BigGameHoundsmen.com

I have found that feeding my hounds the liver of every kill has made them a better and more agressive hunter.

I would like to hear your take on this topic, and what you do to make your dogs a better hunter.

Sorry to disagree, but I think it makes no difference. My dogs hunt for me, not to eat. Not only that, I do not kill but a small portion of what I catch, so they wouldn't get to eat very much anyway. I think my dogs would prefer praise over any amount of food.

cobalt wrote: I think my dogs would prefer praise over any amount of food.

I think that praise is what every dog craves and what makes them what they are.

I've never fed my dogs a kill. But letting them chew on a bear, lion, or bobcat when it hits the ground really helps them.

If that is what it takes to make your dogs perform, sorry; but you have the wrong dogs.

I hunt for the thrill of the chase and the music from my hounds. My dogs have treed many lions and bears which I have shot with a camera, they have never tasted lion or bear meat. They run and tree to please me and when I get to the tree they show me this. The more I praise them the better they tree and the better they hunt, a meal had nothing to do with it, its all about the bond you and your hounds have.


Lonehunter

"I have never hunted a good dog that was a bad color."

Sounds like to me they are just getting more experience and making them more confident. Plus if feeding them game made them better I would have the best deer dogs around.

liver is considered to be merical meat by vetranarians. feed dogs fresh kill gives them more inzimes than any dog food you can buy. its knowen that some bear hunters that have puppies at six weeks old that wont eat liver they get rid of. the thery is that row meat will bring agresivness out in dogs.

feeding the dogs part of the kill is another form of praise. positive reinforcement.some dogs really run their game ,because they want to eat it ,others could care less.one would think it would keep some a little straighter on that game if their was some fresh meat at the end once in awhile.letting them wool the animal is also positive reinforcement. let the hounds have some fun .killing all the game animals in the woods isnt necessary either to have good dogs .when we take a bear every part except some of the entrails is used . my dogs like bearmeat ,and so do me my family ,and friends.

Feeding them liver or any game meat is also a good way to give them paricites!

This is a tough question . From personal experience ,We consume maybe 35% of all bear meat . The rest I seperately grind up or put in a crock pot and feed to the hounds . I can't say I notice any difference wether feeding the hounds bear or venison .
The vet always suggested particularly the liver be cooked before feeding to hounds ,Don't recall the reason why though . I do recall that he also mentioned that young girls and women of " FERTILE AGE " should stay away from both Bear and Deer liver .
As far as making them better once a bear is down and the hounds have finished pulling hair ,somehow it clicks in their brain that the bear is dead and it is time to load up or start another chase

Never seen a difference. I've seen some dandy bear dogs that wouldn't wool a bear more than a second once they knew it was dead. They'd just wait around until you were ready to go.

dealing with parasites ,infections, battle wounds from game,running hard,accidents etc...is just normal maintenance for a hunting dog imo. parasites are all around its a fact of life.there on you and in you and your dogs .

Thats a funny theory, yesterday I got a big boar for a client and decided to feed the dogs some liver. I never do this normally. Although my 4 dogs are all pretty good bear dogs my 2 best wouldn't even touch the stuff. Its good I never knocked those two on the head at 6 weeks.

if ben lilly were alive it would be interesting to hear his take on this subject since him and the hounds probably sat down to eat the game animal on a regular basis.