Running dogs locating

[Dan Edwards]

I think it comes down to build. There are an awful lot of tree dogs that are not built good. Build isn't everything, they have to be able to have brains and desire

I'll take build and desire. I'll hunt the brains into em later.

[bearsnva]

Never seen brains hunted into a dog and don't think I will. If a dog has brains he will get better the more it is hunted faster than a dog that isn't as smart. Why are some people just smarter and catch on quicker than others? Brains are used not made.

[twist]

Never seen brains hunted into a dog and don't think I will. If a dog has brains he will get better the more it is hunted faster than a dog that isn't as smart. Why are some people just smarter and catch on quicker than others? Brains are used not made.

Very well said!!!!!!

[mark]

Get a 2 littermate pups out of a line of proven smart dogs and start one at 6 months old and hunt the crap out of it and wait on the other one until it turns 6 years old to start it then take em both to the woods and see which one catches the most cats........Brains in a dog are great but they need exposure to develope it to its fullest.

[bearsnva]

Mark , agree totally with what you have said, but if you have one dog that is smarter than the other, out of the same litter and they are hunted the same, time in the woods and exposure to game, then what dog do you expect to do the best. Seems simple to me. Can't make a purse out of a pigs ear is what I grew up with. If two kids are born the same day are they both going to be rocket scientists even if they go to the same schools and start at the same time? Six years you quote out of a dogs life is a long time and you can't play catch up but to a certain degree and not all dogs from a litter are going to be the same or why would there be culls?

[mark]

I was just pointing out that there is no substitute for experience. IMO If a dog has the desire to put an end to a track it is going to use every bred in trait it has to acomplish that and with a lot of experience it will overcome any shortage of brains it may have. Have some dogs that seem smart and some not so much but the one that seems not as smart can damn sure catch cats because it has an unreal drive to find and catch em. I have seen a lot of super smart people in my life that have went nowhere in their chosen profession because they had little to no drive.

[al baldwin]

I was just pointing out that there is no substitute for experience. IMO If a dog has the desire to put an end to a track it is going to use every bred in trait it has to acomplish that and with a lot of experience it will overcome any shortage of brains it may have. Have some dogs that seem smart and some not so much but the one that seems not as smart can damn sure catch cats because it has an unreal drive to find and catch em. I have seen a lot of super smart people in my life that have went nowhere in their chosen profession because they had little to no drive.

Mark, sure agree with you on this one. Al

[twist]

Never seen brains hunted into a dog and don't think I will. If a dog has brains he will get better the more it is hunted faster than a dog that isn't as smart. Why are some people just smarter and catch on quicker than others? Brains are used not made.

I believe if everyone reads this post slow it's exactly what they are saying!!! Lol

[mark]

Dang Al, that dont happen to often! Lol

[macedonia mule man]

People who owned and hunted pure American fox hound on fox were not looking for locating dogs I don't believe. If they were I never heard them discuss it.they did have dogs that would stay at a den but they didn't like for one to do that. the name running dog doesn't have anything in it to make me think of a dog that had much desire to stop running and smell up a tree or bay at a hole for any length of time. Running dog crossed with anything to give pups a strong locating trait are not pure running dogs.

[dwalton]

A few question to think about? Is not treeing a instinct to get the game that a dog trails? Wasn't the hound breeds brought to this country? Early American settlers lived off the land on game they killed, some of it from trees? The hounds that started American breeds came from English fox hounds and blood hounds mostly? The early books and picture that you see or read about hunting in the southwest refer to fox hound and blood hound cross? Where did the treeing walker breed come from was it not fox hounds that treed? Has not the tree hounds been bred for treeing to the point of that is what that do without thinking about it? We as breeders of hounds can we breed to get traits in a dog that works for us over time? Good hunting Dewey

[undertheradar]

We all have brains, the way we absorb things and execute said things is the key. If a dog is has the right equipment you most definitely can "hunt the brains into them." If that weren't true the best litter of pups I ever had were out of two deer dogs, that never ran deer and treed like crazy when they were 3-4 years old. They werent born with that instinct, they learned it.

We don't hunt one or two dogs, we hunt a pack of running dogs that must perform with 5 dogs or 35 dogs, but a puppy with us don't have to think a whole lot. All he has to do once he is started is show me he can run (and hold a track) by himself. The rest is up to him if he wants to stick around. He must stay with the pack, not get behind or bark outta place, and he has a home until he is about 14 months old. Around 15-18 months old they need to be heard quite often in the right place and heard calling some shots on a pick up, all the while not trashing off on deer or coons. Ive always preferred the slower to shine pups rather than the out of the gate rockstar. More times than not, the 11 month old rockstar gets culled for being a know it all and makes an ass out of himself too many times. It seems to be the mediocre pup that always did good but wasn't the shining star that gets better and better and better. That is where experience comes in to play. I think you are mistaking brains for natural instinct. I have had some breed of running dogs that at 9 months old would bay, dig and tree better than the old dogs, that is instinct and is born and bred into them, but don't think it cant be learned, because in my opinion it can be.

[perk]

Macedonia mule man, gotta disagree, the people in the area I grew up around foxhounds that bayed at dens and treed were highly regarded. There used to be a local deer proof fox field trial in my area, they gave out the regular awards, hga, speed drive, hunt. Trail. Best mouth, classiest hound. But the one that was coveted by many was Best Tree Dog.
I never heard the term running dog til I joined here, walker means foxhound in Va, pretty sure in Carolina and surrounding states too, people said treeing walker to distinguish it was a coon dog breed. If someone has a treeing dog you think it cannot run a track just tree something same as running dog makes you think no tree.

[scrubrunner]

I never heard the term running dog till I joined here either Perk, a Walker is a foxhound around here. I grew up around foxhounds here also but if a hound could not be broke from baying or digging at the hole it was given to a cat hunter or culled terminally.

[macedonia mule man]

Perk, it funny how different areas of the country want things different out of their dogs. I guess it more than one way to skin a cat. Had a good three dog race from 4:00pm till 7:10 pm tonight but I didn't skin a cat. I believe it was a gray but I didn't ever see it.