Culling

[dwalton]

What reason do you have that justify culling a dog? What age do you cull a pup? Dewey

[U.R.E.]

Lack of drive, inability to be trained or behave with discipline. Not being well rounded. Must be able to track,trail and tree. Don't have to be a super star at all of them but must be able to do it all.

If a young dog is not contibuting to the pack by 18 months of age it's on it's way out of my kennel. I only hunt 3 dogs and one "pup". I feel this helps make good evaluations on young dogs as well as my "old" dog(s).

Culling or not culling has as much to do with how many opportunities the young dog has had to become a catdog, as it does with age. If you only get to hunt 1-2 days a week then it takes longer for the dog to learn what it's is and is not suppose to be doing.

I hate culling dogs......but I will.

My 2 pennies....

[Brady Davis]

Set some real solid goals on what YOU are looking for in a dog. If a certain dog fails you, perhaps he will work for another man, if not, cull him. It's crazy to me how many people keep something around they know in their heart of hearts doesn't have what it takes. Want a solid pack? Cull and cull hard......You'll be glad you did!

[dukes71799]

just out of curiosity(i am new to the sport) do u try and find a home that just wants a family dog. almost all of the hounds i have seen have great tempers and would be great pets if that what was wanted. ive also learned one guys trash is anothers treasure.

[George Streepy]

I will find a home for the right dogs. It isn't always as easy, but if it isn't an aggressive dog I will try. Most of the dogs that don't make it as a cat dog turn out to be decent coon dogs. They have the training but lack one of the crucial ingredients to make it as a bobcat dog. Some are real nice house dogs with no desire to hunt, with a little effort they can be placed in a home. I have someone that helps me with finding a home if needed. As others have mentioned before, culling doesn't always mean shooting.

I try to give a dog 18 months. Some are gone before that.

[Benny G]

As far as placing a dog in a home as a pet, I might be just a bit more harsh than a lot of folks, but I have seen too many working breeds ruined because of the pet factor. That doesn't mean that I don't love on my dogs, or treat them like part of the family at times. I just believe that outside of an old dog that has earned it's place in the yard, if someone wants a lap dog, they can get a poodle. In my world, there are dogs that are bred for working, and dogs that are bred for nothing. Don't give the option of polluting the gene pool of working dogs worse than it is by giving away an intact, useless dog as a pet.

[George Streepy]

I agree Benny G, I have them fixed before they leave. The gal that gets rid of them sells them for enough to cover the costs. Not every dog gets that opportunity but the ones that do can become a good pet or companion. My pups spend the first part of their lives as pets, I feel it brings on the desire to please, something working dogs need. And if they don't work as a hunting dog they have the manners to be a house dog. Also makes them easier handling when hunting. About 1 in 4 dogs get to stay at my house. One of them that became a pet turned out to be a nice little coon dog for a young kid in Oregon. If I should feel bad about anything, it is that I passed on this horrible addiction to an unsuspecting impressionable young man. Sorry for getting side tracked.

[Benny G]

George,
I, too, have given dogs away that didn't fit my program, or didn't hunt lions to my liking. I have given some of these dogs to other hunters, just not to dirt hunters. The times that I have given dogs away that were still dirt lion prospects, I was up front about the dogs, and the reasons. I do believe that just becase a dog doesn't doesn't suit me, that doesn't neccasarily mean that dog won't hunt. There are all different methods of culling a dog from a pack. Sometimes the best method is to find someone that hunts the game and style that fits that dog, and let them have at it.

As for age, that depends on how much exposure I have given that pup, and whether or not that exposure was at the crucial time in that pup's life. If I haven't been fair to a pup, it gets more time and chances than a pup that was given every opportunity. With the lines that I am hunting now, if a pup doesn't trail, or at least show the desire by 6 to 8 months old, they're out of here. I am set up a lot different than a lot of other people, though. I am 1 mile off of the road, with no one else around. The natural direction for dogs to travel from the house is away from the road. My pups get to run loose until they start traveling too far, then they only get to run every third or fourth day. By the time they are 6 months old, they are usually ready to go to the woods and raise cain.

[Nolte]

Dewey,

If my measuring stick for culling was how good a dog was on cats, I'd have a pretty empty yard. Or at least a lot different one with quite a few less dogs.

Most of the dogs I get usually have some hunt in them. It just might not be enough for what I like to do. But it might work out for somebody else. If they've got severe timidness or aggression, they need to be put down and not passed on. I did give away a dog that was too timid for me, that a buddy wanted to work with since it was out of his best dog. With a lot of time/work, the dog still didn't make it. Should have just saved everybody some time in the first place.

My cut off is usually second season of hunting age.

[doghunter]

Culling is simply removing the “bad ones” from your breeding line.
How you cull is up to the individual. I know a man that had a great line of dogs that went way back. He lived where he could just turn the dogs lose and they could run all they wanted to all year long. He is late in years and had done it all his life. He could tell by 3-4 months of age what dogs he wanted to keep because of so many raised in this line. One year he had about 3-4 litters about the same age. He would raise all and cull at around 3-4 months and again at 6 months and then unless a dog just lost interest what was left would make dogs. Maybe not all top shelf dogs but a high percentage was. He created a pretty big name for having good dogs and if you got a 3 month dog you had a better than average chance of having a dog that would turn out and reproduce. But someone talked him out of his culls one year (about 8 or 9 at one time) and then started breeding them and saying they was the same line trying to sell dogs on the hard work the true hound’s men dedicated. (And in reality they were but they were exactly not what he wanted and all the bad he was trying to get out of his line). This stopped him from ever selling or giving away a cull again unless it was fixed. And goes to show just because it is out of X and X it may not be the good side. You can't breed or cull on papers only performance.

[redmange]

The bottom line is that you are the that has to take care of them. Its a matter of what you can put up with. Some people DO only get to hunt on the weekends due to work or different obligations. HUNT WHAT YOU LIKE TO HUNT!!! BUT HUNT IT AS HARD AS YOU CAN!!!

[dwalton]

I agree with what most of you are saying. It is an individual thing as to what you want in a dog. A lot of dogs that do not make cat dogs for me will make good coon or bear dogs. I have seen a lot of dogs that did not locate on cats make good tree dogs on bear and coon. I Will cull for aggression but not for timidness, I can get that out of a dog and I think that comes with smart dogs [some]. Two of the best dogs that I have ever owned did not start until they were 12 months old. I seen a dog that was raised as a house pet until three years old. She made a great cat dog when we started hunting her. I have one of my Leopards as a house dog, the only house dog I have ever had. She sleeps by my bed and keeps me in sight when I am home. She is one of my leads in the woods, a totally different when she hits the woods, all hunt and go. There is a lot of ways to cull many not fatal. Some dogs make great pets. If a dog leaves here that is not breeding material it will be spay or neuter. Dewey

[houndnem]

I will find a home for the right dogs. It isn't always as easy, but if it isn't an aggressive dog I will try. Most of the dogs that don't make it as a cat dog turn out to be decent coon dogs. They have the training but lack one of the crucial ingredients to make it as a bobcat dog. Some are real nice house dogs with no desire to hunt, with a little effort they can be placed in a home. I have someone that helps me with finding a home if needed. As others have mentioned before, culling doesn't always mean shooting.

I try to give a dog 18 months. Some are gone before that.

x2 well said george.

[Bplott]

from my experience the dogs i breed and raise i know by the time there 4-6mths if there going to make it or not....if there questionable they are gone!!! it cost the same to feed junk as is does a good dog...

[Dads dogboy]

Bplott,

The JUNK cost a whole lot more to feed!

Their feed never gets any Cheaper as the Good Hounds will!

CJC