BigGameHoundsmen.com

In the last three years I thought I was making good dogs from the time I put into them.three dogs three different lines. I figured the only way to get better dogs was to help them get better and would have gave most of the credit to the handler... But then I tried something new and spent some money on a well bred dog from Kemp. I can't believe what I DONT have to help my 7 month old pup with that I still have to help my three year olds with. The difference in natural hunting and learning ability is crazy between them.

Alot of difference between lion and bobcat. Yes a well breed dog is a must but there are handlers that can take the same dog and catch more cats. Andy

JTG wrote:95% breeding 5% training. The 5% would be basic obedience training and catching them doing something right and rewarding them.

I have got to disagree with this statement. My best all around dog is Cookie. She is 1/2 black and tan 1/4 border collie, 1/8 german shepard, and 1/8 lab. You can't put her breeding on 95% that is foresure. She just flat out gets it done, locating, treeing, striking trailing you name it. Getting her in the woods is what made her the best but she taught the other hounds how to catch lynx.

She is also a freak ( Or one time wonder is what dad called them. ) You may be able to line breed and start your own line of dogs off her. (very, very hard and much time. ) But I certainly wouldn't want to make similar haphazard crosses and expect to become breeder of the year.



Take care, Willie

I am not so sure, brains is over looked when hunting. Her brother was the same but was killed to early by a lion.
If you look at my pack you would shake your head, every shape and colour out there, I would put them up against any pack of hounds here in BC. Even the young males i have now are getting it done truck to tree, I can now give my 4 and5 year old dogs a break and expect to catch a pile of game.

Andy that's true about a better handler catching more cats and I thought, what this hound, could have done if put in the right hands, but despite the odds against her, she still out hunted season hounds and a season trainer, because it was bred into her. One of her littermates was going to be turned into a coon dog and he could not be broken off of Bobcats with an e-collar, so I am sure, bobcats would have not been a problem, had she been given a chance.

twist wrote:Alot of difference between lion and bobcat. Yes a well breed dog is a must but there are handlers that can take the same dog and catch more cats. Andy

The better bred the hound is,the less work the hunter has to do !

great breeding in the hands of a great trainer can blow your mind

Outside of obedience what do you guys train your dogs to do and how do you go about each thing that you train them to do?

Your vicious!!!!!!!! And mean tooo!!!!



Take care, Willie

When their a couple 2-3 months old I get them to get excited about barking at something, usually a scented down rabbit in a cage. I do this 3 or 4 times max. After that, put them down with an older dog. Timing and which dog to put them with is key. That's it...
Cat population dwindled here this year (haven't found a track in 2 weeks, sucks) so I'm getting my 9 month old pups started on coyotes. The 3 pups caught a coyote this morning so it works for me.

Almost forgot, had a couple of good deer runs with the pups that Mark would be proud of. They know what the tone is on an e-collar, which came from the obedience training, that cured that problem. for now..lol..

I don't get too carried away with a little quirk or 2 that a dog has. If they get the job done, I go with it. I would love to get into all the intriquicies of an e-collar like Dads Dogboy describes but I don't have the time and maybe even patience for that.

Mark most I did was teach them to mind, leave trash alone, made a few tree dogs, leashing at tree & shooting more game than should have, turn them on old tracks, when I could find indicator they were backwards, buzz or light shock for head standing. When able just keep them in the woods as much as possible, with hounds that were very reliable to run & tree some of the critters of choice. My first good bred hound had treed a bunch of coon & a few bobcat alone when she was a yearling. Should have shown you where she treed that first when you were here. I look at those steep, brushy bluffs today &realize some very good breeders had did an excellent job, even if they were not breeding for bobcat dogs.

My opinion is anyone who picks up a natural hound & thinks that dog made a good one because it had an accomplished trainer, without some good breeding in its background. I suspect if you could search that lineage, you would find some good breeding in there. Those type are less apt to reproduce, but one never knows until you bred them.

I offer this experience for young hunters, be very careful paying big dollars for pups, pups no matter who breeds them are a big gamble. Some of the most expensive I purchased never come close to being as good as some that were almost given to me. Al

Now i am talking this area as we all know different things work in different areas. A succesful handler does not always have to be teaching or training a hound to make it a better dog. The handler should be able to help the hounds when in need of help, finding tracks when a loose is made and getting them lined out again. Narrowing the distance of a track to be turned out on. Noing the difference between a catchable track and a runnable track. The list goes on and on these seem like littlecthings but when added up with alot of other smaller things makes for more catches. Not real familier with rigging but there has to be a talent to reading your dogs knowing where to look for strikes and so on. Just my opinion. Andy

I agree with twist being able to read each dog is very important. Some people can train a certain type of dog others can see things in a dog and know when and how to start that dog to let it reach its potential. Being able to know if the potential is there. Knowing when to help and when to let them work it out so as not to create a dog that becomes to dependent

When helping dogs in a lose are you really doing the dogs any good or are you just catching a cat? If a dog gets to where it is making loses i believe it is lacking in tracking ability. Now i know all dogs make loses some a lot more than others. But we are trying to make a perfect dog here. Does helping them out and not allowing them to figure it out on there own help them or hinder them in the long run? Will they get to a point where they know dad will be there to help them out when things get tough and get a little lazy on a lose? I have known guys that would leave on a dead run when a track ended so they could get there and help the dogs locate without giving the dogs time to do it on their own. If they found the game before the dogs they would call the dogs and sic em on the tree and get them to barking. That may make a tree dog but it sure doesn't make a locator. Everybody has there own way of doing things and if it works for you great keep doing it. My belief is that a dog should be bred to strike trail run a track to the end and locate and tree. These are things you shouldn't have to train a dog to do it should be natural for them. I take little credit for my dogs once they have the obedience down. Are they perfect heck no not even close but they get little to no help from me and i believe that gets me through the less than desirable dogs quicker.