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I my 11 month old redbone cur mix pup a caged coon, he did not bark at all! I poured a cup of water on the coon and let him run and climb a tree. I turned my dog loose and he trailed him perfectly,(though silent on track). He got to a tree and put his paws on it for like 5-10 seconds then walked around...still silent. He can find a coon every time, just wont bark??
Thanks

Now with these garmins, and city people moving out to all our old hunting spots, that dog might be perfect!! I am kidding a little, but serous a little too. If you want to hunt for stacking coon hides in your fur shed, you could sure hunt some places where a loud dog would not be tolerated. With a bell or a Garmin you can find your tree.

My guess is the dog will click all of a sudden and go to tree barking; especially if you hunt it with another dog who tree barks. Some dogs never do open on track, and many hide hunters prefer a dog who is silent on track. Your dog may remain silent on track.

In the mean time, if you don't like the thought of stealth coon hunting, and you want your dog to tree bark, teach your dog to "speak" on command. It is not hard to do. Put the dog in a situation where you know it will bark. Then while it is barking, repeatedly give the command and praise and reward the dog. Most dogs love to bark and will be in heaven that you actually love to hear it too!

Repeat this exercise for a few days until the dog will speak on command without the environmental stimulus. Then at the tree use the same command and praise.

The dog can learn to speak on command and also to be quiet on command. So don't be afraid to correct the dog when it needs to be quiet around home.

Lol. I think teaching him to speak is a fine idea. And bet you'll just have to get used to hunting a smart dog. If coons are your preference find a coonhunter willing to let your dog tag along. It will probably figure out more in one night then most pups in a month.
That said you might be missing out on a great cat dog. I'd sure give him some room to learn and see what he can do. He ll probably always be quieter then most. And I wouldn't discourage him from checking in with you while hunting. If a quiet dog peeks at me every thirty minutes or so I'm happy. But I prefer if they bark at a strike "most yelp" not a real bay type strike. And once in awhile while on track. But I hunt some big areas where a dog that doesn't check in and is totally silent is usually lost quickly.
As far as barking at cages or other trainers some dogs just figure there's no reason. I've got dogs that go crazy on a trapped cat. And others that just watch them. I've also noticed the barkers are just as likely to bark at anything in a trap.
You should also make sure he knows that you will get it out of the tree so long as he keeps it there.

There is some perspective for you from someone who knows dogs of many breeds and types. (Pegleg). I wish I had a tiny fraction of his general knowledge about dogs.

I was writing my post as he posted, and I think we both noticed your dog may have the markings of a dog with more than average intelligence.

I am copying this post from another dog man like that below.

Read this post from another section. Notice what he says about his dogs trailing right up to a bobcat in a trap.

There might be people that will tell you your dog is a cull because at this age it should bark at a coon in a cage. But maybe your dog is just smart and this is an artificial situation.

Hunt the dog. When it trees a coon shoot it out dead.

I believe some of the smartest and most exceptional young dogs get culled because they don't fit a certain pre-conceived idea of what a puppy this age should do. Maybe your dog will end up being a cull, but I doubt it.

We wish you the best.

dwalton wrote:Training scents do they work? Like any thing with hunting dogs there are many different opinions. I think anything you young people do to train your dogs is good, the more time you spent with your dog the better it is for you and your dog. Do training scents work to teach a dog to trail a certain animal? Here what I have experienced, Over 40 years ago I worked a litter of pups on bobcat training scent. At 6 months old they would trail an hour old trail and tree like campions. Come fall I started hunting them with my older dogs, by 2 years old all of them were culled. They had no ability to trail and tree live game. Just three years back I had two litters that were out of top dogs. I bought some Grawes bobcat training scent to start them with. Not a one would open or trail the drags. I put them up and got my dogs that have been on hundreds of bobcats and walked them to the drags. They all went to the drag trail and smelled of the scent , not one took the trail and no one gave tail or acted interested in the scent. These are dogs that will strike a three day old scratch or piss bush from the rig just to get down and smell it with no intention of trailing it. Here something else to think about. I have watch my dogs trail a bobcat up to where it was caught in a trap . No one barked at the cat and all came to me. My dogs will not bark or show interest in a caged animal. They will not run in a field trail race. You all can make this mean what you like for me it means that there are different types of dogs out there that are bred for different purposes. Mine are bred to be track smart, intelligent,to move a track fast and to hunt with me for me. Each to their own, pick what you like to hunt with for the way you hunt. Be it bobcat, lion, coon, bear or boar. Their is always a difference in opinion and that is the good news. Dewey

I missed thinking about this and I might be wrong. However as a cur/redbone he's probably more mature at this age then some hounds. I know what I would do but won't put it out publicly. Here's a quick break down though. Take him out with a straight dog he's comfortable enough with to run with.
Let him experience it start to finish a few times.
Then put him up for a few days to think it over.
Then get your gear and take him out and hunt until something's treed.
Tell him he's the greatest dog that's ever lived.
I think from what you've said that being fair somewhat light handed and hunting him often will make a hunting dog out of him fast.
If a bawl mouth hound is more important trade him to someone looking for a cat dog for a pure hound pup.
But show him the joy of trailing and harvesting game and I bet he handles the rest mostly on his own.

That's why I don't like my dog to have more then 1/2 cur in them, At 1/2 Cur they are already smarter then me and I'm the one that ends up being trained.

Jeff Eberle wrote:That's why I don't like my dog to have more then 1/2 cur in them, At 1/2 Cur they are already smarter then me and I'm the one that ends up being trained.

That is too close to home.

Well it takes the wind out of some people. But fortunately most aren't intelligent enough to figure out the dog is the smarter of the two. Its when they lord it over you, and are watching you to see how long it takes you to figure something out that I draw the line!

I agree that he is smart. Whenever I say something, I try to make sure that what I want is obvious. And that is one of the reasons he generally picks up on new commands so easily. Here is the strange thing to me. (I could very easily be behaving like the over reactive 15 year old kid that I am) But whenever I want him to follow a scent trail I say, "here it is!", "here it is!". He immediately goes nose to the ground and finds the hide almost every time! However, if I am in the woods during a real hunting scenario, and I don't know where a trail starts, will he still find one? At home if he doesnt find it immediately he will circle back and start messing around, forgetting about the scent trail. But if I show him where it starts again he'll line it out and find it. Also once the coon was dead i dragged it around, and he barked prob. 5 times and fought it, but when alive he was a little wimp, and would run up sniff it and jump back circle around it and run off 20 yards then come back and whine at it?! Honestly up until now I thought he was a retard! However, maybe partly because i raised him from 3 weeks old he craves my attention, and when i praise him its all he can do to not piss himself. So when i do rub him down for showing the slightest interest in the coon he gets ON IT. However he still wouldnt bark like the big bawl mouthed hound i had envisioned. Thanks for your help
Isaiah

So take him hunting where he can see another dog and figure out his job. Once he realizes you want him to find coons and the way to do it is by trailing them he ll be fine. Also these types dogs can be gunshy if not taught properly.
As far as him being less then thrilled with jumping on it that's fine too. Most dogs aren't kill dogs at 11 months.

he WAS gunshy, but every time i fed him I shot a few time and rubbed him down good. He is not anymore

There are some really smart people who don't enjoy getting hurt, and they avoid it. There are some really smart dogs that are kind of the same way. There are some intelligent people who also like to fight, but they usually pick the fights they can win. Your dog might be like that too. Only thing he does not yet know which fights he can win. Don't let him get hurt by a coon at this age if you can help it. That is one reason I say shoot the coon out DEAD. And let the victor have his spoils. You need to build his self confidence, and especially when he does not have an older dog to watch and model.

Some dogs seem to hunt purely by instinct. Some seem to need to learn to do things as their mind matures. I like a mixture, and some dogs have that. But many of the best dogs are those that can keep learning, and are not limited by instinctive yet apparently thought-less action.

Most breeders are striving for early starting dogs. And they should. But some of the six year old dogs out there that are legends, did not start early, and at six they are still getting better; hunting smarter.

I am sorry that you wanted a bawl mouth dog, because you most likely do not have one. But if you can get past that, I think that dog can catch you a pile of coon once he figures out what you want.

Don't lay any more drags for him. Sounds like you may have over done that already. Take him to the coon woods. Put a bell on him, and maybe go at first light so you can stay with him and watch him. When he smells a hot coon track, I bet anything he will take it. Stay with him and help him and when the track ends, watch him. He may or may not mark the tree, but you will be able to figure out which one it is by watching your dog.

Give him the opportunity to hunt in the wild. Morning will help also because you can see deer and other stuff you need to break him from.

The problem with morning though, is evening you are more likely to hit a red hot track. Morning tracks are often old and often lead to den trees. But learning where the dens are will not hurt you any.

Oh one thing I forgot to say, and meant to: with a dog like that it is important to keep him wanting more. Always quit what you are doing with him BEFORE he looses interest or gets tired or bored. If you see the first sign of boredom, or loss of focus, put him in his box or pen, and let him think about it and wish he could do it some more.

Give him a day or two to think about it. You might not believe me, but he will be thinking about it. If he has had nothing else to interrupt his thoughts; Watch what he does first thing when you let him out and you will see what I mean.

Isaiah brother,
Please take the advice that peg and David have gave you. You are blessed to have experts like them giving you advice. They know what they are talking about!!

I'll be willing to bet a couple times with another dog that knows what he's doing will be all you need to get that switch turned on.

And WHATEVER you do, do not give up on yourself or that young dog no matter how frustrating it gets! You owe it to yourself and your dog! I know it can be discouraging starting out. Heck WE HAVE ALL BEEN THERE, and even the best houndsman will have a bad day that leaves him scratching his head. Heck I do it often!!! BE PERSISTANT, keep your head up, soak up all this great knowledge these guys are giving you!! It will all be worth it when that dog bawls treed and you get there and see eyes looking down.
If you put in the time, you will get your reward. It might not be today, tomorrow, next week or next month.... And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just keep at it.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate it. I'll follow your advice and hopefully eventually get this dog hunting!