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I'm pretty new at houndin tagged alog with a bud last year the bought a dog untrialed that he rec, I was also told by the seller that he was truck to tree on Cats bears coon. I freecast him roading and he doesnt check much out. I've had the dog wind bears and fly tru the woods bawl on track treein sob. Now the prob is i've got that real dry crystaly snow I know is not that good. But I put him on bobcat tracks and he doesnt even take notice put his nose down? I stuff his head in it and he acts like i'm trying to trick him onto trash pulls back. I have had him split race and tree for an hr half I was 150 yards on the gps and my fault was makin alot of noise think I scared the bobber out the tree? Does that happen much? I never saw the cat but they ran straight away from me on the gps and i called him off after a couple more tree then move etc. He has no interest in drags. But he will pack with other dogs including trash (never runs it on his own) Ran a bobber the other day with a friends dog and he was treein like and sob. Any help would be great and no i don't need to hear any of that hes a cull crap. Thanks Bryan

If he has been ran on bear and started on bear it may take several cats for him to come around. A lot of then never do make cat dogs. Bobcats will very seldom jump tree in the NW. Maybe one in a hundred, if that many. I would say something else is going on. Did you walk the tracks out in the snow to see what was happening. Dewey

Well I'm his third owner hes 7 and I was told that the 1st 2.5 years were bear. Didnt really walk his tracks out drove around and came in at a diff angle. I didnt see bob tracks every where down there bottom of cayon with large creek tracks were circles criss crossed etc maybe he was false treein Idk man I was so tired just wanted to get him back the dogs that ran 2.5 miles the other way false treed to we saw that. Sounds like I need a bobcat dog to bad I live in town.

Did the dog come from your part of the country as alot of the times it takes awhile for them to adjust to a new part of the country. Also may just be he doesnt have the nose to pursue certain tracks.

Yeah Hes from close by the part i dont get is he doesnt really even put his nose to the ground. My buddy's dog puts his nose in every track he comes across.

If he has been ran on bears only for the past 2.5 years then it is going to take him a bit to remember to put his nose down and grub out a track.. I've seen it more then once..

The tracks you were trying to start? Were other dogs able to run them?

The best why to tell what you dog is going is to walk the track from start to finish if you can. Even keep the dog on leash for awile if need be. Bear dogs run with there heads up sometimes you need to slow them down and make them think. Good luck and remeber that you and your dogs are a team and sometimes you need to work as haed as they do, if not harder.

Well it was his first 2.5 yrs, the best dog cold nosed he wasn't really able to run it he would burry his nose then open we let him try and take it a hundred yards but he wouldn't really stay on it and had to circle we then decide to pullem off and try to find a hotter track, the bob we caught was started by my friends 2 dogs we pulled up to see them cross the road and saw the cat the dogs hit the road and were searchin in out we called them up but the old man wouldnt come so we put his other one on it and i yanked mine out the box they dove off did a circle and had it treed in 500 yards. So I'll just keep workin him just sucks cause I can really hunt by myself. And Melanie I bought one of Marshall's pups to just a lil young for this year.

Lol I could stand to do a lil more walkin. The other wierd thing is we are cuttin dozens of tracks that don't seem that hot based on the dogs. But there not more than 3-4 hrs old based on the last snow we head out.

I would give him some time and use some of your boot leather and walk some tracks with him

That pup out of Marshall's stuff should make you a dandy pup next year.. I wanted one, but kept a pup for a stud fee off my old male that is the same age as those pups.. And having 2 from my older litter (littermates to Marshall's Huck dog).. I'm pretty well pupped out for a while.. I might have lost my mind as it is LOL

Its sounds like you have a very nice acting dog. Never expect a dog to be some kind of superstar in all areas. Because the dog doesn't act like he's wound up all the time, doesn't mean he's not hunting all the time. Don't mess around with tracks the dog can't smell or likes. He obviously likes cat scent. If you force a well broke dog's nose into a track they're not sure of, they will always treat it like bad game. With a dog at his age, I would let him out on the track, if he doesn't fire up, go find a better track. This dog sounds like he knows a lot more than you do. He's been hunting longer than you and has seen more game than you. Trust him til he is 100% wrong and if you can, hunt him alone, or a least let him start tracks and get outa town a few times before dumping dogs to him. You can never formulate an honest opinion of a dog if you don't have experiences alone with the dog. My opinion is only a reflection of what I've read. All dogs are subject to different hunting and training methods.

Was he soloing truck to tree or with a pack? A lot of dogs can do it all when they are following other dogs. That's the problem with running a pack and not solo hunting a dog. If he's been in a pack were other dogs are getting the track going and he's following and treeing, then you can't expect him to start a track on his own. That doesn't mean that he never will but it may take some work for him to learn to do it. Sorry to sound pessimistic but guys don’t usually sell their best hounds.

I'm not sure if it was solo or not, he new this was the only dog I was planning to buy. The only reason I bought him was the guy that recomended the dog puts up alot of game and said this is the dog he would buy. I'll keep workin him. And yeah I always wonder why u sellin if hes soooo great. He told me coming on 7 was old in his book and he had a female in getting bread. And I'm not sure but i dont think money was brimmin. Hopefully next year I can move and buy somemore dogs. Thanks

Well ur advice has helped I've been using hotdog bits to convice him its ok to let me point to a track then yesterday I walked him out on a bobber track and it didn't take long for him to get excited. I did have to help him along a few times where the cat walked down logs. Trailed it out on top of a rock bluff and lost it, we search all around and could never find it coming out of there. The dog did take it quite a ways by himself I'm sure by the last track I saw it wasn't jumped but I'm happy this is the 1st think I've got this dog to do solo since I got him. Thanks again Bryan