BigGameHoundsmen.com

just wonderin what is the best or tha grittest dog uve ever hunted with thanks for anwers and opions

The grittiest dog that I have hunted with is our pit bulls that we use for catch dogs, but on bears only, was a walker dog that my buddy owned. His name was rock, the first bear he was on was a 30 min race and at the tree there was bear hair all around the tree and Rock looked like he brushed his teeth with the bear's behind. Another time he took off and treed, all the other dogs came back to the truck and loaded up. So I went to see what he had, He was laying on a badger, chewing it up and whinning about every 3 seconds. He was crazy or just straight up retarted!!!!! Lost rock a year ago by a javalina in a cave. Could not get in the cave to get my collars off of him, so a year later went back down to the cave and found a carcass of a javalina and a dogs carcass on top of it. RIP ole Rock

Didn't know you had Javelina in Midland. I grew up in Lubbock many years ago and we didn't have em' then. Damm thing's almost killed my Airedale, tried to hamstring him. Looked like he was cut with a straight razor.

ya the javalina's are here and they are bad news. Our hog dogs caught 2 one night and we turned the bulldogs loose thinking we had feral hogs, it was bad just to say that. I ran in and grabbed the javalina by the back of the legs and he turned around and had my coveralls by my knee and I was screaming for help!!!! I have a pic of my catchdog, but I dont think it would be appropriate to post any pics of him.

My bluetick,was the craziest hound i have run with.He couldn't trail to save his life,all he had to do was keep up with my female walker.When a bear grabs a dog they generally turn and get out of the way.Not Blue, he would go head to head or rather tooth to tooth.Watched a bear jump out of a tree and land on him thought oh no hes dead.Bear was dragging him he had it by the throat.I'll miss that hammer head dog.

Smith wrote:The grittiest dog that I have hunted with is our pit bulls that we use for catch dogs, but on bears only, was a walker dog that my buddy owned. His name was rock, the first bear he was on was a 30 min race and at the tree there was bear hair all around the tree and Rock looked like he brushed his teeth with the bear's behind. Another time he took off and treed, all the other dogs came back to the truck and loaded up. So I went to see what he had, He was laying on a badger, chewing it up and whinning about every 3 seconds. He was crazy or just straight up retarted!!!!! Lost rock a year ago by a javalina in a cave. Could not get in the cave to get my collars off of him, so a year later went back down to the cave and found a carcass of a javalina and a dogs carcass on top of it. RIP ole Rock

Damn, that's you call BOTTOM right there.

i was just wonderin i had a plott gyp 2years ago and sold her to my uncle for 600 and they turned on a big one think it was 345lb when they got to tha dogs it had killed my walker male and the gyp was locked jawed on its a$$ her leg was broke and guts was hangin out we had to put her down later that nite she was like a bull dog

What do you mean by gritty? It sounds that you mean suicidal? It does no good to get a dog killed or lots of vet bills. What good is a dead dog when there is a better way. Dewey

dwalton wrote:What do you mean by gritty? It sounds that you mean suicidal? It does no good to get a dog killed or lots of vet bills. What good is a dead dog when there is a better way. Dewey

Thats right Dewey, I have to laugh when guys talk up their gritty dogs. Who needs vet bills and replacement dogs. There is a point where that extra grit is detrimental to the pocket book.

Exact same reason I prefer a hound with a little LESS grit

I don't want the "most" gritty, I want them are gritty "enough".

You might see a lot of overly gritty dogs, but you won't see a lot of old overly gritty dogs. It's a tough deal to see a dog that has your next lead dog potential, get cut down before it ever has a chance to show what it's got.

The grittiest dogs that I have seen wouldn't even make the list of what I would consider the best dogs that I have seen. They're usauly just gritty. JMO

I agree with the last few posts. I like when people say when they see dogs 5ft or so behind a bear running it that they think those dogs arent gritty. What I have seen is most of those dogs are smarter and know sooner or later that bear will get tired and turn around and that's when the bayup happens. I have a couple of dogs that I think are going to be vet bills, then I got smart dogs that will grab hair and get out without getting hurt. Personally I spend too much at the vet as it is and I will take the dog with "enough" grit as someone said, rather than the suicidal idiot dog. There is smart grit, then there is just plain stupid grit. JMO

You guys ought to go to the topic "Bear Hunting" "Who make the dog"
Good discussion on wether dogs can think or not.

Finding a dog that has the grit to put teeth into a bear especially one that is running dogs down is hard to find but finding dogs that consistently will bite bears have the mental toughness to stay with a nasty bear and the intelligence to know how much pressure to give each bear is a rarity .

No dog is going to go toe to toe with a bear and win if you want your dogs to do so you better have deep pockets and a big yard and I still doubt you will find many dogs that will do it after being hurt on one or two bears.
But simple fact is most people are content knowing their dogs will chase a bear all day and be with the bear . Seems to me that a top bear dog know that when that bear is running it is pretty tough to get caught from the back end and those dogs that will bite those bears will stop that bear much sooner than a dog that will run the bear till the bear is winded .
The bear is always the one that controls what is happening but the dogs make the bear choose to either continue it's course or change what it is doing.

Back to the topic a gritty dog that is only interested in sinking it teeth into a bear may live for 1 2 or even a few seasons but it's days are numbered and sooner or later it will meet the wrong bear.Tghat being said that suicidal dog will often elevate the level of grit in other pack mates to their top potential some of which will retain even when that suicidal dog is gone others will falter and not engage ever again unless some other dog engages first.