changing of the guard

[sourdough]

This topic may have been talked about in some other post, don't know, new to this!

What happens to your pack do to the loss of or the retirement of your lead dog?

How does it affect your ability to catch?

How due the other hounds in your pack respond?

I have my own opinion and experience just curious..........

[Waterway]

I lost my old hound in January. I found I wasn't the only one in are pack counting on him! It wasn't the same without him for a while but other hounds have developed to fill the void he left and we are back getting the job done.

Mel

[vaughndog]

15 years ago , i had a really good pack of lion dogs, 6 to be exact, i had made a couple ground catches and my best old girl was getting beat up, so i decided to give her a break, went out the next day, found my day and ahalf to 2 day old track, put my good dogs on it, and they went up the hill aways , turned around and looked for their leader, i started them several times and was very dissapointed, until that moment i really thought i had a killer pack, wrong, i had one really good dog. after that experience i trained alot different to try to get the most out of my dogs, and was able to find their own streinghts and weaknesses, some just werent cut out to be lead dogs, others had to be given several oppertunities to gain that much needed confidence, live and learn dogs are like people, we all have our own streingths, in my own pack i prefer to not have all leaders, or else you have split races all the time, i like a pack that compliments each other, to each, his or her own though.vaughn

[Ike]

It's probably always a good idea to split the pack up from time to time and make sure they are all lead dogs. I wasn't long into hounding and was guiding hunters which tends to beat up dogs and force a guy into leaving a few home to rest, so after I made my first dog the others were hot on it's heals.

I generally put my pups up with the old rig dogs when they first get started. Those pups are always raised from the tit and bonded quit well to the older dogs. When they strike a track the pup goes down with the old dogs, and gets to tag along from the get go. I also road hunt them some on the wheeler (or walk) and it gives those young dogs a chance to hunt and strike like the old dogs. If one dog strikes, no matter which hound it is, the others always race over and it's only seconds until the whole pack is sucking and blowig down the track.

But I'll agree a guy better leave what he thinks is his best dog (s) home from time to time to see if the others have learned anything......

ike

[Eric Muff]

Within the circles i hunt we have a saying,"Your just one wreck away from being a nobody".
I've seen this happen a time or two,the first time to me.It literally takes you from Hero to Zero in a heartbeat.The first time it happened I was too blind to see it and was surrounded by friends and their dogs that filled my gaps.
The next time it happened and I both my top dogs killed I was in deep trouble.
Since that day I have worked very hard to make each dog a lead dog.
If the day ever does come again and you know that odds are it will,we will just reach in for the next contender and keep running.
This is a must no matter were you live,wolves,lions,trains,disease you name it no one is exempt from losing your best suddenly.

[Liz ODell]

I agree with Ike. Those dogs never learn much when they always get turned out behind your 'start dog' (other than learn to get to the start dog and bark). In my opinion they should all be able to strike and start a track by them selves, some will always be better at it than others but I have never understood the idea of keeping 'turn in dogs'. I start letting the pups/young dogs start tracks off strikes as soon as I see they understand what striking is, the first couple times I might let the old dog loose at the same time or a minute after. My dogs are also all kenneled together and I think they form a tighter bond and learn from each other quicker. Sometimes the pups will make a mess out of it and the old dogs still straighten it out, but hey, if they were in the box they wouldn't learn anything. When I had to quit hunting my old original hound it didn't affect much other than he was a little colder nosed than most of what I have now.

[sourdough]

I started this post to see other people's observations of their pack structure. Now, I have had several great dogs in my life, and and still do! I have hunted with dogs from others that I would feed and retire on my porch. I don't know if I ever had a cheerleader as I have heard so many times on this site, but I have had some that wouldn't cut it......

Ike says that he rotates his hounds, which I know he has to do when he is guiding, those feet only last so long, plus, if you want to buy a replacement during the season ($$$$$$$), it's a wise choice.

I have set myself up for failure on a couple of different occasions, i.e. letting my pack get to old without breeding and starting pups (today their 2.5-6 yrs., tomorrow their 6.5-10 yrs.), and then have your top hounds that have gotten you through so many losses die, get killed or you have to lay them off. Then your left to depend on the rest, though good hounds that can catch their own game with style, they don't measure up to those you lost! I am sure everyone that has had a great hound and has lost one or retired one knows the yard stick I'm talking about.


Eric Muff said in a quote: You're just one wreck from being a nobody. I don't know about being a nobody, but I am sure that we are one wreck away from finding out what we have in our pack.

How is your pack

[Patrick]

My situation is such that I keep between 5 and 7 dogs.
As was said, I learned about 15 years ago that a hunter is only one string of bad luck away from starting over.
I had 3 good dogs in their prime, and several young dogs/pups I had good hopes for. I sold the least of the 3 good dogs and shortly thereafter my best dog died and the third one flat disappeared (stolen is my only guess).
I was left with young dogs that were a wreck to hunt as a pack. I sold and culled everything but the one young dog I knew was going to make a good one. A friend gave me an old dog (at one time was quite good) which was past time for "retirement". I kept after it with those two until I had her doing it well. Then I started going through the pups getting the bench built up, just hoping something didn't happen to her.
If I didn't have that young dog I may have ended up having to buy something, therefore I was fortunate.
Pat.