EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

I have 2 5 month old gyps that bay great and have even caught a 20lb shoat but anxious to get them in woods started on mock hunts. What age are your pups when you start this process?

   I would usually start mine around 3 or 4 months old , some would have to be put up for another month but most would track and find the pig around that age on easy setups . I put a small shoat in my old coon roll cage hidden in the woods for the young pups . I will hide the shoat and then drag some easy tracks being sure to drag towards the shoat and not away from it . I use a wet piece of hog hide from the freezer for this  . as they get good at finding it I progressively make the track more difficult to follow .   really no different than I start my tree dogs I just don't haul the shoat up a tree   lol   

I'm probably in the minority here but it is my opinion that it is best to work on the basics like loading, riding in the truck, and live stock breaking until most pups are at least 10 months to a year. Maybe let them bay for 5 minutes or less every couple of weeks to focus their prey drive. Keep the sessions short and easy. I ruined a couple of good prospects startin em too young. Read John Wicks Tree Dog Encyclopedia and started applying his principals. We don't take them on a real hunt until they are 14 or 15 months now. Our results have been much better. I truly believe its 90% genetic and 10% training. If they got it in them, they will do it better when they are a little older and more mature. They also handle correction and adversity better thus way. Probably not what u wanted to hear but I hope it helps u out.

Shotgun my cousin said I should wait a few more months due to the heat but these pups come off some great dogs and have really showed a lot of interests like the other pups out of this litter.

sounds like they are ready now...just keep it short and once a week for a total of 3 or 4 times and then change it up...set up some winding situations off the rig mock hunts and encourage them to bark right where the wind is carrying the hog scent...turn them in and help them to locate a few times if needed...you can cast them cross wind and down wind as well...let you imagination be your guide...to get the best out of you pups/dogs always give them the time to work out a track until they line it out or when they are ready to move then that is the time to move on...sometimes we as handlers should guide them if you have the idea where the hog is laying up...I call it team work...always be reading the dogs and make decisions based on what you see...do the same with mock hunts as needed...

If they can do a mock hunt then start setting the mock hunts up with a couple hogs scattered at the same time to teach the role out .. but Reuben got it just challenge them don't make it easy.

I start mine around 4 months of age, both baying inside and outside a pen on different sized hogs and on mock hunts. everyone does it different but this has worked well for me. The first couple times I let em bay in the pen or bring em on mock hunts in the woods I turn em loose with my jack russell, she does the tracking for em and shows em what to do,  they follow her step for step to the hog and it pretty much ends up being a monkey see monkey do type deal, some fall right in and do it like they have been doing it forever and others take a bit longer but it seems to work pretty well for us.

   shotgun I like ol uncle john's views and methods and use them for most of my tree dog training and I have kept the legs litter held back on training for that reason  [ 3/4 hound ] and the males were slow to mature .  these ol cur dogs mature a lot faster in my opinion and can be started really young and at tracks end they can see the game they have been after unlike the tree dogs that at trails end have to figure out which way and where it went . but either way a fellow [ or gal lol ] chooses to do it all in all the pups will tell you when it's ready to work or be put back up for later training . each pup will be different and the folks just have to read the pups and make the decision .   AND NOT GET DISCUREDGED BECAUSE OL SO AND SO'S PUPS ARE ALLREADY DOING IT  . more dogs have been ruined by impatient handlers looking to the short term than the long haul in getting what they want from a pup . a little patience go's a long ways when working dogs .

Great points Guys.
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Justin- the dependable non intimidating pup trainer is a great tool to have when imprinting pups. Dogs communicate with one another on a level we will probably never understand. Lettin em bay outside the pen is great as well. Controls the situation. Less risk of a pup gettin smashed that way.
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Halfbreed - couldn't agree with u more on the curs maturing earlier than hounds. We Coon hunt as well so we get to see both. Totally agree on the patient approach as well. Puts more pressure on you to pick the right pups. U invest more time and $ in each pup as well. The failures hurt more this way. It's a quality vs quantity approach. Also agree that u have to evaluate each dog and tailor the training approach to that dog.
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My thinking on letting hog dog pups mature is based on the physical demands of the activity. A hog, or group of hogs, are a very worthy opponent. I don't want to ask boys and girls to do the work of men and women.
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Great conversation guys. Appreciate the dialogue.