Easiest Hound Breed to Train

[dylandoering]

HI everyone, Im a newbie at this so i want people to give their opinions on what is the easiest hound breed to train so i can hopefully have a good hound

[Dan McDonough]

If you could tell us about your style of hunting it would help a lot. My vote would go for the American Leopard Hound (brains!).

[al baldwin]

I believe there can be no set answer to your question. There will be hounds in all breeds that train easy. Have seen hounds that treed bobcat alone at a young age, however have not seen a good cat dog at a young age. When you hunt with a good cat hound , can bet someone has corrected a few short comings and that hound has seen a lot of time in the woods. And there will always be something one would change about that hound if possible. Just my experience. Al

[Dan McDonough]

Come on Al, that was a classic non-answer. At least tell him what you think about the dogs you hunt.

Dylan- Go out and see who's got some good dogs around where you live. Poke around on this board for a while and you'll find someone fairly close to where you live and see if you can come hunting to watch dogs and just decide if you like what you see based on what you read on this forum. There's a lot of good info here. Good luck and keep going.

[Melanie Hampton]

If you lump all the dogs in their breed together- then I agree with Dan. The Leopard is pretty easy. The one I have has honestly made me think about bringing more home.

There are dogs in their breed that are easier to train and live with then others. I have a few OCD tendencies that make me get rid of a lot of dogs that other people may be able to train and deal with. The Walkers I have now are easy to train and keep around the house- but I've gone thru quite a few of them to get the ones I have.

So if your looking for a general answer on which one is the easiest... Yep, go with the Leopard

[david]

I think this is a fascinating question. I wish everyone would answer it to the best of their ability because I really want to know the answer to it. I am fascinated by Melanie's answer as well. I am not fascinated by Dan's answer because he has been telling me that for years Way too predictable.

I am trying to think of the easiest to train dog I ever had. I don't think it could possibly come within the first few dogs I owned. I think you might have to ruin a couple and really struggle with a few more before you find that easy to train one. I guess dogs are just getting easier to train as time goes on. Good breeding programs, I guess.

Then, you might have to define the word "train." Is that spelled right? I have ridden the Amtrack a few times, and I think the easiest to "train" would be a tiny teacup poodle that would fit inside my baggage on the train.

Dumb, I know. But less dumb would be the point of defining what you mean by "train"

Easiest to train to tree a coon were some high powered treeing walkers I had about 30 years ago. There really was no training involved at all for that part of their lives, they were basically born treeing coon and bear. They were not easy to train "not to" do a few other things, like "not to" run after coyotes. And they were not the easiest I've seen to train to tree a bobcat. But it would have been awfully hard to ruin one of them to the point that you could not successfully go out and tree game and win most competition night hunts, because those coyotes would eventually morph into a coon in a tree when the dogs got their edge wore off a little.

If "easiest to train" means fewest headaches, most relaxing enjoyable hunt, I go home when I want to go home, catch a bobcat off a good warm track, takes longer to skin the coons than it did to catch them, take a kid squirrel hunting and have a blast he will dream of until he can do it again, well mannered house dog that everyone loves... If that is what "easiest to train" means, We are talking about a Kemmer Cur or Original Mountain Cur, or Treeing Cur, or one of the many off-shoots of these dogs.

By far the easiest to train to cold trail (open mouthed), catch on the ground, or tree a bobcat (and stay treed all day or night) in ways that completely blew my mind it was a mixture almost exactly like what Jeff Eberle hunts on here. And yes, Dan, it was almost half Leopard Cur. She frustrated me a couple times on the way to that point, but for the most part was easy to train. Could have easily been ruined though if I had handled her the same as I did those treeing walkers of 30 years ago. I am guessing I ruined a few just like her before I figured things out. There are many handlers I know of that certainly would have ruined her, just as I would have in my younger days. But if treated like a developing, growing, intellegent and reasonable animal that understands justice, consistency and respect:very easy to train.

Man, I cant wait to hear about other dogs that were peoples "easiest to train" examples. great topic Dylan! Insightful question.

[mondomuttruner]

I would say your searching for a myth. A breed within a breed, you may be able to find an easy one. Your better off starting with a hard headed dog, hard to train, so that you appreciate the easy one's. If you get lucky and find an easy one right off the bat, your going to measure other dogs you get to that one and they will never measure up to the first. I took a 3 1/2 month old pup into a tree the other day and tied him up near the tree, while I was tying the other dogs back the bear came down and that little shit was going nuts barking and pulling to get to the bear. Sure pumps ya up thinking you might have an easy one, wish I would have walked the other 2 pups in. These are cross bred dogs. Out of the many papered dogs I've had I'm only feeding cross bred dogs now.

[al baldwin]

Dan that was just my honest opinion, sure did not mean to discredit the Leopards. Have never hunted with a Leopard, cannot have an educated opinion on those. In my experience the treeing walkers have been the most natural track & tree dogs. Sure not saying they make the best cat hounds, but have seen some that sure caught their share of cat. Some were natural balanced hounds, strike track and tree bobcat alone at a young age. All needed was exposure, guidance to leave trash alone, some had to be corrected for false treeing, in my opinion that can be easier than getting a hound to locate and tree on bobcat that has no treeing in their genes. Most of the hounds here have more track than tree in them, taking longer to catch cat alone, however wit experienced trainer & time in the brush, finished product can sure be worth the effort. My opinion remains same no pat answer to the question. Take care Al

[Dan McDonough]

10-4 Al, I was just trying to read your answer through the eyes of a rookie. I get what your saying but if I put on my rookie glasses then a little rookie guy pops up with a bubble that reads, "That doesn't tell me crap!" It made me laugh at first because it wasn't really all that long ago that I was a rookie and is easy for me to remember.

My all time easiest dog to train was a tie between a Brittany and Hybrid-Squirrel Dog. On additional thing I would like to mention is that Buddy (the sq. dog) was the best hot weather, dry ground track dog I've eve seen. 98 degrees and no rain for over a month and that dog could smoke just about anything and get it treed. I've seen him run track down pavement you could literally cook eggs on and drive off up a South facing hill, along a ridge and tree...spooky! But alas, the question was about hounds.

[mike martell]

Garmin.....Paves the way for you to choose the color and dog of your choice and makes training a snap!
I have hunted behind leopards, Walkers, Black and Tans, Blue Ticks, Plotts, English, Redbones, Running dogs and trigg/cross. I like a little in every breed and if I could extract a component from each, I would....Probably why I have a mixed pot of dogs that do what I want and bred the way I want them to work. You can refine it as much as you want but it takes time....Enjoy what you are hunting, for the average weekend warrior, most hounds only vary by color....

Good luck with whatever you are hunting!

Mike

[david]

Hey Dylan, here ya go. Six dogs in one. One of them six breeds is bound to be easy to train. I lifted this from the adds for ya. I betcha they are game gettin sons of guns. Might have to be awful careful not to get them started on off game though.


CROSS BRED PUPS

Postby VARMIT HUNTER » Tue Jul 16, 2013 9:19 am
I have 5 pups ready to go this week 1st shots and wormed 3 males, 2 females, SIRE is 1/2 Leopard,5/16 Bluetick, 3/16 Running Walker, Dam is 1/2 Redbone, 1/4 English,1/4 Trigg will be big leggy hounds, parents used on coon and cat. 918-214-5542 located N. Central Oklahoma. will try and post pictures latter today.

[chilcotin hillbilly]

Intersting topic.
Being a rookie compared to alot on this board i can only speak from my limited experiance.
5 years ago I bred my Brent Sinclair bred Black and tan to my house dog whom was a hunting fool. She was 1/2 border collie, 1/4 lab, 1/4 german shepard, out of this cross she had 5 pups of which I kept 2. Burger the male and Cookie the female. They caught there 20th bear on their 1st birthday, because of Garmin I know they where doing the catching sometimes out front by 1/2 mile.
Burger with in a year was my best lion hound and Cookie can take credit for teaching the rest of my hounds to make short work of lynx. Oh and did i say i never had to leash either up when leaving a tree!
I now have one leopard and one leopard walker cross, both easy handling and both hunt for you and not for themselves.
Look for a dog with a few brains and your training will be easier.

[pete richardson]

what makes em good makes em bad
hounds aint dumb , just stubborn- or they just dont care , when you cross a hound with another breed -- cant really call it a hound anymore - i had a walker / mt cur once that was by far smartest hunting dog i ever owned - raised loose on farm- best cow dog i ever had , good coondog, killed every woodchuck on the farm , good babysitter , security system , ,he would bark when the phone rang- sometimes knock it off the hook and bark into it - he actually answered the phone. -

it was almost creepy how smart the dog was ,,, quite often ,it seemed you could just tell him what to do and he would do it- i never really tried to train him ,he just did it --
a couple years later i had a lot of dogs and raised a full brother to him- tied on chain, just hunted , dumber than a post - tried a few more curs after that only good ones ive seen were farm raised -- as a breed,, i think they are way smarter than hounds

i guess smartest hound i ever saw was a walker coondog that lived in the house -- she would open and shut the door in his house --belonged to a disabled man that would get 100+ coon a year with her-

-i had walkers for thirty years and can count the smart ones on one hand - walkers are smartest and dumbest breed based on ones ive had -
i kept a dog for a friend once - black n tan -- also raised on farm and in the house --she knew what time kids came home on bus - could hunt hare or bobcat in the winter and she never ran them when coonhunting, -she is only hound i ever kept in house -

what i see in common in most smart hounds is the way they are raised and kept - the more they can run loose and are part of the family -the better - the problem is , how many can u raise like that ,

[dwalton]

Pete: Thanks for posting I think you hit it on the head, you can find everything you are looking for in any breed. Farm or home raised are the smartest dogs that I have seen I think because they are exposed to more. Dogs need consistency and structure, if a dog is housed raise with no discipline they can be the worst. A dog is learning all the time, 24 hours a day if we are not there just maybe like a kid they are learning what will get them in trouble. I will not take a dog in for myself anymore that I do not raise. When I raise a hole litter I find each individual pup has not had the training that 2 to 4 pups get. It takes longer to get them where I want them before I take them hunting. I think it is real critical what time of the year a pup is born and what he gets to do at certain ages. Some are slower than others all are easier to train then most give them credit for. Dewey

[david]

what makes em good makes em bad
hounds aint dumb , just stubborn- or they just dont care , when you cross a hound with another breed -- cant really call it a hound anymore

Hey Pete, It is really good to hear from you. We look forward to any time you can come out of your cave and lay some of that hard earned wisdom on us. I have never seen you but I am hoping you look about the way I picture John the Baptist. And I can just see a group of disciples sitting around listening to your wisdom. Still waiting for "The Book of Pete-isms". That would be so much fun. There are three of them in the quote above. Be blessed, and don't stay away so long. We got a whole new crop of young ones here that never got to sit around listening to you. I hope you are finding plenty of locust and wild honey.