running silent and open dogs together.

[bigboarstopper]

I know a few guys that run open mouth dogs and I was invited to go with them. I run silent dogs and have never ran that kind of combo together. I decided to go but left my dogs at home. They either rig their dogs or walk them on a lead until they strike. I free cast. Does anybody do this or have ever tryed running both together?

I can imagine my silent dogs running a track only to honor the strike of the open mouth dog and eventually go crazy in the process of trying to find the hog and honoring the other open dogs strike.

Besides making a silent dog go crazy, I can imagine turning a silent dog into a track barker. I can imagine just ruining silent dogs all together. Any imput? Regardless I dont think I will put these two different styles together in the field and see.

[waylon]

I had a line of catahoulas that were silent, when i started running them with hounds they went full open mouth and never went back. Not meaning pups started being born open just the 3 i hunted with hounds, it really hurt my hog catching back when i did it

[twist]

I have a silent female that only barks once it is jumped she is an excellent cold trailer and is one to carry her own weight and then some and is a great tree dog. She is always turned out with cold nosed open trailers and is always with them doing her part. Just because she isnt opening doesnt meen she isnt doing her part. I have been able to watch alot of the cat races and just because she isnt opening doesnt meen she is not working the track as I have seen her many times pickup loses and not make a sound and be ahead of dogs that are opening. This is cat though not hogs just thought I would put my 2 cents in,later, Andy

[boardog]

silent.silent. silent.....for me its more knowing that when your strike dogs sound off they see that hog. when one dog barks they all come to help. im not knocking open dogs or people that hunt them just my preference. i would really like to see some open dogs in action, just wouldnt want to confuse my dogs.

[Cajun]

Heredity is what determines whether a dog is open or silent on track. I have always had silent curs & open mouth plotts & have hunted them together alot. They never made my curs open & running with silent dogs never made my plotts shut up.lol
Back in the early 1970's we got a importation or Euoropean hogs & they ran like a bat out of hell. Up until that time we used cur dogs but we needed dogs that could run all day so we went to plotts.
Bottum line a jumped hog will run if he wants to run with a silent dog or open dog behind him.
Like twist said to, just because a dog is silent does not mean it is not carrying his own weight on a track.
Some dogs crossed with hound or on the border of opening or silent. Once again if they start opening running with open mouth dogs, it is just a matter of time before they would have started opening anyway.JMO

[bigboarstopper]

I would think a slient dog whos never been around open mouth dogs wouldnt hunt. He would constntly be honoring the open mouth dogs strike thinking it was in the act of baying. Example, Freecasting. My silent dog is up ahead and comes across a hot track. He persues it. The open mouth dog smells the same track and opens. My dog would put on the brakes and run strait to the open mouth dog honoring what he thinks is a bayed up hog. My dog basically goes crazy trying to figure out what the comotion is and never runs its own track cause its always being called back by a bark of an open mouth dog. It wont get ahead or fall behind. Just stuck looking for what the heck this open mouthed is barkin at. My dog has a nervous breakdown, starts drinking, goes to thearapy and gets on anti depressants. Winds up as a guest on Dr Phil's talk show.

[jkcasey]

BBS, If your dog takes up drinking he would be better company than most of the guys that I hunt with. You could just set on the wheeler and throw a few back or walk through the sticks criticizing the other dogs.

[briarpatch]

All wrong BBS. An open dog will not cause your silent dog to become open and, if your dog is worth a darn, he will not quit a trail he is on and COME BACK to the open dog.
Of course, if your dog is not a "settled" dog himself you may have a problem.

briarpatch

[bigboarstopper]

I dont know what you mean by "settled"? Mabye were confusing some things. I know when I run silent dogs and they hear a bark they should and will honor it. That bark only means one thing to them and myself. A hog at bay. I wouldnt want a dog that wont honor another dogs bark/bay to run its own track. Otherwise it would just be a bunch of split races with no dogs working together.

Briar, I dont know how you think you could say that my or anyone elses silent dogs wouldnt start to open on a track after hunting with open dogs. Or make statements on anything about anything in regards to somone elses dogs for that fact.

I know my dogs and know them well. Well enough to know that exposing them to potentially undesired behavior by other dogs over a period of time can bring on undesired results. I dont think anyone could argue with that. Walon just stated that it happened to him anyway.

[Cajun]

BBS,
Once again this is going by my experience & you are right, you should know your dogs better than anybody else.
When I have started my curs with the older plotts, they would run to them & see what was going on. If they could smell it, they went right ahead & trailed with the plotts until the hog was bayed or jumped.
Sometimes with older curs if they were already smelling a track they ignored the other dogs & went on & bayed their own hog.
Sometimes a hotter nosed cur will lose interest in what a hound is doing after they have checked them a few times & they are not interested in running a colder track & go on & find their own hog. But one thing, all dogs know, when a another dog is bayed, just the intensity & if a dog will not go to a bayed up dog, whether a hound or cur, something is defitently wrong then.
As far as undesired behavior, I cant argue with that. I desire my plotts to be open & my curs to be silent. I also want my dogs cur or plott to go bay their own hog & stay bayed regardless of what other dogs are doing.
I dont set any records but I have been doing this about 35 years & I am still learning.
The bottum line is only you can determine who you want to hunt your dogs with & your dogs only have to please you & nobody else & as long as you are having fun, that is all that matters.
When it stops being fun, it will be time for me to hang it up.

[bigboarstopper]

Cajun, Thanks. I hear ya. Your reply makes sence. Question. Did you put any veteran silent dogs that had never been with open dogs together for the first time? What was the initial outcome? Or was your last reply an example of that?

[Cajun]

Yes I have run veteran silent dogs with the plotts with basicly the same results that I described above.

[dogemdownsouth]

[Bucunter1983]

I run silent and open dogs together by myself and with other friends silent curs, The veteran curs know when one of my hounds are trail barking and when they are looking at and baying a hog. Never had any problems yet but Ive only been doing this for 15 years.