BigGameHoundsmen.com

JC's recent topic reminded me of a dog I bought about ten years ago. It was tried by several hunters and most of them said the dog was worthless. I had hunted with the dog many times and when I got wind it was for sale I bought it up over the phone. That worthless dog caught me hundreds of cats. He wasn't perfect, but what he did do right, he did very well. He was just what I needed. I added a couple more far from perfect dogs and had a pack that was pretty successful.

So what has been kicking around in my head since I read JC's post about less than perfect dogs, is whether the guys that tried the dog messed up, or if the dog changed a lot after being added to my dogs? How much do you guys think a dog will change after being introduced to a different environment? Is it the hunter that changes the dog, or is it the dogs it is hunted with, maybe both?

It was nice meeting so many of you guys at the Ousda Convention, and seeing so many friendly faces I haven't seen in a while. It was a good time. Many of the people at the meeting could recite this forum word for word but they never post, I would love to hear some of their opinions. For all the guys that thought I would be twice my actual age, I hope this doesn't mean you have caught onto just how full of it I really am.

George,it was good seeing you.On the question above,I believe can be both,but definately one or the other most of the time.

I think your situation was a result of you knowing the dog's specialty and using it in the right situation to be successfull. We all want a complete top to bottom dog, but when we don't have that we need to use the tools we've got in the right spot to have a chance at success. It's just a matter of recognizing it and being honest about what we've got.

Some dogs won't ever adapt to a new environment and some well just weren't as good as we thought they were. A guy doesn't know until he tries.

George,
You ask, "How much do you guys think a dog will change after being introduce to a different environment?" On this question I would have to answer "It all depends on the dog." Some dogs can handle a change much better than others. Dogs are like people, they all have different personalities.

I have seen some dogs that I think would hunt for anybody, but then I have seen other dogs that were pretty picky about who they would hunt for.

An example, I had a good running walker cross gyp. She loved a cat, hunted hard, and real cat minded. When she was on the ground road hunting all she thought about was cat. When I would drop the tail gate to let the dogs out to start hunting, this gyp would nearly always be the first dog out of the truck. I mean she was ready to go. Now my ol'hunting buddy that goes with me quite often is pretty vocal with his dogs. If he sees a young dog smelling something that he thinks is wrong, instead of buzzing the young dog with tri-tronics, he'll holler "GET OUT OF THERE". Which scares all the old broke dogs. But this certain gyp, most of the time she wouldn't even come out of the truck when the tailgate dropped to let the dogs out,when he was with me. I couldn't call her out. She refused to hunt when he was with me. Now when the other dogs would start a cat, she couldn't stand it and she would go put in and be her ol'self. But she was difinitely picky about who she would hunt for. She was the kind of dog that didn't like for anything to go wrong. I believe these kind of dogs are the ones that don't like a change in environment. I also believe, the better the dog handler, the easier it is for a dog to make the change. A good dog man can read a dog and understand their ways and personalities thus making it easier for the dog to adjust to the new environment.

On your second question"Is it the hunter that changes the dog, or the dogs that it is hunted with? Or both?"

My answer would be BOTH, most of the time. Just my thoughts on the subject. Robbie

George, this is a good question. I have to agree with Mr. Robbie 100% on what he posted. I had some hounds that wont even eat their food if someone other than me was at my kennel during chow time.

I had some cat hounds that were so leery of strangers that they would be so leery of who I was with that getting them to focus 100% on looking for a cat was near impossible. They wouldn't even come out of the box sometimes if they were leery of a situation they weren't used to or didn't trust. If there was someone new that they didn't know around and there was loud yelling you might as well go home because they weren't going to hunt.

I believe that's why alot of cat hunters are such loaners in the woods and one of the many reasons why most cat hunters refuse to mix their packs. Cat hounds are highly intelligent animals and are easily spooked when something new changes and some just dont do good to change.

I believe alot of potentially good cat hounds are ruined because of heavy handed and loud yelling handlers. Some cat hounds just cant take too much punishment to ruin them. Some cat bred hounds can be broke without much force being used, while others may need a different approach. Some cat hounds will not hunt if they dont trust the dog next to them. I have seen dogs that I would call "over broke". They are so worried about the other dog messing up that they refuse to road or hunt with them as they seem to fear that dog may trash and cause them to get in trouble. Its very important for the hunter to know each hounds individual characteristics before making a sound judgement call on their future. Some handlers can get the full potential out of hounds while others may have the hound so stressed by their hunting methods that the hound just never comes out of its un-trusting stage. A bond between the hound and handler has to be developed before full adapting will happen.

Yes hounds need time to adapt to new enviroment. As to how long each dog is different. I also believe some will never adapt. Totally depends on the hound. Andy