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Starting from a puppy,how many cats does it need to be on before "YOU" consider it to be a Cat Dog?

3 coons.....or Just as long as my dog can hold a tree....Just like your smart phone told you about those dang wood chucks, Don't you have any thing better to do?

Two seasons of solid exposure to cats (not once a week either)and them some of mine are still just coming into the making of a solid locate and tree hound....sloooow is sometimes better than a over powering tree dog as long as the dog is doing what he is supposed to on track.

Mark,

I would have to say it all depends on what you have to start with. I have had a few pups that were well bred ( a cross that clicked ) that after a good hard season of cat hunting I had 100% confidence in their abilities to lead a pack and catch their own cats consistently.

I have also seen pups that took more time to come around and didn't finish out to what I would call a cat dog until about 3 or 4 good hard seasons. I would say the best answer to your question is a good rule of thumb would be 3 or 4 hard cat seasons of hunting before they could be called a cat dog.

During those 3 or 4 years the dog will be showing you they have talents that would lead you to believe they would be an asset to you and your pack and had what it takes to be a cat hound or they would never last 3 or 4 seasons. All my hounds are under a constant individual performance evaluation on every track they participate on. I never leave a hound in the box if they are physically capable of keeping up with the other hounds. The only way a hound of mine will sit out a race is if they have some form of injury that would hamper their performance. They cant advance from inside the dog box. Every track you can get your young hounds on is going to help them advance their abilities.

CRA.
Good valid points. I think by the end of the first or second season a guy that dedicates the time will have solid support to justify feeding a hound for three or four years....

Having a pup born in December vs. July makes alot of difference in the first year.I have a male that will be two years old the end of May. He is advancing a cat track like no dog you have seen and is at all the trees. He is from a consistant line of solid cat bred hounds.

The best bet is to work him for at least one more season and then he possibly could find a permanent home. This is the style hound that cat hunters have in the daily mix. I can do that for just so long before adios....I don't feed many hounds at once and never will. Each must be start to tree complete to be permanent around here.

I personally would be hard pressed on my end to keep a dog like that but do understand the logic of giving the extra time vs. culling and starting over.....any way you slice it, you end up with about three to four years invested start to finish. jmho....

Mr. CRA
Good post, I agree 100%.

Mark,
You ask "How many cats before you consider them a cat dog". As Mr CRA stated, it all depends on what you have to start with. But I think a lot of hunters want a magical number that they think they can get to and then they will have a cat dog. There is no magical number. Some dogs will make a cat dog with a lot less cats caught with them than other dogs. I believe it's not only the number of cats caught but the time hunting that's put in on the dog. Some dogs are a lot smarter than others, therefore it might take less cats caught and less time spent in training them before they become a cat dog. But there's no magical number or certain amount of time, ever dog is different.

I had a person pay me to hunt a young dog of theirs saying "If you can just show him 20 cats I think he'll be a cat dog." It happened to be the prime time of the year to hunt here and it was good conditions and my old dogs were working good at this time, so I made the agreement to hunt the dog till I caught 20 cats. I got lucky and done this in about 3 weeks time. But...that dog wasn't a cat dog after he had seen his first 20 cats and a long way from it. What he was, was a good young started dog. It also takes time for a dog to figure things out. You can't take a first grader and throw him in high school in 3 weeks time. It just don't work. Just my thoughts on the topic. Robbie