How young do you Start a Pup?

[Dads dogboy]

AAHHH Steve, Welcome to the “Deep Thinking” World of Hound Training/Hunting! You are in GOOD Company…..David, Perk, Mr. Dewey, Pegleg, Mark, JTG and several more of us dwell here in the Depths of the PACK Hound Abyss.

There are two very different Philosophies concerning Hunting with Hounds. Neither is Right or Wrong. Neither gets Better or Worse results when used by Good Handlers/Houndsmen. They are just different.

One is developing the Parts of a well-oiled Machine…..a Pack of Hounds whose sum of the Parts makes the Whole better than any individual.

The other is the making of the Individual Hound who while welcoming help in Pursuing the Houndsman’s Game of choice feels that it does not need help in successfully ending a Track.

We subscribe to the 1st way of thinking, therefore Starting and Training a pup to “Hunt with us” sets the stage early in one of our Hounds life that He/She are part of a Team of which we are the Manager/Coach.

Raising Pups outside/loose lets a Pup learn all sorts of exciting things from a Pups stand point; foremost among these things is “INDEPENDENCE”. While this is an admiral trait, and is needed to some extent in any Hound, too much makes the Pup/Hound a POOR team player.

Now the Terrain & Vegitation that a person is Hunting as well as the Game of Choice will dictate what type of Hound is needed to be Successful. In some places either style of Training/Backgrounding may produce “Game Getters” who end Tracks with Game up a Tree or on the Fur stretcher. In other Ecosystems one or the other Style will be better suited than the other.

These are just my thoughts. Glad to have another Houndsman who truly studies his Craft participate here on BGH.

I will try to get David to add his wisdom to this thread!

[david]

I will try to get David to add his wisdom to this thread!

Well, I sure appreciate the invitation, and I sure am glad I got to see this thread. When I get around certain people or read the words of certain people or view the fox hunting film about Melvin Poe, It just makes me realize I am a couple lifetimes away from knowing much of anything at all about this stuff. I watched that film again after reading this thread. Now I really want to know about Melvin Poe. Who taught him? I really don't think you could get to that level without building on a body of knowledge that took hundreds of years to develop. I been wrong before and I can take it if you want to tell me I'm wrong again.

I just feel lucky to rub shoulders with some of you folks, and it is humbling but enlightening and even thrilling at times. When I have a conversation with any one of several people I have been privileged to meet, including some who honor us with their input on this board, it is so easy for me to know they are at a level I can never be in this life. And in most every case they are people who are second or third generation hunters who had family invest in them. They don't really even know the depth of their understanding, but I see it when they routinely talk about phenomenon that took me over 20 years of struggling to begin to recognize. They have known it all their lives. And that is their beginning point.

From childhood they build on that foundation that I have not even reached yet. A recent conversation with Charlie Aston helped drive that truth home for me. And it seems like often the most knowledgeable such as Charlie are also quite humble about it, because they don't see it as some great accomplishment on their part. It is just who they are.

So I sure feel honored and humbled to have been even mentioned in this thread. But honestly, I don't belong here. It sure is a gift to be joined with folks such as the great men we find here though, beginning with the one pictured at the beginning of the thread. Thanks to all for the amazing generosity. It is unprecedented in my life time and, I would venture to say, in all of history. It is a good time to be alive. These are the good old days.

[twist]

A very interesting post a pup needs exposure to humans at an early age the more handling the better. Manners can be started at an early age and along with exposure to the outdoors is a big plus. The rest should come naturally with exposure. Andy

[JTG]

This is very good advice, Just like raising kids if they know at an early age, up front what you expect and what you will not put up with, they learn that fighting and other things is simply not acceptable and then catch them doing something right and reward them with positive reinforcement.
JTG

A very interesting post a pup needs exposure to humans at an early age the more handling the better. Manners can be started at an early age and along with exposure to the outdoors is a big plus. The rest should come naturally with exposure. Andy

[houndsandterriers]

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[mark]

I assume you are referring to lions and not bobcats? If not you have my curiosity as to a dog being scared of a bobcat when its under a year old.

[al baldwin]

My own personal training is alot different. I believe if you intoduce before a year the dog will be scared or will never see the cat as prey. If you scar the puppy it will become agressive with cats when it gets older. This will get it killed. If it lives with cats it will never thinks of cats as prey it will not be motivated to hunt them. Just somthing to think about.

No disrespect, how many pups have you raised around cats? For years i raised pups around cats & they were not allowed to trail or chase them. It had no effect on them when it came time to chase bobcat, at times around five months old. Just enabled me to hunt them around ranches where chasing the house cats would have not set well with the Mrs & cause me to lose some good hunting spots. Not saying what you have experienced, just curious how many times you have experienced dog being turn off of chasing cats by that experience. Thanks Al

[houndsandterriers]

.

[mark]

If the dogs you are training wont show interest in a fresh bobcat snow track at one year plus old i would say it would be more of a dog problem than a house cat problem. JMO

[coastrangecathunting]

House cats have no way of messing up a dog . my wife and kids have 3 house cats . I have gater . a terrior. he wont bother the house cats. if a stray comes around he stretches it . They all smell different same goes for bobcats and bear. I start hunting a pup when it can jump on its dog house. around 5 months old.

jc