Sighthound X Trailhound/Treehound...

[david]

Thank you Ands. If you have time, could you comment on this: the dog Pedwar, was he the result of crossing two pure-bred dogs? If so do you know how tightly family-bred (in-bred, line-bred) the two seperate pure bred dogs were? What exactly were the breeds that were crossed (type of collie, type of greyhound?). And do you think that matters, or you just got lucky on him? Did his litter mates and/or dogs from the same cross approach his greatness? Did any of his pups approach his greatness? If not, do you think any of them were given as much opportunity to excell as he was given?

Thank you.

[david]

Have you talked to or read much of Dutch Salmon?

I kept waiting for Dan McD to respond to you Cowboyvon. But he is missing in action. I know he has read every book on the subject that Mr. Salmon has written and/or offers for sale by other authors. I have talked to Mr. Salmon a couple times, but it was befor I owned a dog with sitehound blood. I have read "Rogues and Running Dogs". The book was captivating and influential in the way I now think about breeding hunting dogs, which seems to be different from most everyone in the United States that I have encountered. But it doesn't really matter because it is all theory. I am not a breeder. But my breeding theory does influence the way I look for dogs, and I sure have been blessed with some good ones.

[Cowboyvon]

I know that Dutch had experimented with some of those crosses when he was younger .. he had a similar cross with him one time when I was with him that he ran on coyotes with his speed dogs but I don't believe he helped us much....

I ran coyotes for a long time on horse back with stag hounds.. A good one can do some amazing things because of there desire to catch... I used a fox pro predator call to bring them in and then catch them with the stags.. I caught just about everything there was out there to catch with the exception of a Bobcat....

Here is a video of my stags ... watch till the end

http://youtu.be/THkF0ZCV6yQ

[david]

I love that video. Now if a guy could just make a living doing that. Actually my favorite part is when the predator call is going and those dogs are standing there looking...looking...looking. Awesome. I could tell you what any coyote would say when he breaks into that opening and stands eye to eye with those gaze hounds.... But I won't since this is a family web site. He might start making deals with God and repenting really fast for all the rabbits he tortured though.

[ands]

The Pedwar dog was bred out of a full hound to a full border collie David. A mate of mine,Norman got the dog (this was over 30years ago) for hunting foxes, he still talks about the dog these days. A fanatical then young hunter with a dog that wanted to hunt as much as he did. I never saw him work but the daughters were special, deceptivly fast for big dogs. Pedwar was probably a one off because no one else would give a dog like that (collie/hound) a chance. Not even Norman, he bought him believing he was a sighthound/hound lol.I bred the two collie/greyhounds (one is ancient in the pic and one young) i,d say its ultra important to use the right collies and greyhounds in the breeding. Border collies that have a huge workload and desire to work and greyhounds (the right greyhounds that is) that have more than just speed to offer ie guts- good feet etc. The both types of crosses hunt kind of differently both great to watch.

[Dan McDonough]

Well, that's probably the 7th or 8th time I've watched that video. I still get excited at the end like it was the first time. Some stags are way more dog than most would give them credit for. I've only been through a handful of stags but I think they've been a pretty good representation of the different types to be had. I just gave one to a friend of mine recently that will pull up quick at the edge of cover. She would have been useful in a different type of ecosystem but not here. She'll be running in AZ soon and I think that will be a good place for her. The two I have left will hit the bush like any of the hounds and use their nose when they have to. I'm very excited to get a litter out of those two and raise some of these from pups. I've only raised two from pups and one was a big mistake to sell but I thought he was to big for this country as he is well over 30". I sure could have used him last winter when our snow was 3'-5' deep.

Working the stags along with the hounds has been the most productive method for catching coyotes which is what we have the most of to run here. I'm still surprised by the power the stags have in a good match with a coyote. I'm looking forward to seeing more of my buddy's g.h. x plott mix too because that dog is open on track and has a lot of wind.

I'm getting the impression that there is not hardly anyone that is messing with this stuff but I just can't fully believe that because of the number of people and dogs at the races/sales. I'm guessing that most of those guys don't visit this site.

David, if you get a chance to visit one of the race/sale days you have just got to go. The number of nice dogs there is a little mind numbing and it's really hard to just pick one. When I was at Holdrege, NE. a little over a year ago, I looked at every dog on the place and found 8 of them that I really liked and probably overlooked 8 more for silly reasons like long hair and other nit-picky reasons. I just thought to myself, what a great situation to be in! This is a whole new world to me and I'm just loving it.