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I hope Im not revealing my ignorance on this one but here goes. I was with my buddy the other day and he was looking inside my dogs mouth. He says that the darker the roof of a dogs mouth, the better the nose they have. Has anyone ever heard something like this before and is it true or not? Dont see what the color has to do with anything but whatever.

Ryan

if that was the case black mouthed Curs would be better trackers than blood hounds.

old wives tale kinda like three hairs under the chin makes better tree dog and so on and so on

That was something my grandpa always looked for, I was never to impressed with his dogs, so I don't put any faith in it.

bearcat, I love an honest answer! LOL!

I have heard it all . If that male dog's testicles hang just right he will cold trail. I am not lying serious from a Full Cry lion hunter contributor that told me this. Oh if his well B hole is big he will cold trail. Ha! Ha! same deal . If I'm lying I'm dying. If the dog has bench legs it can cold trail better. If it has some flag in it's tail it will be a deer burner. That horse there with the double cowlicks on the left side of it's neck, will be a cow pony for sure, but the one with half it's mane that lays one way and half the opther will be an outlaw. LOL!

Let me tell you I beleive there are some things out there and some folks out there that can sense more than most for some reason, but when it comes to looks or some of the above, I reckon it's just a notion derived from time. Maybe old Mutt was a cold trailer for sure and his somthing hung the right way or look the right way so that must have somthing to do with it.
I raised a little crooked legged bug eyed dog one time that nearly died as a runt and never got bigger than a pint of pee. She was such a miserable looking thing I should have drowned her in a sack. But she was such a sweetheart and just loved to be your best friend. Well she went on to be one heck of a cat dog, because the man that got her loved her personaility and took her hunting. I guess I could reason if the have crooked legs and bug eyes and weaigh about 30 pounds full grown that is the kind. LOL!

Hey, some say I sort of have a gimp hitch to my walk sorta like John Wayne, reckon I might make it in the movies? LOL!

Mike Leonard wrote: But she was such a sweetheart and just loved to be your best friend. Well she went on to be one heck of a cat dog, because the man that got her loved her personaility and took her hunting. LOL!

I suppose you just supported my longtime belief that hounds are made by hunters rather than breed by high-powered stud dogs.......a longtime houndsman who is now dead told me years ago that you can usually measure the heart in a good hound by looking at the heart of the hunter who trained it. And after over a dozen years of following hounds and watching other houndsmen I figure that ol' boy wasn't too far off center with his remark.............

ike

I think you hit the nail right on the head with that one Ike!!

I certainly won't argue that either. It is great as breeders and such to try to choose from good brood stock but then again the best in the world handled poorly without care, concern and love just make dog turds and die in obscerity many times.

I think it is a lot like children some of those that may not show the most promise in their early years but are loved, and mentored, and given the opportunity and supported acheive marvelous things.

Good stuff guys !

SOME OLD TIME DOG MEN USED TO SAY IF THE DOG HAS A PROTRUDING BUTT HE WILL BE A TOP COLD TRAILER? ALSO WAS TOLD THAT YOU ONLY HAVE ONE DOG THAT CAN STRIKE AND START IN ANY PACK OF HOUNDS. AS MOST DOGS ARE PACK DOGS? MY TAKE ON THAT IS IF YOU ACCEPT THIS YOU AREN'T MUCH OF A HANDLER . I DON'T FEED A FLEET OF DOGS. I HANDLE THEM ALL. USE EACH TO STRIKE AND START ON THERE OWN. IF YOU MAKE THEM PACK DOGS THAT IS WHAT YOU GET.MOST CASES THE PEOPLE THAT DON'T ADVANCE IN TRAINING HOUNDS IS BECAUSE THE HOUND IS SMARTER THAN THE PERSON HANDLING THE DOG,THE OLD SAYING IS SO TRUE, TRY BEING HALF THE PERSON YOUR DOG THINKS YOU ARE!!!

I have to agree mostly with what has been written here. There are certainly a lot of superstitious old wives' tales that don't mean a blessed thing. However, there is one sign I believe in and I know that you can count on it every time. It may not tell the whole story, but it is a real good indication of what you need to look for in a dog. I call it "eye sign".
When I get to the tree the dogs that are there barking treed with their eyes fixed on the game in the tree...Boys there are the good ones!Yep, it's all about "EYE SIGN"!

Randy,

I agree with that one. I want my dogs to look like they are burning a hole in the critter. Even if they can't see it I want them looking. A dog that acts like he is attacking the tree or just running the tree and such doesn't mean anything to me. Locating tree dogs are locating game not trees. I have seen some that can locate the heck out of trees at times that are slicker than snot on the doorknob.
The dog that looks for the game is the dog that wants the game and also many times those wild tree dogs miss a jump out or a bail and they are hammering the tree while the critter is making tracks. The other kinds seldom let's them get away.

Back to your comment or question bticked: Personally I believe there are a lot of wives tales in any sport and running hounds is not excluded from that. In my limited experience, I've taken two males from the same litter and had one follow the sir's hunting and treeing style while the other male favor the female side--and having the same color of the sir or damn doesn't necessarily point you in the right direction, so the color of the mouth surely wouldn't matter.

I have two four year old males right now that are litter-mates and are as different as their mother and father were. Both sir and damn were two of my favorite dogs so it doesn't really matter. However, I'll swear one is a clone of his old man and the other likewise of his mom, from the walk, trail, tree and bay a critter. Therefore, I wouldn't worry about color but would look more at the stock they came from and figure a young dog will either be like one or the other.......and if you're lucky a good mixture of the two.

Mike: As for tree dogs, we probably all like a hound that is focused on the game in the tree and located and locked up tight when we get there. A few years back, I quit carrying leashes to the tree unless I was killing and taught my hounds to come off the tree when I called. A longtime buddy and guide worried that I'd ruin my hounds as tree dogs by doing that. And to be truthful, I wondered in the beginning if it would have any effect on my dogs' desire to stay treed.

That task was important to me because six or eight hounds are just too many for me to pull off a bear or lion tree and I usually hunt alone. I was working with the fish and game on a couple deals this summer and had to walk to the tree and then leave those dogs there to make a call as I didn't have cell service. Because of the terrain and canyon, I was away from the tree for four or five hours before I returned. When I did, that bear was in a different tree and down low with the dogs jumping and biting at it with all their might. I shot a few photos and called the dogs off, then we walked down the canyon without a hitch. My question on screwing up my tree dogs by calling them off was set to rest after knowing I could walk in and join them, then walk away for that long and return to find them treed harder than when I left.

i remember hearing that on the movie old yeller when i was a kid. old yeller was a good dog so maybe your onto something.

Ok, so I see now that my friend was freakin crazy, which I thought would be right all along but I had to make sure. However, I like my dog to work more off their sense of smell than sight. I might have what you guys are saying wrong, but, my female especially will work only off her nose. Say there is a bear in a tree WAY up there to where she or I can even see it well. She will tree on the correct tree for a while and then trail back about 20 or 30 yards real quick to make sure she didnt make a mistake I guess and come back and tree. Maybe this is another topic but it seems to me (an amatuer) that a dog that works more off of sight than smell will not cold trail as well since they cant see the critter. Im all for them being fixed on the animal at the tree...as long as they can see it.

I caught myself lookin at the roof of all my dogs mouth's today after readin this. I have herd of this before but never really put any stock in it. But over half of my dogs have a black mouth, I dont know if it makes them any good