whats the best way to teach a dog to strike?

[bobcat187]

Just lookin for some different ideas.

[fallriverwalker1]

dog's that rig are breed not made that said , i've seen a lot of dog's that will bark on top of a dog box / that doesn't mean much . when they can do it in conditions where everyone else is saying they wish it would rain or snow , then you come in and start when they cant . thats the diffrence i know i'm going to hear some crap about what i just said but i'm not new at this , just what i've seen in 45 yr's jim

[dwalton]

I agree the good ones are born to it. A lot of dogs will start them off the box but not in adverse conditions. You just have to hunt them that way, it is best with a older dog. Some will pick it up themselves. I have watched them on the rig when they smell them and get excited. Let them down after you get them to bark. It is a hard thing to teach a dog if you figure out a easy way let us know. Dewey

[BlacktailStalker]

To answer your question, ideally put him on the box with other dogs that rig.
If that isn't an option, hang your preferred animal/hyde in a tree and drive by with the wind bringing the scent to the road... if he doesn't bark get out and watch his actions, when you can tell he's winding it, encourage him to bark, pet him up.
Ideally do this with the real thing (drive through where a bear just crossed, get your dog to strike when you know he can smell it, then let him off... they put 2 & 2 together pretty damn quick if they have it in them)

But as said, not all will do it and some will strike colder than others etc etc... do a search on this there are pages and pages of info you could read up on that would help.
Good luck.

[az_hunter]

I don't agree that every rig dog is breed and not made! I have a 3 year old black and tan male that didnt come from hunting non the less rigging! My buddy had him and he started hunting buy getting off the chain and following them to the creek to hunt coons! With that said I ended up with him cuz family problems were going on. I hunted last year for the first time on bear and he caught us two bears and me two bobcats! Im more free cast but im trying to get into the rigging so since he is the top dog I have I started his training yesterday. We did two drags set up for rigging! We drove down on them past them and back threw yet he never opened up every time he could wind it and got close his body language got really excited so we would put him down on them and he would take off down the drag like a bat out of hell!! So yet he doesn't blow up on the box I know for a fact with more time and consistency from me working with im I know he will start to blow up on them! Yes the drags were pretty hot but its a start and now im going to go to half day old drags and move on from there!! So I believe with enough dedication to your dog and putting it on sent and the rig I do believe you can make a rig dog!!! Ye not all dogs will be bad ass sob's at it but by watching and learning your dogs body language is a much bigger key then just waiting for them to blow up on the box!! Just my opinion tho!!

[dwalton]

Kyle: Maybe by his breeding he has it in him. Yes you can teach a dog to box and a lot of dogs will box bear naturally, but to be a top box dog on bobcats it is a type of dog that do it well. Something to consider when you run drags, maybe it is your scent he is getting excited about and not the coon, bear, bobcat or cougar scent that you made the drag with and that the drag scent does not smell like the real thing. Pups will run a trail of meat before the will run a scent trail. Not that it is a bad thing to run any kind of a drag but are we doing it for us or for the dog? Most good broke dogs have to be taught to run a drag or will not run it at all. Any time spent will your dog is good a good time for both of you. Good luck with him it sounds like you got the makings of a box dog. Dewey

[ZeluvaRIP69er]

I have not hunted Bear any other way then rigging for 19 years.

Greg Anderson and many more are proof that rig dogs are made, not just born.

When they are old enough to take, put food on the box, get them to where they want to be up there, slowly start putting them up there and driving real slow, don't go down anything scary at first, the pups/dogs need to be comfortable up there.

Take some toilet paper and drowned it in scent and place in on both sides of the road, and even drip scent crossing the road, drive through it and watch your dogs, even if they don't open, their body language can indicate a rig. Just because a dog doesn't bark at the tree, if it is looking up and paying attention, that still may be considered treed to some people.

I honestly don't give a shit who it is, you can take a pup out of the best rigging, trailing, treeing, gritty stock, do nothing with it for the first few years of its life, then decide to hunt it, and it wont be as good if someone who knew what they were doing, or even someone just started out, hunted it and worked it.

Sorry, but rig dogs can be made, some may come by it more naturally then others, but you can make then, not every dog, because some just don't like riding up there.

To say they are born is like saying you can't buy coon dog stock and make bear dogs out of them... Hmm... All us western hound doggers must be catchin some really big coons then!

[az_hunter]

Dewey: so your saying you can take a pup out of your two best dogs and do nothing with it and it will rig the game you want it too? I would think you would have to make it do what you want it to yes that pup may or may not have a better hand on other dogs but no matter what your still going to have to train in! Which in my opinion is making a dog what you want it to be!

[dwalton]

Kyle: I hunt only bobcat, breed and train for them with three different types of dogs. I do not use drags, just hunt them with old dogs. Yes I have started dogs on boxing for bobcat after they are cat dogs by just putting them up there. Most of the box dogs learn from the older dogs. The ones that hunt off the box make strike dogs. There is a type of dog that make the best meaning that will strike a cold track, a piss bush or cat bath room that may be many days old. This what I mean by born a strike dog. Striking bobcat and bear is two different things. To me there is a big difference in a bobcat dog and a bear dog. A dog that catches a bobcat once in a while or in snow is not a cat dog to me. A dog that can strike a bobcat off the box in July in the desert and trail it is a cat dog, one that can go out on bare ground and catch a bobcat day after day is a bobcat dog. I feel very few people have seen a true bobcat dog. If you notice the person that started this post is from Oregon where we do not have a bear season for hounds and his handle has bobcat in it. I assume that he was talking about striking bobcats. I stand corrected if I am wrong. We all have our own opinion as to what is and it is based on what we know and we are all know what we know. If you ever make to Oregon cone hunt with me I can show what I mean. A little of my history: in the early 70' when I was getting started I hunted with a cat hunter by the name of Roland Wilson he was the first person to start cat from the rig that I know. Demoss in Washington was the first to start bear in the 60'. At that time very few thought that you could strike bear off the rig. It is the excepted way now. I trained the second dog to start cats that way to my knowledge. Most people thought it could not be done. We don't know what we don't know until we know it. Dewey

[Ankle Express]

Some are born and some are made. One may not be as good as another but it can be done and used. I seen two similar methods to mine above. My method is similar. I prefer to involve my scent as little as possible. I've posted this before but I use a scent drag or piece of fresh hide and a fishing pole. I go w/out the dog and make a set-up first then take the dog back and drive thru it. I stand on the rocker panel, never touch the ground and cast my drag to one side. Work it across the road to the other side and pitch the pole in the ditch. Leave and come back later with your dog. Might have to praise the dog up or even get it down to praise it up to get it striking. Then repeat and repeat. Allowing more time between the set-up and rigging for it as progression allows. Even start taking the pole & drag back home with you then go rig just the track and as progression allows use more time between the set-up and rigging for it. This method will work on anything that will stand on or in the box and wind and has the desire to run something, anything really. I've had dogs running off game before and worked them to rig and strike bear scent before they ever had the chance to run one. Just my opinion for what its worth.

[houndnem]

I don't agree that every rig dog is breed and not made! I have a 3 year old black and tan male that didnt come from hunting non the less rigging! My buddy had him and he started hunting buy getting off the chain and following them to the creek to hunt coons! With that said I ended up with him cuz family problems were going on. I hunted last year for the first time on bear and he caught us two bears and me two bobcats! Im more free cast but im trying to get into the rigging so since he is the top dog I have I started his training yesterday. We did two drags set up for rigging! We drove down on them past them and back threw yet he never opened up every time he could wind it and got close his body language got really excited so we would put him down on them and he would take off down the drag like a bat out of hell!! So yet he doesn't blow up on the box I know for a fact with more time and consistency from me working with im I know he will start to blow up on them! Yes the drags were pretty hot but its a start and now im going to go to half day old drags and move on from there!! So I believe with enough dedication to your dog and putting it on sent and the rig I do believe you can make a rig dog!!! Ye not all dogs will be bad ass sob's at it but by watching and learning your dogs body language is a much bigger key then just waiting for them to blow up on the box!! Just my opinion tho!!

that really is a good way to do it. we did it last year with a guy in a bear siut in a tree at the end of the drag. it worked, they didn't know that they didn't just tree him. but I was still just getting the really hot rigs and alot of babble. I've been riding around with dogs ontop my truck for three years with very little success. this year it just clicked. now I feel like my dogs will rig any track I cross. I had one dog that always had a hair trigger rig, but I never trusted him enough to let him down. now if he rigs I get out and there will either be a steamin pile ontop of my dogbox or a bear track.lol and now even my young dogs are picking up on it and when I get a good rig the whole box blows!

[mark]

Houndnem: once you get that one dog that commits like that and gets the others doing it you will see the competition to get the first bark in grow rapidly and they will start hunting harder and harder up there as time goes on. They will rig alot older tracks also. not tryn to start anything but i think from reading ur posts of past that you understand lions pretty good and my money is on you figuring out out to rig them pretty fast. not saying that you will trail and tree every one but i bet you catch some that way in the next year if ur hunting the same dogs you lion hunt with

[houndnem]

Houndnem: once you get that one dog that commits like that and gets the others doing it you will see the competition to get the first bark in grow rapidly and they will start hunting harder and harder up there as time goes on. They will rig alot older tracks also. not tryn to start anything but i think from reading ur posts of past that you understand lions pretty good and my money is on you figuring out out to rig them pretty fast. not saying that you will trail and tree every one but i bet you catch some that way in the next year if ur hunting the same dogs you lion hunt with

yup, I got my a$$ handed to me all last year trying to be legit and rig. this year it is finally paying off as we caught 5 bears this spring from the rig. you are dead right about the dogs competing for the rig. our oldest rig we got, my old cold nosed lion dog was first to bark. she is 7.5 years old and this is the first year we ran her on bear and she figured out the riggin concept after like two rigs. it just took me learning how to read my thunder dog and trusting him a little more. last year when I would get a rig I would look for a track out the window of the truck and then chalk it up as trash and move on. this year if he barks I will hike a good radius and have found a bear track every time! I never really thought riggin was all that great, but now a good rig where the whole box blows and dogs are hangin themselves to get down is almost funner to me than the chase or the tree. I'm hooked!!!!! I hope I don't come off like I'm trying to be cocky about my dogs, I'm just wound up because I haven't hunted bear too many years and I'm wound up that it's finally clicking.

[mark]

I can tell ur wound up about it! It didnt come off sounding cocky to me at all, One little piece of advise that works good for me is DONT EVER correct them on the box make that the safest spot in the world for them

[ZeluvaRIP69er]

I can tell ur wound up about it! It didnt come off sounding cocky to me at all, One little piece of advise that works good for me is DONT EVER correct them on the box make that the safest spot in the world for them

So its best to let them rig anything and everything and have no control and discipline on them?? How can that possibly work out in your favor as a hunter?