What do you look for in a hog dog?

[JeffWagner]

We don't have hogs around here yet, but according to some reports, they are coming this way. So my question is, what do you look for in a young dog to determine if it's got any potential as a possible hog dog?

[bigboarstopper]

It can be difficult to determine a dogs/pups potential if there is little to no possibility of them being put on any game or able to be put in with experienced pack. A few basic practices you can do is a little sent trailing and some bay pen time on a penned hog.

[Shorty]

Everywhere you go you'll find that different dogs (style) work. You'll also find that even in different areas individuals will prefer a little different type dog. I can only speak for the type of dog that works in our area. Now I will say that I feel if a dog can catch hogs here (consistantly) they should be able to do at anywhere. We are very dry (99% of the time) and the brush/cactus is very thick. The cactus alone is the toughest part of the equation. A dog has to learn to get around it and still get ahead of the hog. Most dogs (good) take about a year to figure this out without coming out looking like a Porcupine. That being said a good one will figure it out.

As far as dog type you'll need a dog thats tight mouthed and can run with its head up. The main thing though, I think, is that the dog wants to get ahead and stop the game. Alot of dogs are content trailing and of following a hog. The main ingredient to a hog dog is that they want to get ahead (head dogs). This is very common of the Black Mouth Cur or Catahoula. Most of them are bred for cattle and/or hogs. they are very tough, tight mouthed, heads up type natural head dogs. I'm not saying these are the only dogs that work. I'm simply saying that they are the most natural breed.

To sum it all up, don't look for a dog that likes to trail. Look for one that wants to get in front of the animal and stop it that way. Hogs aren't easilly stopped. As long as the dogs behind them they'll keep right on trucking. That is unless the dogs are putting ivory in the hind quarters. JMHO hope that helps.

[mountaincurs]

so far about everything everyones said is about on the money, you just got to pick your style of hunting and the type of dog that fits you and your type of country. Good example i have a buddy that runs alot of plott hounds, they range out preaty far and will work a hog line up, they catch alot of hogs with them here in the mountains they do great for him. I prefer my curs for my style they are hot nosed and alot closer ranged, but for the way i like to hunt they suit me. The biggest thing i would look at is speed, mouth and grit. the to silent faster the better in my book, tighter mouth is what you want. and a dog that will put the breaks on a hog. ive seen both hounds and curs do it but its hard to find a dog that will make the cut. but to truly make a good hog dog you got to have the hogs. its takes a long to to make a decent dog. and usually by the time they start to get real goods when they start to get beat up.

[JeffWagner]

Thanks for the replies. i wasn't sure what it took never been around a hog hunt, but would love to go someday. I have a Plott male that is almost 2 yrs old. He's been started on coon. He is a heads-up, hard pushing track dog that runs a track faster than any other dog he's hunted with (and he's hunted with some awesome dogs), but he won't tree a lick. He runs the line to the tree and then comes looking for me as the other dog or dogs are finally getting to the tree and treeing. When he catches one on the ground he is as gritty and mean as can be, just as you would expect from a Plott.

I was just wondering if a good hog hunter (or any big game hunter that needed a hard pushing track dog) could take a dog like this and turn him into something that was useful for them. But he's not silent on track and I don't know if he'd try to get in front of the game or not.

I have tried everything I know how to get him to tree and he just won't do it. It's about to get to the point where he's going to leave my kennel to make room for something that will tree coons, but he's got some great qualitites that I hate to see go to waste and didn't know if he would be useful for hunting anything else or not. Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

[broncobilly]

Jeff,

To answer the question in your first post on this thread, the most important thing to look for is a dog with very strong desire to find and bay/catch a hog. Almost any dog (within reason) with a strong enough desire, if hunted in an area with enough hogs, will bay/catch a few hogs. If the desire is there, there are some other traits that will add to the success rate and to the consistency of the bay/catch. They are(listed in the order in which I consider them important, but there is a lot of debate among hog hunters as to what the order should be), brains, speed, nose, athleticism, and silent trailing.

To respond to your next post on this thread relating to your dog and his attributes, I have taken several dogs like you describe and they have turned into very good hog dogs, and I have no doubt that in the right area, and for the right hunter, your dogs could work very well. If run consistantly with one or two experienced silent on track dogs there is about a 65% chance of getting him to go silent. But, the silent dogs you run him with have to be pretty solid or they will end up being open, also, you can NEVER run him with another open dog if you want him to become silent. The silent dogs you run him with also have to be faster than he is on track, at least after the hog is jumped, if they can't leave him behind and give him incentive to shut up and run to try to catch up he will never go silent.

You also need to have pretty big country to hunt if you are going to try to either run him as an open dog or while you are giving him the opportunity to learn to run silent. Races tend to be longer with an open dog and if you are constantly worrying about getting off of property you have permission to hunt because your open dog is pushing the hog into longer races it can take a lot of the fun out of the hunt.

As far as getting ahead of the hog, as was mentioned earlier sinking ivory in the ham or scrotum will also stop a hog, but the dog does have to have a burning desire to sink ivory, just running along behind and baying won't get it done.

This is all just my opinion, based on my experience. I am sure there are plenty of people who will disagree with me, they are welcome to their opinion, but this is the opinion my experience has led me to have.

Good luck

Bill A. Brockman

[cstiedhog]

Jeff if you are interested in selling this dog call me Cote Sutton (903)815-2892

[alvin]

In my opinion stoppin a runnin hog by getting ahead of it would be nearly impossible thats why we all run silent dogs mabe a run down hog that has already been ran for several hours. Hogs can be stopped by a dog puttin teeth on that backside but that is even very tough in the thickets that hogs run through. Bottom line is that some hogs just run off and leave even the fastest dogs but when they do get ahead they stop when they don't hear any dogs barkin behind them the all the sudden whammy the are bayed. The first time u see a dog chase a big boar, not a little sow or a shoat, across open country you'll know what i mean about gettin ahead. To answer your question about what a dogs needs the be consistent on hogs he needs to be silent and needs to hunt wide and deep because not every place u hunt has numbers of hogs like south texas. Open dogs do good on hogs but the races are very long in comparison to the silent dogs. The wide and deep huntin is most important in my opinion.