for my dogs 100%. I have changed over the years, it used to be 100% about catching hogs and I was always ticked off when I didn't. Over time my outlook changed and so did everything else. Now days there is not a single thing I enjoy more than breeding, raising and working puppies, I am more proud of a 7-10mth old for finding a baying a 50lb hog than I ever was when one of my grown dogs would bay a big hog. Over the years as my outlook changed and I started having alot more fun....oddly enough I started catching more hogs.
I would have to say the opposite. I do 100% hunt for the dogs. I have been taken in by a few seasoned guys because that’s the truth as they see it. But as time has elapsed that I’ve been hunting, I can definitely say I used to have a lot more fun MORE OFTEN when I first started catching hogs. I believe it was because I had 0 expectations. I had never seen another mans hog dog go hunting until probably a year after I got my first set of puppies with 2 friends. I didn’t know what a good dog was. I didn’t know what a good dog did and didn’t do. So as far as I was concerned back then catching a hog was catching a hog and we caught quite a few. I got in with a man who had some nice dogs, and he gave me advice and a decent dog or 2 and showed me that there were definitely better dogs to be had out there. I started culling and doing things a little different. Then 1.5 yr ago I got a hold of a gyp that changed everything for me. She has since passed but she if nothing else left me with one expectation I didn’t have before owning her, And that was heart. That gyp would give it to me 100% every time I put her down. She had bad days like all dogs but rarely ever did I question whether I got the bed she had on that particular day. These days that at the minimum is the standard around here, A dog that will run themselves into the dirt before they quit. When I don’t get that out of dogs these days i leave frustrated. I’m able to recognize that trait along with others nowI feel, where as 4 years ago when I started, I was not. So me having fun has nothing to do these days with catching hogs, but whether or not I leave the woods believing my dogs gave me their all. The fun part for me is when I believe all the hard work and long days and nights are paying off. And I’m a right here right now kind of guy when it comes to that. Monday I can confidently tell you I have dogs I like. Friday I could be on the fence about culling everything. All depends on that dog that day.
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