The build of your dogs?

[Brady Davis]

This is a question that gets asked every so often. Seems you get answers on one extreme to the other and everywhere in between and yet, everyone is happy with their hounds. Perfect.

[houndnem]

Larry

That is what I see alot of is the bad feet I just don't see why Guy don't try to breed it out. That is why I ask the ?. maybe some guy don't care. But I like to run mine avery day I can not staying home with sore footed dogs. What is your country like that you hunt?

If they don't care about their dogs feet, what else are they accepting as OK?
Mainly the dogs are on decomposed granite and snow when we are home. The crusty snow is pretty hard on feet, if they're loose, I don't want to have to lay a dog up for two weeks after 2 days of running. Nice thing about the granite is that when the dogs are in the kennel they're feet are getting conditioned non stop.
Far as big dogs out lasting the racey athletic ones, not gonna happen. How big are we talkin? You don't see heavy, large framed guys in triathalons or winning marathons..........

i aint talking huge dogs, about 60 to 70 lbs. and you dont see ponys winning horse races either. do you? my dogs are very athletic built and i wouldnt be affraid to run them against anyones.

Better check your scales, that b tick don't look that big??? big dog= worn out joints alot sooner and questionable durability. that pic on your post looks about the same as some of my dogs which I don't consider huge, just built to handle. I also run a couple full grown 25 pounders that would love to race ya on deep crusty snow or on a distance marathon.

[lifreediver]

guess the area were you hunt might change the build but the ones you hear about that were gone up the mountain in a flash had names like horse huge long legged dogs if to dogs have the same build lean atheletic build i think the taller one is faster but maybe a shorter career i call the build i like in all kinds of dog a greyhound build with a heaver head but if old tiny strikes and runs north up the mountain and you get horse out and he back tracks south im headed up behind tiny i dont care if she has three legs the coyote guys probably know more about the size and shape a hound should be for speed and endurance bear dogs need a lot of different things size might be the last thing of interest when picking one out for bear .what size is the dog that stays treed over night and gives your customer a shot in the mornin LoL li freediver

[ferjr]

he is that big, according to the vets scales he is 66lbs. he doesnt have any fat on him, might not look that big in the picture but he is. muscle weighs more than fat.

[jason]

The smaller the better in my books. But I have two leggy males and they seem move through some of the deep snow better than the little 45 pound female.

[radar]

The way Ferjr talks up his dog the are big like ten feet tall ,they shoot lighting rods from there eyes and fire from there arse!!!!!

Man bro how much more braging on here are you going to do on this dam website.Just read in the introductory

welcome to the site, i moved up here to idaho about a year and a half ago from apopka fl., i just got started in hounds this year but have had good sucsess. i hunt mosly blueticks, i have 5 of them, two cameron/ smokey rivers, a smokey river/ utchman, a smokey river/ utchman/ vaughn, and one that i dont know what line she is out of, she looks like my camerons. i also have four plotts and a walker. i use them on bear.

You just got into this, this and your already a pro.Those are some dam good looking dogs but who trained them?

[larry]

Idaho sold him the plott at 1.4 years of age n Mike Bency sold him the other dog. Apparently these two dogs caught all these bears. Very impressive on their part for sure. I would strongly reccomend that anybody looking for an older get ahold of one of these two guys!

[bency]

larry,

Dont mean to cause any ruckus...but your last comment seams a little questionable to me. Are you questioning the dogs I own or have sold?

Mike
505-363-2767 Cell Phone

[larry]

Not at all Mike, quite the opposite. Sounds like you sold one hell of a good dog.

[kcbearcat]

To get back on topic I personally (just my opinion mind you) prefer a tall athletic 65-75 pound male and about a 55-60 pound female. The type of country and the deep snow that I cat hunt in, my tall dogs have always out performed in the long run. I have had a couple going little 40 lb machines that caught their share of cats too though. That is just me and I mainly Lion and Bobcat hunt. Although they have more than excelled at the bear hunting they were exposed to. The best dog I have ever owned is a monster big thick 85lb blue dog that has a couple hundred cats under his belt in all kinds of conditions. He is not my idea of the perfect build, however he made up for any weakness with pure heart and brains. I agree though about the longevity issue old tucker is 11 this year and is mostly retired. Other more athletic built hounds have aged better than he has. He can't keep up with the young bucks any more. Remember your dogs only have to please you...

This picture if from April 2010 Jimmy is the 2 yr old 65lb and old tucker on his last lion hunt of last year at 10

[African]

kcbearcat,

How does that Airedale perform?

[kcbearcat]

He's outstanding, he's medium nosed but tons of brains and grit. He trees good for an airedale. They are terriers not hounds so they are different but he is a great addition to my pack.

[African]

That combination of yours looks really good. Got everything you need in those three.

I like the Airedale and several years ago though of adding a couple of bluetick-airedale crosses to my bushpig pack after seeing how well they worked in a friends pack.
Never did do it, and have gone for the Dogo Argentino now - bred correctly, the Dogo is intelligent, steady, trees well (sight triggered) and of course is as hard a bay dog as there is anywhere.

Mine sits under the tree like a catcher, just waiting for the prize to fall.

[artrodex]

i am new in this forum this is my first post, i bealive the shape go with performance, if not that way, make yourself this question why we use hounds and why we don´t use a german shepard, the german shepard can follow a track, is simple we need hounds because they howls in the track because they have the desire to follow a prey, a shepard can follow the track and bark in the bottom ot the tree and let you know where is the bear or the botcat but you want that? and may be will have a better performance. I came from venezuela and we dont have usa breeds may be we have some beagle, some petty blue gason and mixed of hound with who know what, and bealive or not i saw people hunting with german shepard, belga malinois, dogo aleman, and pitbull, I did some crosses between hounds with pitbull and became a good dog for the pecari is a little animal look like a pig but really agresive, and the little change in the body of the hound available make a better dog for the purpose we want track and catch.

[African]

Artrodex,

If you are going to make the cross between a Dogo and hound then may I suggest you steer clear of the Bloodhound and go for something like a Treeing or Running Walker. This way you will not have to select for color as the puppies should retain the light coat.
You might be hard pressed to find a really good hunting Bloodhound anywhere in the world except France in my humble opinion anyway, but I am sure you will find some very good Walkers with ease.
You could also try a Gascon-Saintongeois or a light coated Majestic but I assume these are not as common as the Walker.

A chap did the cross here with a foxhound bitch under a Dogo male and the puppies matured into very muscular hound looking dogs. Apparently they work well but took some time to actually grab the pig.
Picture is poor but the crosses are the 2 lightly ticked dogs in the centre of the picture.