BigGameHoundsmen.com

Don't have to do anymore research I'm not in need of a pit or any other catch breed plus when your right, your right. Like when your wrong your wrong sounds like being wrong would be a topic you could really share some insight on, being an expert on being wrong and all. I'm done too I like posts where one person doesn't ruin it for everyone, and turn a simple question into a pissing match.

Back to the original topic...

I have an APBT who is now retired as a housedog due to multiple knee injuries...he came from pure game /fighting stock (Jeep/Nigerino lines) but I used him as a catchdog for years. Tried to use him as a trapline dog when he was younger, just got caught in traps all the time. Tried to use him as a coondog, although he would tree (not well) and could more than handle a big boar coon, a coon could outsmart him just by crossing the river. He was actually decent as a squirrel dog though. He could run down and kill a coyote at a close distance (within 200 yards, otherwise he would be left in the dust quick). Decent tree dog, not much of a nose, no brains at all. I did have a lot of fun with him and my old Catahoula back in the day.

You can have all the grit in the world but with a head full of sense can make a good dog, like a lot of big game hounds and curs have. Bulldogs and many terriers (jagds, patterdales) are bred with NO SENSE and this will get them killed on larger game like bear and lion. Crossing bulldogs or terriers into hounds, even though they make some fun hunting dogs (I have a jagd/Kemmer cross who is a holy terror) do NOT add anything to the big game hound or cur that should not already be there (mainly grit, which a good hound should have in balance with brains and sense) and add dog aggression while taking away the brains that have made hounds successful over the years.

And yes, bulldogs from game lines and even some watered down pet lines WILL fight and WILL love it, even with the most thorough socialization with other dogs. I believed all the "it's all how you raise them" crap when I first got my APBT 8 years ago and he has proven me wrong about this. He would kill another dog with a smile on his face. They are awesome dogs in their own right but the "how you raise them" crap has done much more harm than good for the breed(s)... Although keep in mind a proper true APBT (not a lot of the mutts called "pit bulls" people have these days) is a VERY people-loving, obedient dog despite their love of the fight with other dogs.

Just my .02 ...attached is a picture of my "Wolverine"

Thanks for the replies guys. It seems the pits are right at home as walked in catch dogs. I've always wanted one as a decoy dog for coyotes , but I hear they're too willing to fight and not draw the coyote in. I was really just curious because I have been watching a lot of Argentinian lion hunting with dogos lately and they seem to run nothing but dogos and they do very well. Must be a differnt hunting style. It also seems like the dogos don't eat each other at the tree.


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Minneguy, I actually think they could be fine as a decoy dog. Pit bulls are very trainable and I have heard of people using them for that.
Dogos are something else. There was a pretty good discussion on them a while back if you search the forum. Basically they are used as pack catch dogs, working together, a very different dog than the pit bull. Decent nose, but nothing like a hound; gritty, but nowhere near dead game like the APBT. I don't have a lot of personal experience with them but a lot of breeders tend to breed mediocre dogs only because they are a "rare" breed so getting one from hunting stock would be really important.

The small amount of experience we had with bulldogs was not a good one. When I was a kid we had four that were half pit half Plott. They had less speed, nose, and stamina than a Plott and 10 times the dog aggression. When packed on a red hot bear they would make it climb, but none of them lived to be 2 yr old.

Yeah that wikipedia definition is far from being correct. I have read about every book written on the breed. So there larger ancestors were used for bull and bear baiting originally. But they eventually bred them down in size to make them easier to handle when they started fighting them with each other and you didn't need as much room to keep them. Dont get it confused they were definitely bred for fighting for a long time.

But that being said since dog fighting was made a felony in the 1976 less and less people bred them for that. So now a days you can get "pit bulls" that are 50 or so years removed from this profession. Thus you can get lots of pit bulls that you can socialize pretty easy to make them not dog aggressive. But to do that with a gamebred dog still close to that ancestry is a lot lot harder. Can be done but like someone already mentioned it is 100% against their breeding and instincts. But why would you want suicidal bear dogs anyways??? I think like ncmailman said you can add some tenacity and athleticism when you add a 1/4 or 1/8 to the mix if you want a dog to catch.

Slobberdoc that is a good looking bulldog right there. You can see the nigerino in him. You said he was your catch dog, what do you run for bay dogs if you dont mind me asking.

Slobberdoc beautiful dog!

We have ran pure and crossbred pits and other bull breeds in our packs for generations. They are not lead in either these are all running catch dogs we use here in Hawaii for boar. We have used them on occasion for goats and wild cattle as well.

Thanks! He was a heck of a catchdog, would always catch on the ear and have to be pried off. Catch or die! My bay dogs were Catahoulas, all gone now unfortunately. Wolverine my bulldog is still around but crippled up now. Since then I've switched over to coon/big game hounds and no longer have any hog dogs...though my pack of alligators would probably be more than capable of catching hogs if there were any here! LOL.

There are plenty of cold bulldogs in the world that are out of some of the hottest sumbitchin dogs on 4 legs. If you don't know what you are talkin bout then why talk about it at all. On the other hand many of them are "born to fight other dogs". You could socialize til you are blue in the face and they are always gonna be hot and they will fire into another dog at any slight chance they get to be near one. Again if you don't know what you are talkin bout then why talk about it at all.

Years ago I had a pure pit female that was my pet, she rode in the back of my truck every where I went most of the time on top of the dog box. She would catch about anything I sicced her on, I caught several man shy hounds for others with her but she wouldn't put her mouth on them she just run them down, bowled them over and stood over them. She wasn't much of a hogdog, she'd hunt one up and catch it but would let go when I'd try to leg it. When fox hunting when the race would get close she'd bail off the box and run with the hounds for 30 min. or so than come get back on the box. She opened with a high squeal the whole time she was in a fox race. She'd checkout a cat race and come back and lay on the box listening. if the hounds got the cat somewhat broke down and were starting to tighten on it she'd would bail off the dogbox go straight in there and kill that cat right then without opening the first time. She did that to a good little trainer cat we ran several times right behind my house that had always treed. My Granddaddy wanted to kill her that night and always made me chain her up if he was going hunting with me. He complained about her killing that cat for years, till the day he died. I guess my point is all dogs are different, you shouldn't paint pit bulls with as wide of brush as most do. But I have seen some that was just dangerous period!!!!

I enjoyed your post scrubrunner.

I normally stay out of pit discussions as they're usually emotional and not real informative. My experience with them is not what it is with other breeds. But I've had some that ran track and treed although they were real tree clclimbers. Would run with other dogs no issues. I had one that would get excited and grab another dog if he wasn't sure what was happening. I've seen they used to work cattle but they were weak on that. Pits are hardly a breed more a type and the variance is enormous. So stating "facts" speaks more about the speaker then the type. I know of fighting breed dogs from the islands that are hard to trust with other dogs or around people but then littermates live in housholds. Just like many other breeds. For bear they are a bad choice imo. They aren't as fast in the long race as many hounds when they do :close they can hurt a bear or lion enough to cause it to kill them. The answer to hunting with them I believe lies in the name terrier. Any use other terriers have most pits will do well. But to make them into heroes or paint them all black is ignorant. There dogs that tend to be loyal driven and strong. Not anything more or less as a breed. Individuals vary just like humans.

Sorry guys I was being lazy and didn't read page two didn't even notice it. Sorry again.

Slobberdoc, good looking bulldog....had a Bunch of that back in the day