Are hounds really that stupid?
Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 7:39 pm
Here is something I wrote years ago when I kept reading where some hound hunters were saying how stupid most hounds where and we need to breed some brains into them by adding other non hound breeds for brains. My guess was they were applying that straight hounds were not that smart. I admit that I have seen a lot of dumb hounds, but there is dumb in all breeds when they are loosely bred by individuals that have no reason breeding dogs. That got me to thinking about what we ask of our cat hounds, but this could be for any hound that excels at the game they pursue.
Cat hunters ask a lot of their hounds. They want a hound to ride the rig through herds of elk, deer, bear, hogs, lion, coon, coyote, fox and all other ground trash that share the woods, without saying a word on the rig. Get a whiff of faint bobcat scent, and fire off the rig. Catch just enough scent to find the right direction the cat is traveling, cold trail an animal that produces the absolute least amount of scent out of any animal that I’m aware of. Follow this faint scent trail laid down by an animal that zig zags all over the woods while hunting for its next meal and loves to stick tight to the roughest terrain during their hunts.
Cat hunter’s demand for their cat dogs to work a cat track that may have fed through an area 10 to 12 hours prior regardless if the weather has plummeted way below freezing or if the temperatures are quickly increasing. Work this faint scent trail through all other species that share this country, without ever breaking off track, or falling to the temptation of any other species. Work this faint trail through always changing scenting conditions, barometric and atmospheric pressure, dew point and pollen changes, gravel roads, creek crossings, and cats walking on top or across downed logs or long running rim rocks, or boulder jumbles. Cat tracks crossing one another, faint cat tracks that lead through sun baked fast thawing south slopes, frozen north slopes, frost heave, thawing conditions, wind, fog, rain, mist, cats tapping trees, stomped out kill and feeding areas, tracks crossing dusty roads or through culvert pipes, tracks following the edges of gravel dusty roads where the wind shifts the track almost continuously. After all these deterrents and many others, cat hunters expect their hounds to jump the cat, apply a tremendous amount of track pressure with minimal loses, through bare rocks, briar patches, super tight brush, thorny brush, downed logs, soaking wet brush, wind blowing dry shifting sugar snow filling up the track, wet slushy snow dropping from the trees into the tracks, or dry dusty or sandy ground conditions at other times. This hound most accurately find the right tree the cat climbed, locate the cat and bark treed for countless hours, in a tree that sometimes grows up to 150 feet tall under all these extreme conditions. A cat hunter asks this plus some with a single lead dog, or a pack consisting of multiple skill levels. Many times with major distractions like pups running around playing grab ass, or trying to lick the old dog’s faces at the tree or while cold trailing, trying to break off track to run trash, stomping all over the cat track, or kicking up dust.
Now after putting all these aspects out on the table plus some I missed of what it takes to be a full spectrum well rounded cat dog, do you really believe these types of dogs aren’t brilliant? Other breeds of dogs seem super smart about doing certain things, but don’t underestimate the brains it takes to be a great cat hound!!!
Cat hunters ask a lot of their hounds. They want a hound to ride the rig through herds of elk, deer, bear, hogs, lion, coon, coyote, fox and all other ground trash that share the woods, without saying a word on the rig. Get a whiff of faint bobcat scent, and fire off the rig. Catch just enough scent to find the right direction the cat is traveling, cold trail an animal that produces the absolute least amount of scent out of any animal that I’m aware of. Follow this faint scent trail laid down by an animal that zig zags all over the woods while hunting for its next meal and loves to stick tight to the roughest terrain during their hunts.
Cat hunter’s demand for their cat dogs to work a cat track that may have fed through an area 10 to 12 hours prior regardless if the weather has plummeted way below freezing or if the temperatures are quickly increasing. Work this faint scent trail through all other species that share this country, without ever breaking off track, or falling to the temptation of any other species. Work this faint trail through always changing scenting conditions, barometric and atmospheric pressure, dew point and pollen changes, gravel roads, creek crossings, and cats walking on top or across downed logs or long running rim rocks, or boulder jumbles. Cat tracks crossing one another, faint cat tracks that lead through sun baked fast thawing south slopes, frozen north slopes, frost heave, thawing conditions, wind, fog, rain, mist, cats tapping trees, stomped out kill and feeding areas, tracks crossing dusty roads or through culvert pipes, tracks following the edges of gravel dusty roads where the wind shifts the track almost continuously. After all these deterrents and many others, cat hunters expect their hounds to jump the cat, apply a tremendous amount of track pressure with minimal loses, through bare rocks, briar patches, super tight brush, thorny brush, downed logs, soaking wet brush, wind blowing dry shifting sugar snow filling up the track, wet slushy snow dropping from the trees into the tracks, or dry dusty or sandy ground conditions at other times. This hound most accurately find the right tree the cat climbed, locate the cat and bark treed for countless hours, in a tree that sometimes grows up to 150 feet tall under all these extreme conditions. A cat hunter asks this plus some with a single lead dog, or a pack consisting of multiple skill levels. Many times with major distractions like pups running around playing grab ass, or trying to lick the old dog’s faces at the tree or while cold trailing, trying to break off track to run trash, stomping all over the cat track, or kicking up dust.
Now after putting all these aspects out on the table plus some I missed of what it takes to be a full spectrum well rounded cat dog, do you really believe these types of dogs aren’t brilliant? Other breeds of dogs seem super smart about doing certain things, but don’t underestimate the brains it takes to be a great cat hound!!!
