BigGameHoundsmen.com

Willy, there is no magical breed of hound and never said there was but if you don't believe some are better than the rest at certain things you need to slow down a little. Yes somehounds men are better trainers but there is no one handler or trainer that can make top dog out of everyone that comes along. Its just not that easy. Andy

Andy,


My bone yard is more than likely bigger than most on this site. (There is probably no probably about it.) But if you think Mr.Merlo is not on the right track. You will probably draw the short straw way more often than necessary. Because the man pulling the strings has a bigger role than most think.


Take care, Willie

Willy have always said handler isa Big part of making a dog just the way melo put it as though every dog will make the grade and its just to easy if you put the time in. Willy I can take my farm dogs and catch cats with them does that make me a GREAT handler and my farm dogs GREAT catdogs in my eyes no. Andy

slowandeasy wrote:Andy,


My bone yard is more than likely bigger than most on this site. (There is probably no probably about it.) But if you think Mr.Merlo is not on the right track. You will probably draw the short straw way more often than necessary. Because the man pulling the strings has a bigger role than most think.


Take care, Willie

Dang it Willie! If the man pulling the strings can teach a hound how to run a ducking, dodging cat, why is your bone pile so big? In my experience that has been the toughest thing to find in cat hounds. Yes practice can help, but have sure seen hounds that just did not have that gene in them. I believe there are a least two ways a hound can be successful at catching bobcat, get a tight jump and show blazing speed or settle in and not over run the track while moving the track fast enough to break the cat/s pace, & I prefer the steady pace breaker. Thanks AL

All dogs are born. Most good cat dogs are trained to be successful. Some do it fairly naturally. Very, very few are exceptional. Of those, I speculate many were trained by exceptional trainer/hunters.

Merlo never claimed to have exceptional dogs, just successful, well trained ones out of various tree stock.

I agree with what Dewey said.

twist, please post pics and names of the "Michael Jordan" or "professional" type dogs you have in your kennel, preferably with the cats you caught with them this year. After all, you are defending your bloodline and yourself in these posts, aren't you? And the minimal training they need to become great?

Al,

Mostly because I don't let them hang around till they are old enough to collect social security. And make excuses for them. And never have been one to pedal my discards.

Take care, Willie

Im repeating myself on this but here goes. Once you put a good handle on a young dog you're training should be over for the most part. A dog should be bred to strike,run to catch,locate,and tree desired game. Dogs that dont have those traits bred into them make trainers out of houndsmen. Im no different than most guys cuz im looking for that special dog that is "special". I have owned one such dog and have been lucky enough to have hunted with two others. When you're fortunate enough to get a dog like that it wont matter how much or how little training you do with it or how few or how many dogs you throw it in the middle of, it will leave no doubt in your mind that you are seeing a dog do what it was BRED to do.

Cobalt, never once hve you seen me bost about my own dogs nor have you ever seen a post where I said a dog does not need exposure and if you have please show me. I have said my strain works very well for me and for the most part ones that have tried them. Never have been one to throw pics all over here. Never said mine were Jordons of cats but I have been blessed to own a few ones that really stood out over the past 30+ years of cat hunting. Why am I defending myself or dogs IN am defending what I have learned over the years and that is all dogs don't make the grade fact weather some don't want to believe it or not. Andy

Mark,
I agree that a dog should have it in them to do all of the above as you listed. I would love to own like most people a dog that is a born natural. But im not gonna sit around and wait for it. May never happen.

What is the difference if a natural dog catches a cat or a trained dog? It still boil's down to a cat in a tree Thats the end result.

A good handle is a very minimal, necessary part of the total package of training I do with my dogs. All my dogs are treated very specifically to their personalities from a very young age and are brought up like a parent should bring up a child, idividually with care. Being able to see what a pup or dog is thinking and correcting or encouraging at or before the behavior is committed is paramount to the training process. One can make dogs by hands off methods, it happens all the time, but that will produce few decent dogs in the end even out of good stock. Training is easy once you have thousands of hours under your belt, but a novice trainer, if careful and attentive and dedicated to their goal can make nice dogs despite thier lack of experience.
For the same reasons, this is why 99% of most horse owners send their animals to a professional trainer for its first 30 to 60 days, and why bird dog trainers are booked solid with young dogs at $800 a month. Success rate is why.
This is my opinion on that.

twist- have you read your signature!!

If you posted more pics of success with your dogs, you might sell more pups or stud fees. Not other peoples dogs out of yours. We all love seeing pics. Nobody would hold it against you for boasting. It certainly would help me gain respect. I respect all dogs who catch their own game.

"bring your good females".
Gimme a break!!

This is where this site gets interesting as along a post things get mis read or skipped over For the most part everyone has said merlo has no doudt done a nice job of training and has been blessed with some good prospects. His original post leads one to believe its just plain easy to raise and train cat dogs and all can be taught to do so. And to say at 2 yr they trail like a PRO, and yes cobalt this was said. Well 5 out of 5 pros that is false sorry I just tell it like it is. Enough said about this post. Andy

Merlo

Its not about the cat in tree or how many. Its about a dog that can catch that cat fast and with no mistakes. Its about keeping the number of cats you don't catch as low as possible. I believe if you do your home work and choose pups that have been bred to catch cats you up your odds tremendously of finding that special dog. A numbers game to some extent. I think everyone should have to do what you have done as this will make you appreciate the hounds and the cats more. My kid has a very talented cat dog that came from parents that were hunted very little and when they were they ran trash. I bought the parents and we have raised 4 more litters out of them. We are currently hunting 6 of those dogs between us and they are solid cat dogs that can catch by themselves but they are nowheres near the calibre of dog that first dog was. I have a jack russle terrier that has caught quite a few lions around the house but i wouldnt call him a lion dog. And there was no training involved at all with him.(hell, he wont even come to me when i call him lol) congrats on a good job with your dogs

I'd bet dollars to dognuts your posts on this thread would be very different if merlo's dogs were Topper bred!!

Twist,
Never said it was plain easy I put count less hours working with them dogs on all aspects of hunting and handling nothing easy about it. I just took 5 run of the mill dogs and shaped them to catch cats. One dog does have good breeding but all the dogs catch there own cats on a regular. I could have gotten lucky, and for the pro comment everyone knows you mess up or the dogs mess up that cat could be history. So them dogs gotta track like something if a pro is a bad word to use then humor me. Them dogs dont get alot of second chances. I didnt start hunting any of them dogs together till they caught there own cats.

Mark,
Everyone knows you make a mistake or the dogs do there aint a lot of room to bounce back from that yeah some good dogs do, but my dogs wouldnt be able to catch a cat when it made a lose if they werent doing something right... And I agree with you mark I want my dog to have a high % ratio on turn outs...