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I see on the brains post that some people talk of drive I am sure it means different things to different people. Lets hear what drive is to you. Even though I put this in the bobcat forum I want to hear from other hunters also just put what you run with your dogs . Again guys their are no right or wrong answers, just different interpretations of the same thing. Drive is a important thing in a hound without drive brains means very little or is it the other way around. Without brains drive means very little? Dewey

Persistent, energetic game catching desire!

Oops.......I run mostly bear and coyote........but if it has fur and doesn't have a split hoof I enjoy good hound work.

Drive to me is a dog that only believes its gonna catch what its running a dog that truly is out to run and chew fur. I have two dogs that show crazy amount of what I call Drive they seem to only run to get whats at the end of that sweet smell. I feel this has helped them along the way in becoming better hounds and learning faster for the game they are running...

Drive, when I think of drive I think of the hounds I have owned that showed that energetic hunt style, from the time they were released from the kennel until they caught their quarry or were forced to leave the track by the hunter. Also can/t help but think of the true bear hunters I have known, Tom Barnett, George Nelson, Russel McCall, Bill McSpirite , Sam Faulk, John Padgett, sure there are others that slip my mind. Dewey I believe just the opposite, most anyone can become a bobcat hunter. The true bear hunters are born, true bear hunters separate the men from the boys. I did enough bear hunting to make me have the up most respect for a true bear hunter. While I realize it at times takes a hound with a different bred in track style to succeed as a bobcat hound, there are a bunch of bobcat hounds that lack the drive & courage to succeed as bear hounds. Also realize those that make there living hunting bobcat & breeding hounds have to take a more serous approach than someone that hunts to enjoy hunting. Thanks for inviting comments about bear hunting to your post. Al

Mr Dewey, in your reference to brains and drive (game catching drive) above you are right. Both are needed to have a balanced hound. Thanks for the open minded post.

Hey Dewey this is Eric in Nv. and hunt mainly mt. lion. Great ? I feel dogs, like people have different personalities, likes and dislikes. Each having one thing that motivates them more than anything else and that is what creates the drive for that dog. There are people that are information driven and need all of the details before they can move forward with any project. i.e. the track to track to track dog. Wont pick their head up till its good and hot. There are people that just need the basic gist of the idea to get a project started and finished. i.e. the head up drifting type dog that just needs to slow down and check the track once in a while. There are people that just like to finish a project and get all of the credit for it. i.e the dog that just kind of hangs around the rest until the others get it jumped. Then they blow out to the front because they have not tired themselves out yet. As scent conditions change while moving down the track each type of dogs needs to have brains enough to carry their part of the load when the conditions are such that it motivates them at that point of the race where they are the most talented dog at that given moment. As long a they use whatever motivates them individually in the most efficient way possible. They must honor the other dogs when it is the other dogs turn to shine. Then drive and brains kind of equal out. They all need brains to know there is an end to the track and they must have the drive to get to the end of the track. Oh ya there are people that just like to bla bla bla around town and make everyone think they are the greatest thing since sliced bread and they do nothing. i.e. the bucket mouthed dogs that just bark at the butt of the dog in front of them and make for a moving target until you can get a hold of their collar.

When I 've had too much The dogs DRIVE!

Focused persistence.

AAHH raxntrax, where have you been hiding?

Please don't be so shy about writing.....we need more folks with your insight into the Hounds sharing that knowledge with us.

A Very Good Post Indeed!

my pack is linebred from a beardog that would run until collapse whether he was going to catch or not . it is funny watching a dog that can barely stand stumble down the track i can tell you .joe was my definition and measuring stick of drive in a hound.i think it partly was his hate for a bear.he didnt hunt to please me even though it did.if you are lucky enough to own or have owned a dog like that you can appreciate how they make things happen.

raxntrax wrote:Hey Dewey this is Eric in Nv. As scent conditions change while moving down the track each type of dogs needs to have brains enough to carry their part of the load when the conditions are such that it motivates them at that point of the race where they are the most talented dog at that given moment. As long a they use whatever motivates them individually in the most efficient way possible

Dads dogboy wrote:AAHH raxntrax, where have you been hiding?
A Very Good Post Indeed!

Ya, amen! Nice writing Eric. It is almost like a poem or something. When I read Dewey's post the only thing I could think of was: "drive=driven, and different dogs are driven by different things at different times." Then Eric said it better than anyone could hope to.

My understanding of "drive" went through a trial by fire when I moved to an area where cats wont very often climb. I had to re-think everything I thought I knew about bobcat dogs. My beliefs about bobcat dogs are constantly challenged by new information, but here is one of my current beliefs: Some dogs are track driven. This drive revolves around scent. Scent to them is like a drug and it satisfies. I learned that my track driven dogs would almost never catch a bobcat on the ground unless it just got too tired to move anymore. That takes a long time in a cold environment, and on most days with less than ideal snow conditions, it aint gonna happen. This type dog did fine for me in areas where bobcats tree readily.

If I have otherwise great dogs that are not stopping bobcats on the ground before they can get home, I define them as track/scent driven dogs. And I hope I can always have one of these in my ideal team or pack. They are work horses that never give up, and can become skilled enough to very rarely ever make a lose.

Before I could catch this type of non-treeing bobcat on a very consistent basis, I had to add a dog that was driven by something besides a lust for the next fresh snort of cocaine. Races changed from hours and even all day affairs, to less than an hour for most jumped races before the cat was forced to stop. For them the scent trail was just a necessary inconvenience on the way to bigger and better things. These dogs would be culled by most houndsmen who have grown accustomed to a certain definition of drive that has served them very well for their region and their game preferences.

This other type of drive has already been defined above as the drive to catch. I thought my dogs had that, until I moved them to where cats hate trees.

raxntrax wrote:Hey Dewey this is Eric in Nv. As scent conditions change while moving down the track each type of dogs needs to have brains enough to carry their part of the load when the conditions are such that it motivates them at that point of the race where they are the most talented dog at that given moment. As long a they use whatever motivates them individually in the most efficient way possible. They must honor the other dogs when it is the other dogs turn to shine. Then drive and brains kind of equal out. They all need brains to know there is an end to the track and they must have the drive to get to the end of the track. .

I guess I am just talking to hear myself talk because Eric already said it all!

kordog wrote:my pack is linebred from a beardog that would run until collapse whether he was going to catch or not . it is funny watching a dog that can barely stand stumble down the track i can tell you .joe was my definition and measuring stick of drive in a hound.i think it partly was his hate for a bear.he didnt hunt to please me even though it did.if you are lucky enough to own or have owned a dog like that you can appreciate how they make things happen.

Kordog, what breed was that dog? You have perfectly described a dog we raised and sold to a man named Terry Merritt who lived out that way. He advertised the dog and sons of that dog at stud for awhile in Full Cry. Just makes me wonder about how Joe was bred. Did Joe ever throw anything like himself?

joe was a heavy linebred yadkin river dog treeing walker.yes joe has thrown pedro,jet, to name two who are definately picked out of his a&& nice bobcat ,coyotehounds. others have told me that the dogs joe produced are above average in what is out there.id like to think my hard work has payed off. its not like i bred him all over the place producing lots of pups .just a few times for my own hunting breeding program..extra pups made some good friends along the way that like my dogs.did make one cross with a female that made mediocre hounds ,because most lacked a backbone found out later guy was a bullshitter on how much grit was in that line of dogs so he could sell sell sell.we culled ,and learned an important lesson.im very happy with what im currently feeding in the yard when it comes to drive.