Dogs that run bear with their heads up?

[Mackdog]

I'm trying to come up with a dog that is lean, long legged and runs with its head up while chasing bear. Was thinking of crossing a sight hound with a coon hound. The smaller bodied the better but still long legged and fast. My goal is to shorten up bear races by using dogs that are faster on foot and tend to drift a track rather than trail it. Any thoughts?

[Glen]

you have to be careful about getting to much speed. Some people like to run triggs for more speed but they dont tree naturally like a staight hound ,so you have to teach them how to tree, and also they are so fast that they can over run a track and blow right past a bear tree.

[dhostetler]

I currently have 9 hounds all straight hounds walkers, blueticks, and one plott. They all except one run a bear or a hot cougar track with there heads up. I believe that is learned by hounds more than bred. Most of the time my hounds overshoot the tree by 50 to 100 yards but they always locate. The only time overshooting creates a problem if you have to many pups or the dogs are to inexperienced or stupid. I used to have problems with when I ran 8 to 9 dogs on a bear and the bear made a sharp corner I would have dogs overshoot and get thrown out but when I cut back to a max of 6 dogs on a track I didn't have that problem.

[houndnem]

I agree. no need to breed for it. just find straight hounds that run that style. I have an englishbluex walker that runs lions and bear with head in the air. on a jumped lion he will be at the tree for a while before anybody else. I think that you have to find a dog that has the cold nose to be able to drift a track and the other thing is drive. the only dogs that I have seen that do this are the ones with so much desire that it almost drives you crazy. put the two qualities together, bang you got a drifter. these dogs seem to make the best rig dogs also. they flat just hunt the wind. JMO

[Tbblue]

Wow ur sure not gonna catch much game if ur dogs don't run with there heads up. The hounds I run will even cold trail a track with there heads up that most have to grub. They drift extremely well too. Guys who catch a lot of game at a high percentage will own dogs that run with there heads up. Find a successful line of hounds by u n try them.

[Redwood Coonhounds]

All of my dogs but one will cold trail with head up or down and drift the track, one of them never puts her head down. All of them run with there heads up on a decent track. They are all hound. I've seen plenty of dogs (not just mine) that are the same way. I am sure you could find what you are looking for without trying to play mad scientist and mix a bunch of dogs together to get what you want. Unless you have lifetime to wait and perfect it.

[Mackdog]

I'm not opposed to breeding "non-coonhounds." Most breeds have hunting instinct somewhere in their lineage. I do plan on making my dogs a lifetime endeavor and will eventually have my own line of bear/lion dogs and bobcat dogs. There are no plans to sell or promote my line, I want them for me and the friends that I hunt with. I'm just trying to find characteristics of other breeds that match what makes a fast bear dog.

Maybe I should have asked,"What makes a fast bear dog?"

I want dogs that can trail a bear fast in order to get close and put pressure on it to get it stopped or up a tree. Coonhounds aren't the only breed out there that have trailing instinct and teaching a dog to tree is easy.

[Bearkiller]

I'm trying to come up with a dog that is lean, long legged and runs with its head up while chasing bear. Was thinking of crossing a sight hound with a coon hound. The smaller bodied the better but still long legged and fast. My goal is to shorten up bear races by using dogs that are faster on foot and tend to drift a track rather than trail it. Any thoughts?

If you think it's training instead of instinct, like you posted in your other post, why not just train them to run with their heads up?

I'm not sure why you're trying to reinvent the wheel when most decent hounds I have been around run with their heads up on a jumped race. This isn't exactly anything new. This is more like some guy trying to say he invented (or wants to invent) the internal combustion engine in 2012.................

[Mackdog]

Guess I wasn't very clear on the info I was after. Just trying to get a feel for what people think makes a fast bear dog. In my opinion, if trained the right way from the day a pup can walk, the hunter/trainer can have a lot to do with the drive in a dog. Not saying I train the right way, thats just how I see it. I tend to think more old school, like Steve Matthes and Virgil Lynch (Wildcat). They didn't have any one specific breed, but hunted various dogs until they mixed and matched to get what they wanted. I will be clearer next time. Thanks