Puppy Training

I remember you picking up the pups from Justin... I know it’s been a while back but don’t know how old they are...since you don’t have grown and trained hog dogs you will have to do a few mock hunts here and there with the pups...also they will have more confidence training and hunting together as pups...don’t burn them out on baying or catching...kind of like the kid who over indulged on ice cream he might not be as enthusiastic on his next gallon...so keep the pups wanting more...

Around the house I call the pups to me and pet them up but then I go about my business and the pups do their own thing...that is how I want it in the woods as well...

When the pups are old enough to hunt I would take them to the woods preferably where there is fresh hog sign and cast them...ignore pups and don’t call them to you unless it is time to go home...also, I would stage a couple times before heading to the woods to keep hog fresh in their minds...

The thing you really need to look out for is in making sure the pups will respect a good sized hog...if they are catching out on staged hunts (shoats)...this can be a recipe for a bad wreck in the woods on a big boar...they go straight in and catch out and they can be cut down before they know what happened...so hopefully you won’t make this mistake or they learn some respect on a big sow...

I am pretty sure Justin can tell you at what age these pups will start good in the woods and how they will hunt and what type of bottom they will have...that will be good info to have so you will have an idea as to what to expect...

Another thing...stay off the shock collar until the pups know the woods are a good thing and they have ran hogs a few times in the woods as a minimum...a friend of mine broke his pup from running deer the first few times in the woods and the pup was afraid to go back in the woods...we just need to be smarter than the dog...

I always hunt into the wind and crosswind and keep the probabilities of hog locations to be upwind from me...I also keep an eye on the dogs and if I think they are getting a whiff of hog scent now and then I will look the situation over and if I think the hogs are deep upwind I will move in that direction in hopes of helping the pups In picking up the scent and them going with it...good handling will bring out the best in your hunting dogs...

Hope this helps...