It sure is hard to enjoy hunting when you pull up to a property knowing that you’ve got the B or C team in the box. I’ve still been killing some pigs but more so just doing it like a job until these pups can step up to fill some empty shoes and hopefully bring back some enjoyment. It sure sucks to lose a runner or like last night, find a set of tracks going in to the corn late at the end of the hunt when the dogs are hot, and know that you don’t have a dog in the truck that will take the track and put at a hog at the end


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Logged

Trying to raise better dogs than yesterday.
Reuben
Internet Hog Hunting Specialist
**********
Offline Offline

Posts: 9461


View Profile
« Reply #10 on: June 14, 2022, 09:06:25 pm »

Great dogs give their best day in and day out…if they don’t perform as they should then there is a reason for it…I said a reason and not an excuse…
This type of dog can hunt itself to death in the hot summertime conditions because they have no quit…I’ve had a yard full of these from the late 1990’s to about 2007…I’ve had a few good ones since but nothing like  back in those days…I had good ones that looked good in any company before 1990 but after a few generations I was having pups with excessive drive, grit and hunt…

At one time I thought that we could improve percentage’s in puppies with the right qualities but as I produced more litters I saw the hunt and grit increase along with drive…then one day it came to me…good dogs can produce better than themselves through proper selection of pups…a personal theory but I saw it happen…selecting the right pups with the right qualities, proving them and then breeding them…the best defense is a good offense…the right females got bred on the first heat cycles just as they would in the wild…
Nowadays the biggest challenge is finding the right dogs to hunt and breed…
Logged

Training dogs is not about quantity, it's more about timing, the right situations, and proper guidance...After that it's up to the dog...
A hunting dog is born not made...
t-dog
Lord of the Hogs
********
Offline Offline

Posts: 2777


View Profile
« Reply #11 on: June 15, 2022, 09:21:04 am »

Consistency is the key to the whole crap shoot in my opinion. Being consistent in their performance is the first ingredient. Second, are the siblings to this consistent dog the same type of performers or is this particular dog an exception. If it’s the exception then likely you are going to raise subpar puppies out of it, not definite but probable. Are this dogs parents and grandparents quality? Most litters have a tendency to revert back to the grandparents more so than the parents (in my opinion) so this is a huge consideration in my breeding plans. When grandparents are related it seems to make things a lot easier in the sense of isolating genes. Example would be bite. If half the grandparents are super rough and half are super loose, then it’s hard to say what each pup is going to be. Likely you’ll have to keep more out of the litter to evaluate to be able to choose which ones have the qualities you’re wanting. But, if all or 3/4 of the grandparents are what you’re looking for then you stand a higher percentage of that the pups will be the same or very similar. There are exceptions to rule though, nothing is guaranteed. I talked to a buddy last night that had a dog. I knew all the dogs ancestors from great grandmother until present. I did not like a majority of the offspring out of one great grandsire but liked him as hog dog. The gyp he was bred to to get to the present dog was a cull in my opinion. You never knew from one hunt to the next what you were getting and even on a good day she wasn’t mind boggling. The rest of the pedigree is pretty solid. This particular dog though is a whirlwind when he’s on and all the way to the other end of the spectrum when he’s off. He’s so good when he’s on though that the people that don’t know the bad side of him are willing to take the chance on breeding him. That’s a major no-no to me. Not only does it break the consistency law I have but like I was taught, bad traits are no different than good traits in the sense that once you put it in there, it’s always there. You can breed away from it and it may not show up for a long time, but just as soon as you can ill afford for it to, that’s when it will show up. Plus you already don’t know what bad things are already laying dormant so you are just adding to it knowingly. Like I said right off, it’s a crap shoot. You can breed super stars together that are out of super stars and get a litter falling stars. There are no guarantees in raising dogs. If there were great ones would be plentiful. Some matings work and some don’t. Being consistent in every aspect is your best tool in my opinion. That’s the only way you are going to intentionally raise great dogs or great families of dogs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Logged
Reuben
Internet Hog Hunting Specialist
**********
Offline Offline

Posts: 9461


View Profile
« Reply #12 on: June 15, 2022, 09:47:28 pm »

Yep…breeding for consistency and the right traits…
The overall demeanor of the pup is important to me..natural winding, finding and trailing at a young age is key…

Having to feed a lot of tracks to make a dog is a red flag to me…it is better to break a pup from trashing than trying to make a hunting dog out of a pup that isn’t clicking…

Breed those that have that natural ability on account that is what we should be breeding for…the pup that displays those traits naturally at eight weeks of age will continue to do so as a hunting dog…

Consistency is best when the parents and grandparents have the same traits…even better if the great grandparents have a few great ones sprinkled in…
Logged

Training dogs is not about quantity, it's more about timing, the right situations, and proper guidance...After that it's up to the dog...
A hunting dog is born not made...
Pages: [1]   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal
Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.18 | SMF © 2013, Simple Machines Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!